Aloha Fellow Beer Advocates, The missus and I will be spending a week in Oahu (staying in Waikiki Beach) in April. We wanted to reach out and get brewery, beer bar, and bottle shop recommendations from you all. I did use the search function to locate old threads, but the majority of them are from 2018 and older. If you could please share your thoughts, recommendations, and even places we should skip - any insight is helpful! We're also open to distilleries & wineries. A few places we have on our list: Beer Lab HI Inu Island Ales Honolulu Beerworks Aloha Beer Co Hana Koa Brewing Mahalo ~ we truly appreciate your input!
All those places on your list are solid ones. Definitely hit up The Village Tap Room (675 Auahi St #121, Honolulu, HI 96813) roughly 2.5 short walking blocks from Honolulu Beerworks. https://www.instagram.com/villagebeer/. Best bottle shop w/ draft & good staff that is closest to Waikiki Beach area. You also can check out some great painted murals from OG Slick & other great artists while walking there. (http://www.powwowworldwide.com/festivals/hawaii) A pub not too far from Waikiki Beach (a short cab, uber, lyft ride away) is Brew'd Craft Pub in Kaimuki. (https://www.instagram.com/brewdcraftpub/), 3441 Waialae Avenue Suite A, Honolulu, Hawaii 96816. They have solid pub-style grinds, decent draft & may have Cantillon & other Belgian bottles on their in-house bottle list. There's also a Maui Brewing Co on Kalakaua (da strip) that serves their staple beers along w/ some island exclusives if you're into it. Keep in mind you'll be paying mainlander tourist prices because of the location. If you make it to Inu on the windward side, maybe check out Lanikai Brewing in Kailua. You can find also their bottles at all ABC Stores (which are everywhere in Waikiki) if you don't have time to stop by there. I do not recommend you go to Waikiki Brewing Co. It may ruin the beer portion of your vacation. There is also a Yard House on Lewers w/ a bunch of average taps if you're in the area & need to use the john.
This is a good list. I would add Broken Boundary. Inu and Broken are my two favorites at the moment. If you end up in Kailua, Lanikai (already mentioned) is a good option. Also, you can a Maui Brewing and Grace in Growlers (often has a lot of local breweries so you can try several at one time). Enjoy!
Village, definitely, for best bottle shop. Hana Koa, Beer Lab, & INU prob best we have at the moment. Skip Beerworks & Maui, beers are meh.
Glad to have this thread to stay up-to-date before our vacation there in Nov. - have taken notes of the above recommendations. Husband and I will visit Oahu and Maui and are also interested in suggestions of Oahu tour companies that might include breweries (INU, Lanikai) along with other north shore sights (so we don't drive impaired from Waikiki hotel). Also are there any beer clubs or shares that might want some New England (Tree House) brews shared? We're fairly proficient at packing a good number in checked bags LOL.
Following as well. Will be in Maui at end of May. If you guys have any good info on that inwould appreciate it. Going to be in Kihei so going to Maui Brewing for sure but curious what else is not to miss. Thanks!
Definitely keeping my eyes on this one as my GF and I will be on Oahu for a week in June (after a few days on Kauai). The last time I was there Beer Lab and Lanikai were def standouts but I don't think Inu or Hana Koa were even around so it's cool to here new places are taking off.
If you havent been to the other Maui Brewing in Lahaina and nearby check out Kohala Brewing. It used to be the old old Maui Brewing tasting room.
Went to Growler in Honolulu (on Kapahulu) last weeend. A nice selection of local and mainland beers and they fill growlers (32 oz or 64 oz). If in that area, I highly recommend Haili's or Ono Seafood for grub (same street, a few blocks away).
Plus one on the recommendation for Lanikai. Visiting the taproom is a nice chill experience, but the beers themselves are great and very interesting
A brand new brewery opened this weekend - Lokahi in Honolulu - hope to hear some reviews soon! https://www.honolulumagazine.com/ho...jkTi8MlBZSZHsNJrM8uuCwyN633CL7uOzRL2V2TVkM0G0
Hello Everyone, We just got back from Oahu late Saturday. Please see below for the spots we checked out: Village Bottle Shop: unfortunately, they had a 21st Amendment Tap Takeover, and since I'm from CA, it wasn't too special. They only had 2/3 local breweries on tap, so it was disappointing. As far as the bottles/cans go - they had a great selection of locals. Only the big craft brands really make it out to HI - Firestone, Modern Times, Similar, etc. Likely the best bottle shop on the island, definitely a must-visit. Beer Lab (University): beer was just OK here. I had high expectations knowing they had 3 locations on the island. It seems they're almost there with their beers, but got a small flight and went our way. If you have time - check it out. Hana Koa Brewing: huge space! Awesome cool brewpub with decent beers. I would say my 2nd favorite place to drink here. Must visit! Inu Island Ales: extremely small space, but the beer was awesome! There are literally only 2 tables and about 8 seats in the whole place. You can tell they know what they're doing. I was able to meet a couple of the brewers and the person up front was great with service! I tried every single beer and was impressed by most of them. Left with 2 crowlers. Definitely a MUST VISIT! Closest to my favorite beach - Lanikai Aloha Brewing Company: I would avoid at all costs. Beer was just not good at all. I'm sure they're trying their best, but I couldn't stand the pils, IPA, hef, etc. I hope this gives you other BA'ers some context. Please reach out with any questions - I'm more than happy to help!
