US - Pacific What's Good Hawaii?

Visiting Oahu and Kauai for the next two weeks. Please advise on what's good beer wise (shops / bars / breweries)? Thank you!

- Joe

 

rcubed

 

O'ahu has INU Island Ales in Kaneohe (windward side):

https://www.instagram.com/inuislandales/

I will be there next week, they have quite a few events and releases going on.

 

stawn can help with Kauai. Look for bottles of Big Island Brewhaus.

 

jmgrub lives in this hood now.

 

I'm over on the Big Island. I can help with Big Island stuff, but not much help on Oahu or Kauai.

 

I guess I can actually be a bit of help. Kauai has Nani Moon Meadery. It's not Schramms, Superstition or Garagiste, but some of the stuff I've had has been interesting/good.

For Oahu, in addition to INU (which has already been mentioned - it's the new hype brewery), I really like the beers from Lanikai and BeerLab. I have also heard very good things about Village Bottle Shop and Square Barrels. Finally, there is a dude who runs a tour called Honolulu Brews Cruise (a brewery tour). Not usually my type of thing but I have heard good things from others. May be worth checking out.

Have fun!

EDIT: I notice you are in Santa Monica. That's where I was living before we moved here. Bummer we didn't connect there!

 

I'm heading to Kauai in mid June. Might check out Nani Moon Meadery, I've only had a few meads - but all were Shramms, so I might be spoiled already. I'm not looking for bottles togo, I have loads of beer at home. Is there any place with worthwhile beer on draft?

 

There are two breweries on Kauai: Kauai Island Brewery (Port Allen) and Kauai Beer Company (Lihue). They're both good but I liked Kauai Beer Company better. I don't really like mead but I still thought Nani Moon was worth my time.

Merriman's down in Popipu has a pretty solid taplist as does Street Burger in Kapaa.

Oh! You should get a reservation for dinner at Kauai Ono, definitely the best food we had. It's BYOB so bring something fancy from home with you. A buddy and I brought de Garde and Ale Apothecary bottles with us.

http://www.kauaiono.com

 

Costco also sells Maui six-packs so stock up for hotel/pool time. You can get the Big Island Brewhaus and Lanikai bombers at Safeway and Foodland.

 

Thanks so much TB peeps! I knew y’all would come through! Cheers!

 

jmgrub I wish I was going to Big Island, bc I would have brought Jesus with me.

 

I'll be on the BI later this month. Looking forward to checking out Ola Brew.

 

Hit me up if you'd like to grab beers there or elsewhere.

 

My parents were on the big island last month and I told them to stop in at Ola. My mom liked their ciders but the beer wasn't very good.

 

Yeah that's what I've heard too.

 

TheFarmBoy3 We drank more rum than beer in Kauai last month. Koloa distillery has free tastings every hour or so (one per person per day), and their rums can be found in the local stores too. Grab some POG, Koloa coconut rum and their dark rum for a floater. WIN.

As for beer, we brought a ton with us, but my friend Dave runs Kauai Island Brewing (already mentioned). They make some good IPAs, nothing off the charts, but solid. He also has Hawaii's largest pinball machine collection (in a business) upstairs. He's also an all around good guy. Stop in and tell him Chris from Rip Current Brewing sent you. He also loves BA beers if you have any to share.
Have fun & Aloha!

 

They definitely need to dial-in the beers. The good news is that they are staying pretty basic on the beers for the time being (lager, wheat ale, IPA, DIPA, porter, red ale etc.) rather than going crazy with hype styles. I would agree that the ciders are better than the beers (I actually like the ciders a lot). We also just like Ola as a fun spot to hang out. We were there for trivia on Tuesday and it was a good time. They always (or almost always) have a food truck outside as well.

I am still partial to BIBH (Big Island Brewhaus) for the best brewery on the island, but Kona has some good pub beers as well (I really like their coffee stout).

 

I'm a huge BIB fan. Gives me those old Alpine pub feels. Plus Red Sea of Cocoa is now one of my favorite beers.

 

OAHU/WAIKIKI
(Stone now distributes to Oahu, so you can find them, Modern Times, etc at bottle shops now)

INU Island Ales (Windward side)
6-174 Kahuhipa St. #E, Kaneohe, HI 96744
*Crowler fills*

Brew'd
441 Waialae Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816
brewdcraftpub.com
*In-house bottle list is usually solid*

BeerLabHI
1010 University Ave, Honolulu, HI 96826
http://www.beerlabhi.com/
*Crowler fills*

Real a Gastropub
New location opening soon 2018
realgastropub.com

The Village Bottle Shop & Tasting Room
675 Auahi St #121, Honolulu, HI 96813
https://www.instagram.com/villagebeer/
*Gets Revision cans, Modern Times, Firestone Walker, etc.*

Honolulu Beerworks
328 Cooke St, Honolulu, HI 96813
honolulubeerworks.com

KAUAI

Kauai Beer Company
4265 Rice St, Lihue, HI 96766
kauaibeer.com

Nani Moon Meadery
4-939 Kuhio Hwy D, Kapaa, HI 96746
nanimoonmead.com

Princeville Wine Market
5-4280 Kuhio Hwy, Princeville, HI 96722
princevillewinemarket.com

Hanalei Liquor Store
5-5100 Kuhio Hwy, Hanalei, HI 96714
hanaleiliquor.com

Palate Market
2474 Keneke St, Kilauea, HI 96754
palatewinebar.net