Hawaiian Kukui Brand Mai Tai made with Koloa Rum. Daniel Lane photo

NEWS:

Koloa Rum Company

Good news from Honolulu magazine!

“Hawaii’s rum industry has blossomed, with four Hawaii brands now sitting on liquor store shelves, and rumors of a fifth in the works. We rounded up a half dozen of our non-teetotaling colleagues, opened four bottles of local light rum and a box of palate-cleansing crackers, conducted a blind taste test and declared a winner: KOLOA RUM CO.’s Kauai White. It’s both distilled and bottled locally (not all of the brands can say that) using Garden Isle water and sugar. Before Kauai’s last sugar plantation folded in 2010, Koloa stockpiled tens of thousands of pounds of its sugar, enough to last, at this point, another three to five years. In the meantime, the distillery has planted its own sugarcane and is experimenting with replacing processed sugar with fresh-pressed cane juice. Our taste testers gave second place to Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum, made on Maui. Honorable mentions went to both Old Lahaina Silver Rum (which hinted of rubbing alcohol) and Maui Platinum Rum (with notes of shower curtain and vinyl swimming pool).” Continue Reading →