In addition to Maui Brewing and Kohola, there is a new brewery in Makawao (Upcountry) called Mahalo Aleworks. They've hit some delays but keep an eye on their social media to see if you'll get lucky on them opening. Makawao is also home to the best farmers market on the island.
Well this looks promising ... especially the wild sours ... thanks for the info, definitely on my to-do list!
Just got home yesterday and I am happy to report that my overall drinking experience was fantastic. We spent 3 days on Kauai and 6 on Oahu so lots of time to tour around the breweries after hiking every day. Kauai: Kauai Island Brewing & Grill: Great food, mediocre beer at best. Everything was served damn near room temp (maybe problems with the cooler?) and stylistically, it's all very basic/traditional which is fine, but just not exciting in any way. No standouts. Kauai Beer Company: We hit this in Lahue before we flew to Oahu and I was very glad we did. The flagship, Beer Co. IPA, was a surprise hit for me and the Imperial Maibock (Kauibock XL) was dangerously drinkable. Out of the two breweries on Kauai, this is def the place to come to for beer. Oahu: Hana Koa: This was probably the coolest space on Oahu, and the prices def reflect that. A pint will run you a cool $10, but thankfully, they have a very diverse tap list and the beer is dialed in. The two hazy IPAs we had were both great and I took a gamble on a guava milkshake IPA that turned out to be very tasty. We came here right after finishing Stairway to Heaven, so we were extra hungry, and the food was good, but again, somewhat pricey for what you're getting. I will say, the fries were fantastic and outshined all the other food. We didn't have the best service here, but overall, it ranks good and we'd go back. Beer Lab (Waipio): I visited this place the last time I was on Oahu (2019) and remembered liking it a lot, so revisiting was a must. They rotate taps very quickly here from what I am told, so you never know what you're going to get, but the tap list when we visited was solid across the board. A few hazy IPAs, an orange chocolate stout, and a couple of local-inspired sours. It's a small location but never super busy; this would be a go-to hang for me if I lived there. Broken Boundary Brewing: This place is super unassuming on the outside as it is located in an industrial area, but they did a great job making the inside look nice. We had a super friendly server that we stayed very chatty with, they had some banging street tacos, and the beer was solid across the board. I was probably most surprised with the ginger seltzer they had; I am not a fan of seltzers but my GF ordered it and I actually really enjoyed the sips I stole. One ding: dirty glassware... lots and lots of bubbles. Inu Island Ales: Like mentioned, this place is TINY; it's basically in a garage. They also only offer tasters, not full pours. The beer was very tasty all around though and since we came here straight from Broken Boundary, we'd already had a few and didn't need to be crushing full pours anyway. Make it a quick stop and grab a crowler to-go. Aloha Beer Company: I also visited this place last trip, but they have since expanded by a LOT. We sat in the beer garden which was nice and open but also well-shaded. Great flagship IPAs (Fruit Loops) and an even better hazy pale (Kia Ora) combined with really damn good food (we had a BBQ chicken pizza, steak fries, and hot wings) and a cool environment put this place at the top of my list for overall experience. Waikiki Brewing Company: This is walking distance from Aloha, and while not as good IMO, the beers rank consistently fine and it's a nice space. No real standouts though. Maui Brewing Company: Another repeat visit... This place feels more like a nightclub version of Applebees given its location in downtown Waikiki, but the beer is good and the every-changing lineup of limited run beers makes it a must-go for me. This trip they had an off-menu pineapple hazy IPA that absolutely murdered; I didn't order anything else. I always seem to end up drunk here though.. in this case it was our last stop after Aloha, Waikiki, and a quick roadie from the pickup window at Duke's. Mahalo.
