Drinking in Paradise, island of Kauai offers more than just scenic beauty.

Manawaiopuna Falls

 It's not every day in my life that I get to see or do something special.  Familiar terrain, the common pace of life, the work routine while sustainable becomes all too ordinary and often boring. In order to break out of this mold I tend to do things that give me experiences that have to be different to all my senses.  Food and drink has provided a good outlet for that, and I discovered early on that it is more enjoyable when traveling.

So what better way to experience such a change to my senses than going to what people described to me as paradise.  Where was paradise?  I asked a few good friends I knew.  Many had said it's in Hawaii, but more specifically on the "Garden Island" as it is known called Kauai.

Kauai is one of the smaller islands of Hawaii, with a population of about 70,000 people.  It is filled with gorgeous scenery from an intense wet climate, birds and flowers full of color that you wont see anywhere else, and then surrounded by a gorgeous ocean and numerous beaches that feel like walking on the softest corn meal you have ever set foot on.

Repeated words and phrases kept coming up when I spoke with people about the place.  "Best Island".  "Paradise on Earth".  "Utopia".  "Intensely Green".  "Perfect".  Sounded like a perfect place for a vacation I thought, but what about the drink?  I of course also thought about the food (which by the way I strongly suggest you stick to lunch and street side trucks and shacks where it excels far beyond waitered table service but that's another story...), but was there good drinking also in paradise?  I am happy to report that there is.

The irony though when you first visit Kauai, is that the last thing you want to think about is food and drink.  Your senses are immediately drawn to what you see first as smells and taste take a backseat.  I also noticed that island culture here is really drawn to outdoor activity.  People are up early and in the water doing everything imaginable, surfing, snorkeling, fishing, kite boarding.. you name it.  It seemed like the last thing people wanted to do was care about food and drink.  But not our hero.  Why can't you have the best of both worlds?  And in many ways you can.

Shortly after I landed I found myself shopping for beer.  What irony and priorities huh?  

After a few short local trips it didn't take me long to find out that there was not much selection, but was happy to find that Deschutes is distributed here and was quite common.  Deschutes is one of my personal favorite breweries.  They are from Oregon and their beers are not available where I live. How nice it is to have with ample chances to get Inversion IPA and Mirror Pond while palm trees, lush beaches and perfect weather days surround you everywhere?  Pretty darn good I say, in fact I even found their winter seasonal here, but drinking a winter seasonal in this warm place during December probably would have ravaged the tiki gods and punished me in ways that I couldn't imagine.  It just seemed very wrong so I stuck with the IPA.

Besides some occasional beer found in markets, the island believe it or not actually has two breweries.  One of them is Kauai Island Brewing Company who is just outside the town of Hanapepe.

Pakala Porter

I tried several of their beers, and they pretty much pass the test for enjoyment. One of the things the brewery offers here is a pretty good selection of styles ranging from Ambers, Browns, Fruit Ales (using local Lilikoi fruit), Porter and IPAs.  Captain Cook's IPA was easily my favorite of the bunch, and while not a beer geeks wet dream, the beer has a very distinct and wonderful bursting tropical nose.  The tropical smell from this brew seemed so perfect for the islands setting.  Pakala Porter is also quite decent as well, with lots of coffee roasting rich qualities.

Not to be outdone also, is Kauai Beer Company, which is located on the Eastern area of the island in Lihue.

Kauai Beer Company's lineup

It's actually very close to the airport, so if you get a hankering for some beer right when you land, this is short drive up Rice St not far away.  The place has a classic brewery tasting room welcoming vibe, with lots of open seating, large flags hanging from the ceiling, a window that shows the breweries workings from behind the bar, and a gorgeous large piece of Norfolk pine that accents the bar.

Unlike Kauai Island Brewing, Kauai Beer Co. focuses on German styles of beer and specifically lagers.

 There are only about 5 beers in their lineup, with 2 guest taps, but it is the Munich Helles styles that the brewer here has done their best work in.  While the brewery does make a Marzen and Schwarzbier that go for malt caramel and roasty qualities, their simple take on Munich Helles with beers like Helles Swelles and Lihue Lager are just done so well.  A decent dense malt bill, with light toasty white bread finish and bakery aromas and aftertaste showcase on the palate.  They make for easy drinking and could even convert regular macro drinkers over in my opinion.

Still drinking in Kauai does not exclusively mean beer.  On a trip to a local market, an interesting product was on the shelves, a dark glowing blue labelled bottle that appeared to look like Blue Nun wine.  Going out of your way for Blue Nun in Hawaii?  Hell no!  Kauai has a local meadery called Nani Moon Mead that makes tropical honey wines.

Mead is essentially a wine like beverage derived primarily from honey.  The honey used at Nani Moon is local to the island, with many of the other ingredients being local tropical fruit, cacao, and other spices.  I tried two products one called Cacao Moon, a mead made with local cacao, vanilla beans and macadamia nut blossom honey.

Excellent vanilla notes, with some chocolate character however, it's honey character and mix of flavors seem to clash a bit for my personal tastes.  A better option I enjoyed was the Winter Sun which is made with local wildflower honey, starfruit, and lilikoi.

It pairs really nicely with food as I grabbed some local shrimp, shoyu poke, and super fresh ripe avocado.  A bit of marinating on the grill, and then just simple avocados which were in season (they were incredibly fresh and perfect), it worked as a nice fruity wine for dinner.

But life would not be complete for an island drink adventure if there was no rum.  Luckily Kauai provides this as well.  The Koala Rum company uses tall cane sugar from the islands and currently has 5 rum products.

Their coconut rum is quite appealing, not overly sweet or saccharine tasting, but comes with a great toasty and creamy flavor.  The real treat however is Koala's dark rum, which has incredible tasting flavors of coffee and bitter dark chocolate.

It was one of the more unique rums I have had, and was quite impressed how flavorful it was to just drink it neat.  Tourists and locals joined us in the tasting room with a good feel and sense of camaraderie.  "I work about 10 minutes away, and been living here for 6 years, I've never heard of this place." said one woman at the counter.  "Well come in anytime you like and have a shot with us!" said the young man behind the counter.

Now that's one great work schedule if you ask me.

So if you can pull yourself away from majestic sea turtles, helicopter tours, and suntanning on the beach, you can find inside some real treats on this Garden Island.  After all, as we shared stories of island beauty with sips of rum, beer, and mead with others in between, what better way to experience paradise?  Truly the best of both worlds.

Stealing spirits away from the brewery, acting like a Rogue in Portland

Rogue brewery and distillery is probably one of the most well know beer places in Portland. In my time spent in DC I would see Rogue's beers all over on the shelves. I discovered they make spirits as well, and bought a light rum of theirs which I did in a blind tasting. In that tasting I picked up a tasty rum that had a nutty almost almond component to it. It was very good. When I discovered they made gin and whiskey I knew what I wanted to sink my imbibing teeth in to if I ever visited.

I arrived at the bar, and was greeted immediately with a drink. "Here ya go", said the friendly guy behind the bar, "This is our Chateau Wet Hop." he finished placing a glass right in front me waiting for me to consume. So how about that, you walk in to the place.. and they give you free beer. The Wet Hop Ale was very grassy on the nose, but was fairly easy drinking, nothing too excited to get crazy about.

Now of course I was not going to take advantage of this and just leave oh no... There was much work to be done. Rogue I find is kind of overwhelming cause they make so much stuff it seems. Their beer list is extensive, and it's charmingly displayed with a muscle made man in various forms of dress, and always with a prominent red star displayed. Many times I can never remember which unique bottle contains what. However, I remembered that I was really intent on having the spirits here. When I glanced up at the board looking at a good spirit listing, I saw gin, rum and whiskey calling out to me.


"I'll have the Dead Guy Whiskey", I remarked, highly anticipating having more goodness. I sort of caught the bartender heading for the beer taps and then pouring. No no.. I mentioned... Whiskey... Ah he said, and grabbed me a shot. The Dead Guy Ale just so you know felt like it had a blueberry nose on it a bit with that same profile on the finish. The bartender already poured it. So what was the whiskey like?

Buttery. A very good front nose, buttery in smell and taste, and finish. It's all I could remember from it, like eating a stick of butter with some sweetness. Very tasty!

I was with someone during this time, and he ordered us oyster shooters while pounding back our bounty. He his stouts, me my whiskey, when I suddenly realized that whiskey and oysters is NOT a good food pairing by any stretch of the imagination.

Luckily when you are at the source, you can always count on help. I quickly asked the bartender for a beer that was something local, something that you probably couldn't find on the East coast (where I live). He remarked, "Try the Northwestern Ale."

AH! Perfect. He poured a great red headed copper color beer, which I quickly plunged my snout into.

Cinnamon, which was a real surprise, with a wet hoppy-ness taste and some citrus flavor. Perfect for my oyster. This was a very pleasant beer and quite surprising. I don't think I've ever had a beer that had such a distinct cinnamon nose on it.

Still I had to focus. SPIRITS man... SPIRITS... you're here for the SPIRITS... oh yeah right. I realized though that I had to pace myself. I got my colleague to order the Spruce Gin. Smooth with a piney front nose and a lemon finish, not harsh, a great tasting gin.

By this time after Clear Creek, Deschutes, and now Rogue, I was getting my fill. "Hey!" my colleague mentioned, "I need to eat" so we headed off to Bridgeport for of course... more beer and imbibing. I glanced at my watch. It was only 1:30. oh man... the day is just getting started.

AW SHOOT, why I need to come to Deschutes more often.

After having a morning breakfast of spirits (see previous blog posting), my next stop was to get some tasting and lunch.

