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The Craft Brewers
by Jen Russo
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Maui Brewing Company’s Garret Marrero and Melanie Oxley were very busy last year, like Maui menehune of beer. Now, the Valley Isle can boast along with them that we have the the largest craft brewery in the state.
Their production facility expansions in 2010 included two 47,000-pound grain silos and a half-dozen 100-barrel fermenters, plus a few 14-barrel fermenters for experimental brews.
You can stop by and sample during open hours at the Lahaina facility, where they also launched tours of the brewing and canning areas. It’s a real get-to-know-your-beer experience.
“Not only have we won more medals than any other craft brewery in the state, but now we also have the largest capacity in Hawaii,” says Marrero. “We are honored and thankful that craft beer fans both locally and around the world have embraced our products so wholeheartedly.”
MBC was also a major catalyst behind the Brewers Festival—Maui’s first-ever beer fest and a fundraiser for the Maui Arts & Cultural Center—which will celebrate three years in May. And their commitment to the environment is unflagging; they purchase recycled equipment whenever possible, and pass spent grain to local ranchers for compost and feed.
Their seven-barrel Kahana Brewpub is a hot spot on the West side, where patrons can sample unique brews like Santa’s Helper, Milk of Amnesia and Amber Reign on an ice bar along with gourmet pub food and regular entertainment.
With their new high speed canning line just completed—increasing their canning capacity from 27 cans per minute to 300—they refuse to rest on their laurels. Other expansions for 2011 include adding a solar array installation in the brewpub and the production brewery. Just another year for our busy little beer elves.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE from MauiTime’s January 13 cover story “20 for ’11: Who Matters on Maui?” featuring twenty movers and shakers in art, food and politics who are shaping our island’s future.
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