It’s Friday night and have we got a beer tasting for you! This week, we have a Beach Beer Battle between two Hawaiian Heavyweights! It’s Kona Brewing Company vs. Maui Brewing Company in a tropical beer showdown!
Whose beer will take the night?
Kick back, relax, pop open a cold one — or, if you’re not a drinker, just get a cold beverage — and chill with us as we find out!
Kona Brewing Company – Kailua-Kona, HI
BEER: Big Wave Golden Ale
BREWERY: Kona Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 4.4%
MATT: 4/5
DANIELLE: 3.75/5
LOOK: Gold and clear
SCENT: Bright lemon citrus and grass notes
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Thin mouthfeel. A lot of citrus…some sweet honey to go with it. Very crisp finish.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
Danielle and I both love how crisp and refreshing this beer is. Insanely crushable. Danielle isn’t completely sold on the flavor and says she can’t taste a whole lot. I can get a lot of citrus and honey — but it’s on the back end. Still, this is a wonderful ale.
BEER: Longboard Island Lager
BREWERY: Kona Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 4.5%
MATT: 5/5
DANIELLE: 4/5
LOOK: Gold and clear with a head that dissipates quick
SCENT: Carmel/honey wheat and corn
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: A lot of body for a lager…nice, sweet wheat/honey flavor with just a hint of citrus on the end.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
This is one of my most favorite beers of all-time. It’s a work of art. Complex and full of body for a lager. I love the sweet, tropical scent almost reminiscent of summer with sunscreen and flowers because of that sweet carmel/honey nose. I love the citrus on the back end. Danielle says it is a fine beer — but not her favorite. Though, she notes, that this would go great with tacos, burgers or, even a BBQ.
BEER: Hanalei Island IPA
BREWERY: Kona Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 4.5%
MATT: 3.75/5
DANIELLE: 3/5
LOOK: Gold and clear, just like the first three
SCENT: POG Juice all over it, just like the bottle says
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: This is a “juicy” style IPA and it goes down just like one. Bitter hops mixed with a nice tropical fruit flavor. Thin for an IPA.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
Danielle and I LOVE the tropical flavors. You get POG Juice all over the place. For the uninitiated, POG Juice is “Passion/Orange/Guava Juice” and you can get it all over the Hawaiian islands. My wife and I use it to make our Mai Tai’s. It’s outstanding. The problem with this beer is that the hops aren’t as complex as they should be. This was one of the early versions of a “juicy” IPA and others have simply improved upon it. Still, this is good stuff and a worthy addition to the Kona Brewing line.
BEER: Castaway IPA
BREWERY: Kona Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 6%
MATT: 3.5/5
DANIELLE: 2/5
LOOK: Gold and clear, just like the first four beers…I sense a pattern.
SCENT: Some sweet tropical fruit on the nose
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Nice and crisp with bitter hops off-setting a sweeter tropical flavor. Very refreshing with some body to it.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
I think this is more like it with an IPA. This has the body and the bitterness an IPA should have. I like that it isn’t really “juicy”, it’s just enough tropical sweetness offset by some aggressive hops. Danielle isn’t as enthused. Though she likes the bitterness of the hops, she doesn’t think that this particular IPA meets the standards of IPA’s which came later.
BEER: Kua Bay IPA
BREWERY: Kona Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 7.3%
MATT: 3.75/5
DANIELLE: 3/5
LOOK: Gold and clear — stop me if you’ve heard this one. Though, hey…the gold is DARKER.
SCENT: Pineapple and pine hops
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Nice body, this tastes more like an IPA. Pineapple and tropical fruit notes…some mint, I think.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
This is a much better balanced IPA than “Castaway”. Nice sweet tropical fruit flavor here (with emphasis on pineapple) balanced with the hops which aren’t as aggressive as Castaway. This is a nice, easy-going IPA. Danielle wasn’t as enthused — though she does agree that this was an improvement over Castaway.
