The first thing I did when planning our trip to Kona was find the brewery. Most things on Kona where easy to get to from where we were staying; everything was a 15min drive (except the trip to the volcano). I had not had a Kona Brewing beer until going to the brewpub. I avoided having one until then on purpose, just because I wanted to have it at the brewery. A friend of mine had gone to Hawaii a couple of years back and told me they were good, so I took his word.
The brewery from the outside looked cool, regular brewery out front. To be honest, my first impression wasn’t great and I will tell you why. When going to a brewery I always go on the tour, like any beer geek because I want to see how the place works. For Kona Brewing, it’s first come first serve on the tour, but it doesn’t say that anywhere; had I known I would have planned to try to make a first come first serve tour. The tours are limited to something like 15 (I’m pretty sure that’s the #) and apparently it’s a strict rule. There’s this cute little sign in sheet to put your name for the tour and only one name per line (this little tidbit is important later).
The first time we tried to make the tour it was full, which was fine because I was pretty hungry and I just wanted to eat. The second time my wife and I went, we went earlier about an hour before the tour. To our dismay, there was only one spot left on the sign in sheet. Now, if you are a married man and there is one spot left on a sign in sheet (doesn’t matter what it is for) and you are with your wife, you have to options. Either find a way to turn that one spot into two or you don’t sign in and miss whatever it is. There is a third option, but I’m smart enough to know not to take that one. I asked the girl at the counter since there is only one spot can I just fill in both our names to go on the tour and she said “no”. I was pretty annoyed at the fact that again I had to miss the tour and that this tour limit was strictly enforced. I won’t drag that tale out any more.
After the brewery tour let down, we decided to eat. The brewpub had an indoor and outdoor seating area which is cool. We opted for the indoor seating. Inside the brewpub has a cool laid back feel, with posters and stuff going on. The beer selection was good, they had a wide range of stuff including seasonals. My wife ordered a beer flight and I jumped right in ordering glasses of beer. The flight was dope because it comes on a little place mat thing that gives a shortly description of the beers.
The food menu was cool, it had brewpub favs like pizza, tacos, and nachos. I had the pork tacos which were pretty delicious accompanied with some delicious beers such as Wailua Wheat and Hula Hefeweizen. My wife had the nachos, which ended up being hilarious because the plate was bigger than her head and her leftovers lasted like two days.
All in all, the trip to Kona Brewpub was cool. I was pretty bummed about not making the tour, but good beer and good food made me forget about it. Who knows if that sign in sheet will keep me from getting on the tour next time, but we will try again. Who knows maybe some sort of crazy beer stuff is going on during the tour. Maybe if more than 15 people go on the tour the equilibrium of the world will be thrown off or maybe people’s minds would melt if more than 15 people go on the tour. The world will never know I guess.
Fill It or Spill It 