Once in a while, you are just sitting around a brewery enjoying a few beers and you run into an opportunity that you just can not pass up. This was the case a few weeks back when I was at 1 For All Brewery in Livonia, Michigan. Sitting at the bar was our Second Brewer of Christmas, Rob Henry, who with his fellow brewer Sarah Foreman, have perfected their recipes thousands of miles away from Michigan at Mahalo Aleworks in Makawao, on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii. This sounds like an awesome place to brew beer for a living. I never thought we would be featuring a brewer from Hawaii on the page, but this is an opportunity I couldn’t let fall to the wayside.
How did a brewer from Hawaii end up at a brewery in Livonia for me to interview them? Well the answer is quite simple, Rob Henry got his start in the brewing industry at Liberty Street Brewing Company way back in 2008, but Rob had left the company long before I began working at the brewery myself. After he left Liberty Street, he went on to brew at quite a few different places in Michigan. Some of the places that Rob brewed at include ROAK, Rochester Mills, and Axle Brewing Company. After that he ventured to Hawaii to brew beer for Maui Brewing Company, but that as he said, didn’t quite pan out the way that he wanted it to. He then nestled into his current position as Head Brewer at Mahalo Aleworks, and the rest is history.
Rob’s inspiration started when he saw clips of Alton Brown brewing beer, and from there he was hooked to the idea of brewing his own beer. When it comes to brewing beer for a living, Rob would advise against it these days, Rob recommends that you brew beer for a hobby and not a paycheck. When you are doing it for a living, you are usually brewing something someone else wants, not what you are interested in brewing. Rob’s advice, keep brewing beer as a hobby, and love the hobby, it is much more enjoyable than brewing for a living.
After 16 years of brewing in a professional setting, Rob has gained a wealth of beer knowledge and that has helped him to keep the passion for brewing beer burning brightly for him. He enjoys making a product that people want to try, not something that is an absolute necessity to have, an affordable luxury so to speak. He also likes to hear feedback upon their creations, and enjoys interacting with people over the beer that they brew.
When it comes to the beers that Rob enjoys brewing, he really enjoys brewing styles that “are complex, but don’t ask too much of the consumer”. A style that he is particularly fond of is Saisons, he likes brewing beer that leans to the drier side of the beer spectrum. Rob with the help of Sarah has been working on perfecting a Midwest Style IPA, which is a style that people aren’t too familiar with in Hawaii, and he is trying to bring his love of the Midwest to the island. Rob does not like to complicate his beers too much. You probably aren’t going to be seeing a Triple Pastry Stout Sour IPA brewed 400 feet under the sea anytime soon on their taplist.
As far as brewing beer thousands of miles away in Hawaii goes, Rob enjoys having fresh beer on the island. Getting fresh beer on the islands of Hawaii can be very difficult at times. Brewing beer on the island does present challenges that are different than on the mainland though. Costs are much higher to get supplies on the island, and procuring the ingredients you need for certain brews is about ten times more difficult. Sometimes you can only get certain ingredients, which can lead to you having to brew what you can, as opposed to what you want to brew. All of these factors lead to higher beer costs at the brewery itself, Rob mentioned he hopes people understand why the prices of beer on the island are quite high.
A unique factor that I never thought of myself when it comes to the craft beer scene in Hawaii, it is difficult to know what is going on and to keep up with the trends outside of the Hawaii Brewing scene. When people come into the brewery Rob noted that they all want classic styles, such as Red Ales. As he said, “Who the hell drinks Red Ales anymore?”. Which creates the challenge of walking the line of brewing beer that the tourists want and the beers that the residents and the craft beer connoisseurs of the island would like to have.
One question that I asked of Rob was if there were things that he missed about brewing on the mainland as opposed to on the island. He responded that he misses the wider, craft beer scene in general. Being insulated on the island makes getting feedback on the beers a little harder than his days brewing on the mainland. He misses having fellow local brewers constantly coming in and critiquing their work so that they can change and improve the beer more often.
On your visit to Mahalo Aleworks you can expect to see a constantly rotating taplist of delicious beer. Some of the beers that they brew include Sours, which they use local tropical fruits in the recipes to give you an experience you can’t really get anywhere else in the world. They use tropical fruits in a lot of their other beers also. Mahalo Aleworks also has the standard styles that most breweries have including but not limited to IPAs, Stouts, Ales, and Lagers. There will be a little something for everyone on your visit to this tropical paradise.
If you are planning on visiting Hawaii anytime soon, pay a visit to Mahalo Aleworks on the island of Maui. Our Second Brewer of Christmas, Rob Henry will be waiting for you with 14 taps of their delicious creations for you to enjoy during your Hawaiian vacation. Aloha!
#cheers #brewery #beer #beerlovers #craftbeer #drinklocal #hawaiilife
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