I love my job! Bob, a colleague of mine, recently went to Hawaii for a relaxation holiday. I was happy for him. Upon his return we went for lunch to talk about work and other assorted things and he presented me with a sampler six pack from Maui Brewing as a gift from his trip. I had neither asked for nor expected such a wonderful present. Good friends and a reputation for loving beer can get you a long way.
As he presented the beer, he informed me that he really enjoyed one of them, found one too bitter and didn’t get a chance to try the third. But he wanted to hear my opinion. So here it is.
There were two cans each of three different beer (Maui Brewing believes strongly in the value of cans). I have casually worked my way through each of them. And (spoiler alert!) all proved to me this is a world-class brewery.
The first beer was the Bikini Lager, clearly their mainstream beer. However, it presented way better than expected. The aroma has a sweet, bready and honey malt sweetness, no real hops and an overall clean impression. In the flavour honey dominates; it is a bit bigger in body than expected. The beer finishes quite sweet, which is almost off-putting. However on the whole this is a solid effort at a North American Premium Lager. If I was sitting on a beach, I wouldn’t complain about this beer in the least.
The second one I tried was CoCoNut PorTeR, a robust porter with coconut added. (Onbeer reader Ernie had earlier pointed this beer out in a comment the first time I wrote about Hawaiian beer).It pours an opaque, burnt dark brown that verges on black. I detect dark chocolate, cocoa, burnt sugar and a touch of roast, toast and fruit. Upfront the beer offers a sweetness of dark chocolate, cocoa, burnt caramel and dark fruit. Underneath there is some toffee and rich sweetness. However, the sharp burnt roast is the dominant characteristic. The finish reminds me of baker’s chocolate and is quite dark and bitter – more roast then some stouts I have tasted. I don’t get any coconut, although it may add to the toasty character of the beer. This is a big, bold beer. Not really what I would associate with a sunny beach, but maybe it is designed for rainy days (does it ever rain in Maui?).
The final beer is their Big Swell IPA, a classic American-style IPA. I find the colour a bit light for the style (it was lighter in my glass than the photo above) – medium gold with decent white head that lays down a light blanket. It offers a soft rounded aroma of citrus and grassy hops, a bit of crystal malt in the background as well as some lemon and fruitiness. The sip presents me with a soft grainy malt upfront transitioning to a fruity, grassy hop bitterness at the back. The hops are dominant but not overpowering. The beer is actually more balanced than I was expecting. Many American IPAs can lean too heavily toward the hops, but this one maintains enough honey and malt smoothness to prevent it from being one dimensional.
All three beer are great craft creations. My friend Bob clearly stumbled across a hidden gem of a brewery. And am I ever glad he did.
February 23, 2011 at 10:25 AM
I always look forward to my friends returning from Hawaii every year with cans from Maui Brewing to share.
The Bikini Lager is a fantastic helles, very impressive for an “introductory” offering.
You need to drink the CoCoNut Porter at fairly warm temps to taste the coconut, but either way it is a very good beer.
I had a very fresh can of Big Swell IPA on Monday and it was much different than the other times I have sampled it. There was a lot of tropical aromatics from the dry hopping that were missing in previous samples. Loved it.
Also recently tried the newest addition to their can lineup – Mana Wheat, a pineapple wheat ale. Pretty good pineapple character, but this beer just aint for me, I’d rather drink the Bikini Lager.
February 23, 2011 at 3:10 PM
The can line is only a taste of what they have to offer. They actaully have two locations: a bigger brewery with the canning line where they brew the big three that you tired (and presumably the Mana Wheat now, as well), and the original brew pub with smaller draft-only batches.
The brewpub set-up is one of the best that I have seen, one that I would love to see copied here. In addition to their main three beers that are always on tap, they have eight rotating seasonals and one guest tap. There is high turnover on the seasonals, so if you go there two weeks in a row, there might be four new beers that weren’t there last week. They boast a wide variety of styles for all palates. Almost all the beers I tried were great beers (even if stylistically inaccurate, for example an “English Pale Ale” brewed with American hops), and to date Maui has the best Cascadian Ale I’ve tried.
February 23, 2011 at 8:50 PM
Just had these three brews last week and my wife and I were disappointed by all three. All
seemed flat and lack lustre to me. Maybe one of those better at the source kind of beers.
February 24, 2011 at 9:40 AM
Clearly more well traveled beer guys know more about this brewery than I do. Thanks for the info Ernie and Mark. Clearly I need to arrange a trip to Hawaii – especially since I am getting tired of -25 degrees…
Hoser’s experience with them is interesting. My brain goes to possibilities of age or travel shock. The one’s I received were fresh and kept snug in a suitcase on the way home (plus I gave them a few days in the fridge to settle down). Not sure about the history of the one’s you tried, Hoser, but it is possible they suffered some travel damage. Or, maybe they are just not to your liking, which is fair too. Palates differ – and that is a good thing.
Cheers.
Jason
February 24, 2011 at 11:09 AM
Glad you liked the beer (even the Big Swell IPA…). Not only did this beer receive a careful ride home in my suitcase, but the entire suitcase was subject to the loving attention of homeland security on the return journey–I presume six cans of beer packed flat looked suspicious to them! I wonder if the coconut taste is the “burnt” dimension of the Porter?
March 15, 2011 at 3:48 PM
This review makes me quite excited to go back to Maui this summer.