Maui Brewing Company is Now Largest Craft Brewery in Hawaii

Photo Credit: Sean Hower

Maui Brewing Company is taking over the Hawaiian islands one barrel of craft beer at a time, and it’s all happening here on the island of Maui. It started when owners Garrett Marrero and wife Melanie added two 47,000 lb grain silos, and two 100 barrel fermenters a few months back. Their vision for the brewery on Maui has always been one of energy efficiency, reuse, recycle and support other local businesses, and by sticking by their vision of these best practices they feel they have been able to grow their brewery to the next level.

“We are in constant evolution in the pursuit of better beer,” Garret says, “and it is not always about the profit. We are working on a better beverage. Sure, it could be cheaper to ship in some of the ingredients, but that is not the point. We will always be brewed in Hawaii, and we will always locally source ingredients for our products.”

Next they have added more 100 barrel fermenters and three 14 barrel fermenters that will allow them to experiment with some special recipes. Maui Brewing Co. brewed and featured 46 different beers last year, and they keep typically 15 of them on tap at any given time at the Brew Pub. Other additions to the brewery include a new cooling system and new canning equipment.

This month they announced the release of two new canned products, the Mana Wheat and the Island Root Beer. These new cans will be available mostly in Hawaii, but will have a limited West Coast availability. Over time they anticipate being able to offer them where their Bikini Blonde Lager, Big Swell IPA, and CoCoNut PorTer are found.

Mana Wheat is a pineapple hefeweizen, a German style wheat ale that is cloudy and known for its low hop bitterness and high carbonation. “Our Mana Wheat is unique in that it is brewed with Maui Gold Pineapple,” says Marrero. “It’s been reviewed as a beer that is ‘smooth and aromatic’ with a ‘sweet finish’. Pineapple is on an iconic agricultural product, unfortunately our farms on Maui are on the decline. We brewed this product to bring attention to this situation and hopt that Americans will start focusing on buying local produce and supporting local agricultur in their communities.”

The Island Root Beer is made with pure Maui cane sugar, Maui honey, and Maui vanilla bean. It is an all natural and local agricultural product, with no preservatives, high fructose corn syrup or caffeine. “Historically, root beer contained small amounts of alcohol but our vision is completely non-alcoholic,” says Marrero. “We are very pleased to be able to add this to our product line, and support our local farmers. I think products like these show consumers that local agriculture is superior, with freshness and quality, and not much more expensive and far more enjoyable.”

Their new total capacity is now over 22,000 barrels in brewing. The new canning line will be operated at a run rate of 300 cans per minute, a big increase over their 27cpm currently. With these increases the Maui Brewing Company is now the largest capacity craft beer brewery in the state.

Their brewery also launches Saturday tours beginning October 2nd. Call the Brewery at 808 661-6205 to schedule tours.

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