Sunday, May 17

 

Hi Everyone.  Howzit? We’re doing good here.  Just relaxing on a lazy Sunday morning, watching the Red Wings and bumming around the house.  We  hit  Hapuna Beach yesterday, on the Kohola Coast.  The weather was perfect and the surf was decent, giving us some decent waves to play in.  We spent a good portion of the day at the beach and then headed back to Hilo, ate dinner at Aloha Luigis and then did some errands before coming back home and having a few drinks.   Today was pretty mellow as well.  I got up pretty early so that I could watch the Red Wings playoff game.  The game started at 9 a.m. Hawaii time. It feels kind of strange to be watching a hockey game so early in the morning, but I’ll watch hockey anytime.  I do think that i am one of the only hockey fans on this island.  I went into work for a few hours this afternoon and am now back home getting things in order for next week.  Things will be busy as usual.  We’ve been brewing almost 24 hours a day for several weeks and have no plans of stopping this pace.  The demand for our beers is growing and we don’t expect or hope that changes.   Our sales team has secured some huge accounts on Oahu, which only means that we need to brew more beer.  It’s a good problem to have.  Maybe someday we’ll consider distributing our beers to the mainland, but for now we are going to concentrate on Hawai’i and Japan.  Hope everyone is well. Aloha.

Monday, May 11

Hi there.  Howzit? Doing good  here. I took a rare day off today and Jess and I headed  to the Ka’u district of the Big Island to check out Punalu’u Black Sand Beach.  The weather report said the area was supposed to have some sun, but when we got there, there was no sun.  However, there were quite a few large sea turtles hanging out on the beach.  This beach is well known as a home for the Hawaiian Sea Turtle, or Honu.  It’s also pretty crowded with tour buses.  The beach was beautiful and full of very fine dark black sand as you can see from the picture. On a sunny day, this place would be ideal to spend some time.  The Ka’u district of the Big Island is near the southern most point on the island and is also the southern most point of the entire United States.  We ate lunch at a restaurant that claimed to be the southern most restaurant in the U.S. Although, I do think there was another restaurant just down the road. The turtles on this beach were some of the biggest that I’ve ever seen and I was amazed at how gentle and calm these creatures are.  They only occasionally moved parts of their bodies and couldn’t have cared less that there were about 50 people taking pictures at any given time.   So after lunch, we thought about driving to Kona, but the weather was calling for some scattered showers.  Rather than take a chance, we figured we’d just head home and relax.   However, by the time we got back into the Puna District, the sun was shining and we figured that we’d try to find Kehena Beach, a black sand beach that is pretty popular on the east side of the island.  After a quick consultation with a map, we were headed in the

  right direction.   We found the beach and as we were heading down the trail to the beach, we noticed something…….. Most everyone was naked.  Oh yeah, full on naked – running, swimming, bodysurfing, hanging upside down from trees.   There were a few people with clothes on, so we headed down to what is easily the nicest beach on the east side of the island.  It was actually one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever seen in my life and not because of the naked people.  In fact, the naked people made it a bit awkward at first, but after awhile, you just get used to it.   The waves were huge, 5-6 foot shore breaks.   I ventured out a little bit and got my ass handed to me and have some cuts and scrapes as a memory  of our first trip to what we now know is a sweet nude beach.  Hope all is well with all of you.  Aloha

Sunday, May 10

Hi Everyone.  Howzit? It’s been more than two months since we’ve written anything.  We’ve been busy and honestly haven’t had much time to write.  Keeping up a blog is far harder than I thought it was and it always was the thing that got cut from the list at the end of day.    I’ll try harder to get more up. 

Wednesday, March 11

Hi there. Howzit? Doing good here. The past week has been INSANE in terms of weather. We got 19 inches of rain in a three day period. I have never seen this kind of precipitation in my life. It was conducive to doing absolutely nothing but staring at the rain. We also had an earthquake on Monday. It was a 5.2 magnitude quake, moderate according to earthquake officals. No damages were reported and thankfully a Tsunami wasn't generated. The quake happened about 6.5 miles north of downtown Hilo on the Hamakua Coast. I didn't feel a thing, however Jess said the house shook. The sun is making it's first appearance in several days this morning, which is a welcome sight for me. The clear skies also allowed for a nice view of the Mauna Kea Volcano, whose top is covered in snow. Mauna Kea (white mountain) is presently a dormant volcano, having last erupted about 4,500 years ago. The volcano is estimated to be 1 million years old. The rest of the work week looks to be busy. I am brewing Primo tomorrow with the brewers from Pabst and then Jess and I are headed to Kona for the Kona Brewer's Festival. We've got a brewer's dinner to attend on Friday night and then the actual festival on Saturday. It should be a fun time. I found us a nice little vacation rental that allows animals, so Berkley can come with us. Alright, time to get moving. Hope everyone is well. Aloha.

