I reinforced my admonition to never judge a beer by the first or even second sip. That worked for this one in spades. The first sip I thought, nah, they didn’t get it right. By the third, I had changed my mind completely and now rank this one up there over my local Hilo based Volcano Red Ale.
This one settled in without the bitter mouth feel like many others. I still think Echigo Red from Japan is the best and one that will always be hard to beat. Finding Echigo in can form in Japan was really enjoyable.
Aloha lager was the only one from this Honolulu based brewer I had tried before. I found that one in my local super market in Hilo. This one I just found at our one real liquor store in town, so I jumped on it. Nice find, I always like to see something new from Hawaiian brewers to try.
As per my usual criteria, would I buy this again, absolutely. Would I make this a weekly or monthly drink, yes indeed. I forgot the price and need to look that up but if it is reasonable, this is one I would go to quite often.
The abv for the red is 4.6 I believe, which would be quite low for a brew of this type. They also make, Aloha dark, Aloha IPA and Aloha Blonde beside this nice red.
Site admin stepping in here just to clarify the status of Aloha Brewery. They brewed beer in Honolulu for years and eventually closed up shop. That location has since been taken over by the Hoku Brewing Co.
Aloha has just recently started the permit process to open a new brewery in Kakaako. Currently the Aloha beer found in Hawaii is bottled in San Jose, California. Hopefully the permitting will go without a hitch and they can start brewing in Hawaii again soon. Be on the lookout for it.
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