Maui Brewing Company – Kihei, Maui, HI
BEER: Maui Lime Lager
BREWERY: Maui Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 4.6%
MATT: 3.5/5 (changed since audio recording)
DANIELLE: 3.75/5
LOOK: Clear and pale yellow…almost like water.
SCENT: Lime and salt
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Slightly thick body but overly sweet. There’s no bitterness to balance it out.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
This is another Lager with the lime already put in it…and it’s a step down from what Stone did with their “Buenaveza Salt and Lime Lager”. The lime tastes somewhat artificial and there’s a complete lack of bitterness to counteract it. Not a bad idea, just not great with the execution.
BEER: Bikini Blonde Lager
BREWERY: Maui Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 4.8%
MATT: 3.75/5
DANIELLE: 3.75/5
LOOK: Clear and pale yellow…almost like water — hey, this is sound familiar.
SCENT: Sweet carmel and honey
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: A nicely balanced Lager, almost reminiscent of Longboard — but without that “edge”.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
I would LOVE to see people sit down and do a blind taste test of Bikini Blonde and Longboard. I think the results would be fascinating. This has that sweet wheat and honey flavor profile as Longboard — but that citrus and crisp finish is missing. STILL a good Lager that I would place above Corona.
BEER: Pau Hana Pilsner
BREWERY: Maui Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 5.2%
MATT: 3.75/5
DANIELLE: 3.75/5
LOOK: Clear and pale yellow…almost like water — hey, this is sound familiar.
SCENT: Sweet carmel and honey
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: A nicely balanced Lager, almost reminiscent of Longboard — but without that “edge”.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
I would LOVE to see people sit down and do a blind taste test of Bikini Blonde and Longboard. I think the results would be fascinating. This has that sweet wheat and honey flavor profile as Longboard — but that citrus and crisp finish is missing. STILL a good Lager that I would place above Corona.
BEER: Pineapple Mana Wheat
BREWERY: Maui Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 5.5%
MATT: 3/5
DANIELLE: 3.75/5
LOOK: MY GOD IT’S FULL OF CLEAR AND GOLD
SCENT: Pinapple all day
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Thin, pineapple all the way down with a hint of coconut for a Pina Colada finish
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
I am not a huge fan of this. If you want a gimmicky cocktail beer, get this. If not, get something else. This is just another beer meant to imitate another drink entirely. Clever, but blah. Decent for those who don’t want to taste booze and just want sweet all the way down. Beyond that, this is just ok.
BEER: Coconut Hiwa Porter
BREWERY: Maui Brewing Company – Hawai’i
ABV: 6.0%
MATT: 3.5/5
DANIELLE: 4.25/5
LOOK: Gold and cle–wait…WAIT. It’s dark like a Porter?! HOLY SHIT!!! Something different!
SCENT: Coffee, chocolate, vanilla
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Thin, with coffee and chocolate and coconut on the back end.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
This is a good beer, not great. No body to it. The chocolate and coffee and coconut work well together but there’s also a slight sour to the beer which does not bode well for the overall flavor. Danielle is a total mark for dark, chocolate beers so she is going higher than I am.
WHOSE BEER REIGNS SUPREME???
WINNER: Kona Brewing Company.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
In the end, Kona stands tall — but barely. While Maui Brewing Company threw a bunch of flavored beers at us, Kona’s beers had a lot more complexity and creativity to them. Longboard Lager alone puts this company on a pedestal. Big Wave was also a great ale. While Hanalei lacked complexity of the juicy IPA’s which would come after it, the pioneering of that style speaks volumes. Maui Brewing’s Bikini Blonde is a refreshing beer, reminiscent of Longboard while their Pau Hana would improve upon it a bit. The rest of their beers had far too much of one flavor that overpowered the rest of the drink. Still, both breweries provided us with a great tasting and we highly recommend the beer from both breweries!
You can hear our final thoughts here: