Day: November 28, 2014

Written by Tom Becham for PGA

I confess my impressions of Kauai Island Brewing were somewhat confusing, however.

Keep in mind I will make every effort to be fair here.

I had visited KIB once before when it was still called Waimea Brewing some years ago. I left unimpressed. Admittedly, I was still a newbie to craft beer at that time. Plus, where beer is concerned, I will always give it a second, or even third, chance.

The brewpub is an airy place, mere feet from a municipal fishing boat dock, so the result is the rare brewpub that specializes in fresh fish dishes. And to give you an idea of how good the food is, when I

visited, two locals were sitting behind my table having lunch. One was drinking Heineken, the other Coors Light. Yes, the food is so good that even industrial beer drinkers will come in for a meal.

The beer is kind of a mixed bag, however.

I’m not saying the beer was bad, by any means. It just seemed monotonous and without variety. Admittedly, they were out of their award-winning brown ale, and their lilikoi (passion fruit) ale. But every single other beer on their list (8 of them) were hop bombs except for the Pakala Porter. I can appreciate a hoppy beer. But I like variety, as do most beer geeks. And newbies will be absolutely turned off by this line-up.

Individually, here are my impressions: Continue reading “Let’s Go Brew Through Hawaii with Tom Becham! (Part 2)”

PGA: we republished Maria Devan’s profile at at the end of this one so the reader may compare.

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

The nose is cascade/American hop/citrus like with a light grapefruit sense. Very light pilsener malt in the background.

Mostly good clarity with the very slightest sense of haze. The head is pillow with a few bubbles big to small.

I have to ask up front: what the hell makes this “wild?” I understand; they used wild hops, but if you get the same result as if you used regular commercial hops: what the hell’s the point?

Otherwise: if you’re looking for a light, slightly hoppy beer that has a slight pils sense to it, but none of that lager/sulfur sense: this is it For that it’s exceptional. A great gateway beer for the somewhat hop adverse quaffer.
Continue reading “Beer Profile: Saranac Wild Hops Pils”