Tuesday, March 3

Hey Everyone. We're still here!! Both us have colds right now and are not feeling too well at all. I am super busy right now with work, brewing every day this week. It's going to be tough, considering the cold I have. Oh well, I haven't been sick in three years. I guess I was due. Otherwise, things are fine here. We've had a few decent storms which have dumped some rain on us in the past 10 days. It is kind of strange going from living in Arizona, which gets six inches of rain a year -- to living in a place which can get six inches of rain in one week during the winter. A lot of the rain seems to happen at night, which is just fine by me. Despite my cold, we went to Kona on Saturday to spend some time on the beach, but the 30 mph trade winds had other plans for us. So, instead of the beach, we checked out Kona and had some lunch. The picture above is from the pier in downtown Kona. Will post more soon. Aloha.

Monday, Feb. 23

Hey there. Howzit? Doing good here. I am back in Kauai for a few days. I got here yesterday and spent the day on the beach enjoying some good-sized waves. My true reason for being here is work. We're doing the second-phase of shut-down, so I will be here until tomorrow night. We put in a pretty good sized day today and are loading up a 20-foot shipping container to send back to Hilo. We'll load a second 20 foot container tomorrow as well and they send them off to the port for the voyage to Hilo. Although I love the Big Island, being back in Kauai is great. I really wish Jess could have come over with me. This island will always be special to me for many reasons. I feel very at home in Kauai and it was nice when people recognized me when I got back here. Alright, enough Kauai gushing. I am headed back tomorrow on the late flight and should get back to Hilo around 8:40 p.m. and then back to work early on Thursday. I will post again after I get back. Sorry for the sparse posts lately, I've been busy. Take care. Aloha.

Sunday, Feb. 14

Hi everyone. Happy Valentine's Day, if you're celebrating it. It's been raining here pretty much all day, with the exception of a few hours early this morning when I was at the gym. I also worked today, bringing my total hours for the week well above 60. I had a somewhat relaxed day though. I cleaned a few service tanks and then did a bunch of paperwork. The picture of me is up on my perch above the brewery floor, where my desk is located. It's a perfect spot to keep an eye on things that are going on. It also keeps people from slacking off if they know I'm up there. I can also see into my boss' office from here, so all in all it's a pretty stellar vantage point. This week was really busy and pretty productive. We had some equipment failures and one struggling fermentation, but things are good and everything is working as it should be. There's only so much you can control as a brewer and then you have to let science happen. My patience was tested far too many times this week. Next week looks to be pretty busy as well, but I am hopeful it will go a bit smoother than this one did. Anyhow, I get a day off tomorrow, which is cool. We were planning on going to the beach, but it looks like it's supposed to be cloudy with some scattered showers -- so, maybe not. Jess is doing good also. She hit the farmer's market today and picked up a bunch of great stuff. I think we're going to take it easy tonight. Hope everyone is well. Aloha.

Wednesday, Feb. 11

Hi there. Howzit? Doing good here. I am really tired. Had a huge start to my work week and am now just catching my breath. On Monday, I picked up our Head brewer, Dave Campbell, who flew in from Oahu. We spent the day going over procedures in the brewery and getting things ready for our brew day on Tuesday. We brewed the first batch of Hawai'i Nui beer at the Hilo facility. The brew went well and fermentation should hopefully start by tomorrow morning. Dave stayed the night with us on Monday and I took him to the airport last night at about 8 p.m. During our brew on Tuesday, we were visited by several members of the Pabst Brewing Company. They came to evaluate The facility and give us the OK to start brewing Primo, which is a beer that originated in Hawai'i. Things went really well and at one point, I had two brewmasters with more than 30 years experience apiece standing on my brewhouse complimenting me on the vigorous nature of my boil. It was an honor, to say the least. The rest of the week will be busy and unfortunatley include a full day of work on Saturday. Jess is doing good and says she'll post a blog very soon. I've heard that before :)... Aloha.

