Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 12, 1 December 2022 — INU ISLAND ALES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INU ISLAND ALES

< MO'OLELO NUI V ^ COVER STORY "

Inu lsland Ales Owner Kenkn Ecknrt works the tnps nt his 1,200 sq brewery and tnp room in Kōne'ohe. - Photo: Anuhea Park

Back in 2016, Keaka Eckart realized all of his vacations for the previous three years had been to cities with breweries that he wanted to visit, including Portland, Miami, Chicago, Denver, Alexandria, San Diego, Santa Cruz and San Antonio. "I'm an avid craft beer consumer, so I wanted eheek out the trends in the mainland's beer scene in person," he said. "Beer is like fashion; people have their longtime favorite styles, but new things are always coming out." So when Eckart learned in 2017 that (the now-defunct) Stewbum & Stonewall Brewing Co. was moving from Kāne'ohe to a bigger location in Chinatown he jumped at the ehanee to purchase its fully operational l,200-square-foot facility and launeh his own brand. The opening of Inu Island Ales that year added another full-time job to his plate (he still does sales for a pest eontrol company), but it's a labor of love. Eckart wants to introduce more modern beer styles to Hawai'i including Pastry Stouts, whieh mimie the sweet flavors of candy, cookies and desserts; Hazy IPAs, described as juicelike because of its cloudy appearance

due to less filtering and a fruity hop taste - although it's not brewed with real fruit; and Fruited Sour Beers, so named because of the fruit added during the fermentation process. "Our goal is to use as many loeal ingredients as possible," Eckart said. "Besides the obvious fruits such as mango, guava and pineapple, we have brewed beers with Hawaiian honey, coffee and vanilla beans. We're best known for our stouts and sour ales. Flavors change every week; there's always something new to try!" Those who prefer dark beer were recently able to enjoy Uhe Bay, a limited release made of ube, vanilla and white chocolate stout. Fans of fruited sours will be happy to know the popular Sandbar Essentials, made with strawberry and liliko'i, will be re-released in early 2023. Eckart and head brewer Jeremy Brooks create the flavors, and they are all ears when customers have suggestions. "A lot of regulars bring in beer from their travels for us to taste, and if we like something, we try to eome up with our version of it," Eckart said. "Visitors often bring beer samples from where they're ffom, too. We've tried beers from all over the world and especially like those from Belgium. I do the same thing whenever I travel. My favorite thing about craft beer is the sharing." Inu Island Ales sells only Chex Mix and Kanak Crack Snacks, but patrons are weleome to bring in their own food. "Beer goes with everything," Eckart said. "We always have seven on tap, and there will be a style that will be great with whatever you bring to eat."

ADDRESS: 46-174 Kahuhipa Street, Kane'ohe, O'ahu PHONE: (808) 202-3684 WEBSITE: inuislandales.com NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 7 NUMBER OF BARRELS PRODUCED IN 202I: 225 NUMBER OF BEERS: Flavors of the seven beers on tap constantly change. They usually include one stout, two IPAs, three fruited sours and one lighter beer such as a Pilsner or lager. OTHER PLACES TO FIND THEM: Inu lsland Ales beers are primarily sold at its taproom. ALSO OF NOTE: Inu lsland Ales donates a 1 1 of its spent grain to loeal farmers to useforfeed and compost.