Kona Brewing Company of Hawaii was founded in 1994 by a father and his son. Kona's initial beers were Pacific Golden Ale (now called Big wave Golden Ale) and Fire Rock Pale Ale in 1995. Just a few years later in 1998, Kona opened their first brewpub in Kailua-Kona, HI. In the past twelve years Kona has introduced over ten additional beers and opened two more brewpubs, including one in the Honolulu airport. Kona also produces its beer in the contiguous United States through the Craft Brewers Alliance in both Portland, OR and Portsmouth, NH. (Actually, Kona has just been purchased for 14 million by Craft.)
For this taste test I tried a bottle of the Wailua Wheat Ale Brewed with Passion Fruit. This limited release beer is available from March to September, and is an award winning brew, last taking a prize at the Portland Spring Beer & Wine Festival in Portland, OR in 2009 in the wheat beer category. Kona suggests that this beer be enjoyed after a day at the beach and paired with foods like grilled fish, roasted chicken, or vanilla ice cream.
Details:
12 oz bottle
5.4% abv
Bottled: 6/26/10
Our results:
Alien: Golden in color. Only slightly hoppy. Even though there it contains passion fruit* it is not overwhelmingly fruity. The fruit taste appears almost as a pleasant aftertaste. It is thicker than expected, almost gel-like.
*Alien recently ate lunch at Chef Rick Bayless' restaurant Frontera Grill in Chicago. Alien ordered a "Sparking Passion" drink for lunch which consisted of Harpoon's UFO (also a wheat beer), tangy jamaica, fresh lime, and passion fruit and enjoyed that combination of wheat beer/passion fruit much more. Here's the recipe.
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