Kona in Hawaii

Just recently, my family and I returned from a trip to visit friends in Hawaii. (You may have noticed there haven't been any posts for a while...) We flew to Honolulu, stayed just outside Kailua, and spent our vacation exploring the island of Oahu. In fact, we packed our time with so much fun that days disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The constant sunny, mid-80 degree weather allowed us to experience a large variety of activities:

• Dole Plantation
• Sea Life Park
• Germaine's Luau
• Hiking on Makapu'u Point
• Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay
• Pearl Harbor (USS Arizona Memorial, USS Missouri Battleship, USS Bowfin Submarine)
• Aloha Bus (which takes you to numerous points of interest in Honolulu)
• Scenery, scenery, scenery

We had a great time there and were sad when we had to come home. You might be wondering why I'm mentioning this family trip on my beer blog...

Or not.

Yep. Me being me, I already had planned a visit to a beer institution before I ever left Minnesota. I can't go to another state (let alone Hawaii) without searching for some good beer culture! I chose Kona Brewing's Koko Marina Pub for my Hawaiian brew experience, and I was not disappointed.

We visited the pub after snorkeling, because it's pretty close to Hanauma Bay. Kona's brewing facility is actually located on the Big Island, not Oahu. This particular location we visited is a restaurant owned by the brewery. It's not a brewpub, but they do serve all of their year-round beers and a good selection of seasonals. I had never had a Kona beer before, so I didn't know what to expect. However, I can say I was very excited to try some new brews. Hey, it's what I do.

The second I walked into the place, I was happy. This was a beautiful pub sitting right on the water with window views out to the Koko Marina. There was live music playing, which was some excellent quality blues rock. (I liked it so much, I asked if they had albums for sale.) We sat down at the table and I immediately perused the beer selection. Of course they offered beer samplers, but each one only came with four beers. How did I solve this dilemma? By ordering two samplers, of course.

I tasted all eight of those beers and enjoyed every one. They were all well made and left a smile on my face. There are definitely two that rose above the rest in my mind though, and both were seasonals: the lemongrass ale brewed with ginger, and the barleywine. Very good stuff. Add dining on some delicious swordfish tacos to the tasty brews (not to mention the atmosphere and company) and everything was right with the world.

As we left the pub, I had to stop and buy a hat at the gift shop. I probably didn't need a souvenir to remember this experience, but it couldn't hurt. Plus, it looked really good on me...