I had a chance to visit the big island of Hawaii and tried Kona Brewing's Koko Brown. I went to visit the brewery there and talked with the guy filling growlers. He was cool (a homebrewer) but when I asked about the hops in this beer, he acted like it was a matter of national security! I left and visited a bar close by. I asked a waitress about these beers and was surprised to hear that only some of the draft beer was brewed here. She told me that most of the "Kona" brewing occurs at a large facility in Portland, OR. An employee from the plant also told me that production is now at 400,000 barrels. I'm glad that they're successful but part of the charm is that the beer is brewed in Hawaii. My only hope is that this larger scale production doesn't go to their heads. Most breweries I visit are gracious to homebrewers! Some of the larger breweries are beginning to forget how craft brewing started and why it came about (think BMC!).
DocDave
DocDave