When I first arrived in Portland I happened upon Deschutes by accident. I arrived early and had time to wait for my scheduled pickup, so I sat a nearby bar in PDX and ordered one of my favorite beer styles an IPA. It was the Inversion IPA from this brewery, and I had it on tap. It was a great beer and an explosion of grapefruit, and tasty hops. Woah! Welcome to Portland I'll say! Who are these guys? I certainly didn't hear or think of looking them up before I came.

Still the place lingered in the back of my head. I was sort of confused still about how to say their name. It didn't seem to role off the tongue easily, but the beer sure was memorable. After leaving Barista one morning I just happened to walk by their brewery just by luck in the Pearl district. Is this a sign? It was as if karma was telling me that I had to keep this place in mind. I glanced upon a perfectly hung neon sign jutting out at a perfect angle from the corner of a real nice brick building. Oh yeah, that's that place that made that tasty IPA I said to myself. Perhaps... I should... go here some time.... I made a mental note.... and walked away...

After my visit to Clear Creek I needed lunch and I wanted beer. When talking to someone the previous day, they mentioned they were at Deschutes and then started raving. DUDE they take hops from the field, in an HOUR and they are at the brewery and the make the beer right then and there man! There needed to be no more persuasion, the die had been cast. I was going to Deschutes.

I settled in and saw a great row of taps, and a beer menu that looked incredibly enticing. A sampler of six was available, and in many way I though about just getting three at a time so my beers wouldn't sit so long. But that's okay, the lunch time crowd was coming in, it was a little dark inside, somewhat noisy, there was no need to get super serious about this. I could enjoy the beer just so.

First was the Gluten Free ESB. I am not usually a fan of ESBs and the fact that this was a "Gluten-Free" ale had me confused. There were slight hops but a weak body and finish. I figured to try this one just out for curiosity of this "Gluten Free" concept, but in the end I have to say I actually didn't like this beer. In fact this was the only beer in Deschutes I had that I didn't want to drink. As I mentioned ESBs are not my thing (I did have a slightly better ESB at Bridgeport). That's okay I figured there were more. Next I had the Fresh Hop Mirror Pond, described from the menu as a staff favorite. This was pretty amazing. An apple like fruit nose with chewy hops, tasting of a squash body (much like Hair of the Dogs "Greg") nutty and a sweet finish. Finally things started getting good. Next was King Cone... oh man a nice wonderful slight smoke on the nose, transforming into pine (that was mentioned in the description and I agree with it). Citrus in finish but also has some resin and a lingering great hop taste. This was really impressive beer and much fun to be imbibing.

I was set on tasting the rest when suddenly someone approached me. "Excuse me?" I glanced up to see a young woman staring at me. "Oh hi!" I said... not sure what to say next, did this person work here? The young woman asked if I was a beer reviewer since she saw me across the room dunking my nose and writing notes. I told her about the blog and my writings, and she was from Napa and worked for a winery. We both loved the beer here and she felt the Mirror Pond also tasted like Schnapps. We shared great conversation about Napa and the Pinot Noirs here and had a nice chat. Hopefully if she is reading this she can send me her contact info of where she works. It was a nice chat.

Shortly after our conversation ended I sat to work on the next three beers. Summer's Gone Saison had a bitter nose, peppery as described and fruity. Is this a HefeWeizen? There was one on the menu and this sure looked and smelled like one. Tasting the beer it was lemony and also tasted like one. It was good it did feel like more alcohol perhaps than the Hefe so I guess this is it, but it sure felt like at first I was served the wrong thing.

Jubelale was next, dark and tasty agreed with the description provided, thrusting my pencil underlining hop bitterness on the menu, and detecting a faint anise in the aftertaste.

And with all that I finished with the Hop trip, perfectly as described with a fruit nose (couldn't pick that fruit out), and a chewy wet mouthfeel.

I settled back and took stock of great fresh hop beer much satisfied. I was set to leave when I just decided to take in the menu again looking up at the board above. Something jumped up at me that I had missed. "Cask IPA".

Shit... I was all set and packed away and ready to go (someone had called and I was meeting them shortly) when I realized I needed to try a sample. I quickly asked for it and then set to trying it out. Oh my god... a nose and taste loaded with hops, fruit, grapefruit, a buttery taste even some caramel. This had to be the only cask beer I have had that reminded of Bourbon characteristics, Butter, caramel, some oak... dear god it was good. I wanted a pint, a big friggin glass of this right then and there. Unfortunately I couldn't stay, and that was torture defined... right there. I have returned home since this write up, and I still think of that little glass sitting on the edge of the bar between me and the door, how I wish I could go back and fill it up right now. I still think about this place, I am thinking about it RIGHT NOW... and it's killing me. I want that cask IPA so bad. Somehow I will return for it and I will not ignore Deschutes any longer. Forgive me for not noticing you earlier for I have sinned, and I will come back to the chapel and repay in kind for not noticing you earlier.