Kohola Red Sand Ale Beer Review

Red Sand Ale

Review Date 5/3/2017

Try? Re-buy?

Kohola Brewery! It’s the newest brewery on the Hawaiian island of Maui (to be fair, they are the second brewer on the island of Maui), and there was no way I was leaving Maui without a visit. The plan was to drop by on Friday, which we eventually did, but I got a preview of their beer on Thursday with a pint of Kohola Red Sand Ale at Kimo’s Restaurant in Lahaina.

I enjoyed my Red Sand Ale with a lunch of Kimo’s famous fish and chips: Maui Brewing Co. Bikini Blonde Lager battered, house made tartar sauce, apple cider mustard coleslaw ($14). Now, I’m not much of a day drinker, and noontime is almost always too soon for me to open a beer. Noon is Hawaii, however, is 6 PM EST-so I wasn’t really day drinking. Right?

From the website:

Our Irish Style Red Ale is a light-medium bodied ale with toasted malt flavor and aroma, and mild roasted character as a background note from the black malt addition. Hop character is reminiscent of earth, spice, and citrus from CTZ (Columbus, Tomahawk and Zeus) and Fuggle. We dry hopped this with CTZ & Fuggle again to put an island spin on this beautiful beer. This beer is named after the “pocket” Red Sand Beach in Maui. As Irish Red ales are not common to the islands of Hawaii, this is truly a “pocket” style in paradise.

Ingredients per Kohola:

Malt 2-Row, CaraAmber, Crystal 60, Black Malt

Hops CTZ (Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus), UK Fuggle

Yeast House Ale

Kohola Red Sand Ale has an alcohol content of 5.4% by volume with 26 IBUs. I paid $8.50 for my draft pint at Kimo’s. Kohola is Hawaiian for whale, and you can see the whale’s tale in their logo. The brewery opened in December of 2015 and has earned high regard amongst beer lovers.

My glass of Kohola Red Sand Ale arrived a deep reddish hue (what did you expect?) with a gently nutty nose, a smooth light toasty maltiness throughout, a hint of berry fruit, stewed malts, and a perfumey dry hop finish. I enjoyed this beer while looking out on the Pacific and the islands of Molokai and Lanai in the distance.