Page 6 - www.hawaiibevguide.com

Hawaii Aina Brewing 101: Maui Brewing Co. A Look into Hawaii’s Craft Breweries
By: Crystal Arnold and Lance Nakano
Each month, Hawaii Beverage toasted coconut-infused porter, the old. We were a very European family,
Guide Hawaii will have a
conversation with a different local brewery to learn more about what they are up to. In this series, we will focus on the different and unique production factions that make a brewery functional, including how the islands and the cultural smorgasbord of people who call Hawaii home, directly or indirectly inspire and drive these companies. The first brewery we will be featuring in our series is Maui Brewing Co. (MBC), one of the craft breweries in the state that's leading the pack and setting the standards for Hawaii-brewed beer. MBC currently operates in a newly constructed campus in Kehei, a small, beach-heavy town in south Maui, and distributes to twenty- three states and ten intercontinental counties. MBC remains privately held by its original owners, yet they have been expanding into brewpub locations in native Kehei, Lahaina, Waikiki, and soon Kailua.
In 2005, Maui Brewing Co. released their first batch of Lagers and Ales and ever since, the Aina-forward beer company has continued to be a dominant force in both the local and intercontinental craft brewery scene. The growing company prides itself on a beer for every season through their “Craft Beer Way of Life” initiative; and as such, currently produces six styles of beer including four limited release beers in their portfolio. MBC’s impressively diverse roster of craft beers range from a buttery textured,
Coconut Hawi Porter, which along with the richness of the lightly browned coconut, has a dark chocolate, heady coffee mouthfeel, providing the perfect “brewed” mocha experience. The line up also includes the familiar sweetness of a perfectly canned, locally grown pineapple in the Pineapple Mana Wheat, which is a beer that is flawlessly even-bodied, combining the tartness of a Maui Gold Pineapple and the sweet, bitterness from wheat, creating a heavy, yet very refreshing beer. MBC’s craft collection expands to two IPA’s: the Big Swell IPA and the Double Overhead IPA, and includes the Pau Hana Pilsner, along with the OG Bikini Blonde Lager, the beer that started it all.
We interviewed CEO Garrett Marrero to learn more about Maui Brewing Co. and what drives their passion for making craft beer on Maui.
Hawaii Beverage Guide: What inspired your passion for beer to the point of creating a company out of it?
Garrett Marrero: I grew up around good beer. When I was in San Diego, my step-grandpa was really into beer and he would be gifted beer from all over the world as part of his job at an oceanographic institute. So, I got to try a lot of different beers at a young age. I remember trying some of my grandpa’s beer and being like, “Wow, that’s really good. I like that.” I was probably thirteen or fourteen years
so it was common for us to enjoy alcohol and not abuse it, obviously. As the beer scene in San Diego started to grow with the opening of Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, and a few other breweries, my grandpa and my step- dad would buy the different beers that were coming in from America at the time, and we would drink them. Pete’s Wicked was one of the beers that I cut my teeth on, as well. Fast forward to me graduating from high school. Stone Brewing (at the time it was called a “microbrewery” but is now known as “craft”) opened up in San Diego and my grandpa got one of the first kegs of for my graduation party. I went to college at [University of California] Davis, which had a brewing program on campus, and although I didn’t study brewing in the actual school, I enjoyed quite a few pints at the campus brew pub called Sueworks. When on vacation anywhere, I would always try to drink what was new and local to the area. When I visited Maui in 2001, not only did I end up falling in love with the island, but when I learned that their local beer wasn’t actually made in Hawaii, I saw an opportunity to create an authentic, local Hawaiian beer. In 2005, we opened Maui Brewing Co., and I believe we were the first to use the term “craft beer” in Hawaii.
HBG: How has your approach to beer been influenced by Maui? The Terroir if you will.
GM: Obviously, beer is high-90th