Maui Brewing Company Visit

Well, I'm married, and I am so lucky. We've been together for over three years and it continues to get better every day. I mean, not everyone would support someone actively pursuing drinking for research. That sounds like a smokescreen for alcoholism. Yes honey, I'm opening this beer to see what it tastes like and then I'm going to write about it. She's actually the one that encouraged me to start writing. We've been to wine certification classes and hold WSET Certs after being taught by a master sommelier, tasting is a vacation for us, and we plan trips around food, wine, and beer. So, when I told her I was going to take my groomsmen and some family to the Maui Brewpub to drink on the day before our wedding she didn't bat an eye. She was going to the spa to relax with her girls I was going to the brewery to drink and see the machinations behind the beer. Totally normal.

I was excited to go because I had read all about how eco-friendly Maui BrewCo is. Everything is recycled, reclaimed, or reused, from the water, to the sun that powers it, the restaurant's spent vegetable oil is used for bio-diesel, even the spent grain is used to feed local livestock. I was really excited to see this place, my friends were excited to drink beer. These are the friends that managed to put away 5 cases of beer in 4 days. There were 3 of us. Is that a lot? Oh, and I didn't drink much beyond "research" because I had so much wedding stuff going on so call it 2.5 people Vs. 5 cases of beer.

Ok, so I dragged my friends on a 45 minute drive past Lahaina to get there. I was a little dissappointed because the brewery was closed for tours so we could only go to the restaurant. But the beer, oh the beer. Commercially I had only been able to get my hands on 3 different Maui styles. Their ,Coconut Porter(Reviewed), their Big Swell IPA, and their Bikini Blonde but they actually brew well over 11 different styles. I'll be reviewing several of them in the coming days mixed in with others I've been backburnering.

The restaurant was very spartan in decor and was essentially one large room, some TV's, a bar in the corner with the taps, and some fermenters. I wasn't impressed with the restaurant, especially when I've been other places(Deschutes, Rogue, Etc.) that had much more expansive and interesting dining. I could forgive the decor if the food was up to par (I already knew the beer would be) but unfortunately it wasn't either. I got a grilled mahi sandwich that was pitiful. The fish(more like a minnow) was about 1/3 of the size of the bun(and the bun was small) and I had to pay extra for a MEAGER salad. The only high point was the onion rings(The wings were NOT spicy) so aside from the beer Maui BrewCo. was a bit of a disappointment. Anyway here's some more pics from the restaurant. I only wish the actual brewery would have been open. I did pick up a shirt, a pint glass, and a growler of their AMAZING red. That was the highlight of the trip. Oh, and drinking the red that night at our condo with the guys and plowing through all the BBQ leftovers we had from the rehearsal picnic and the ribeyes we had charcoaled the night before