Sunday, Feb. 8

Hi everyone. Howzit? Hope everyone had a good weekend. Ours was good here. On Friday night, we hung out with some of my co-workers who were having a barbecue at the brewery. They are a cool bunch of people and we had a good time drinking beer and taking too many shots of sake with them. We spent all day on Saturday at Hapuna Beach. And as you can see from the photo on the left, the waves were really nice. We boogie boarded for hours and got some great sun. We also saw more whales breaching in the open ocean. This time they were way closer and we got an even better view. After we had our fill of waves, we got in the prius and headed to Waimea where we had a late lunch at Tako Taco, a great Mexican place that's owned by the former Brewmaster at Mauai Brewing Company. The food there is really good and was much needed after the beach. We got home around 5 p.m. and took it easy, had a few drinks and went to bed. Today we got up late and went downtown to walk Berkley and pick up a few things from the farmer's market for dinner tomorrow night. One of our brewers is coming in from Oahu tomorrow night and will be staying with us. So, we'll cook some pasta. On Tuesday, a few Brewmasters from Pabst are coming to Hilo to evaluate our brewery so that we can get the OK to start brewing Primo in Hilo. It's going to be a huge week for me that will likely include a few long days. Well, it's dinner time, so that's it from me. Aloha.

Monday, Feb. 2

Hi there. Howzit? Doing good here. We had a nice weekend that included a trip to Costco and Hapuna Beach yesterday. The Prius arrived here on Friday, so we were eager to take it for a ride to the other side of the island. We stocked up on a bunch of stuff at Costco and then hit the beach for the some sun and waves. At one point while we were boogie boarding, we saw several Humpback Whales breaching in the open ocean. It was really great to see, those whales are HUGE and make quite a splash when then hit the water. Not sure if it was the same whale or several others with it, but we saw five or six really good breaches. Jess actually screamed the first time she saw it. I wish I would have been able to get a picture or a video. After the beach, we headed back to Hilo, ate some dinner and then went to listen to some jazz at a local bar called the Emerald Orchid. The music was pretty good. Since I worked six days last week, I took today off, so we can get our car registered and take care of some errands. Work is going fine for me, staying really busy. We're going to be bottling and filtering this week, in preparation for a huge order that will go out mid-February. Alright, time to wake up Jess. Aloha.

Wednesday, Jan. 28

Hi everyone. Howzit? Doing good here. I am pretty wiped out... We've been brewing double batches all week and have one more to do tomorrow. We brewed out Humpback Blue on Tuesday. That beer is a kolsch-style ale that is light in color and bitterness. It's a nice easy drinker and sells pretty well for us. From now until the end of week, we're brewing our Volcano Red Ale, which is an American Red Ale with a pronounced hop character. The Volcano Red is also one of our best sellers. I have to work on Saturday as well and am contemplating taking Sunday off. Work has been really busy, but it's been great too. It's certainly a challenge, but that keeps things interesting. Jess and Berkley are doing good, both continuing to get used to Hilo and living in Hawaii in general. So far neither have any complaints. However, Berkley does miss his dog door and thinks his new dog bed we bought him is so-so. We're thinking about going over to Kona on Sunday to boogie boarding and then do some Costco shopping after that. I'm looking forward to spending some time in the ocean. Right now, Jessie is cooking some dinner with stuff she bought at Farmer's Market today. She really likes the market and I'm enjoying having someone who enjoys cooking dinner. When we were apart, I ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and microwaved veggie burgers. I also did my laundry without separating whites and colors and frequently used waay too much soap. Alright, time for me to eat dinner. Hope all is well with everyone. Aloha.

Sunday, Jan. 25

Hello everyone. Howzit? Doing good here. We've had a pretty busy and productive day here so far. Jess and I got up about 7:30 a.m. and went down to the gym, where she got a membership. We hit the treadmills for 30 minutes and then got on the ellipticals for another 20 minutes of cardio. Jess loved the gym and were hoping to meet up for workouts when our schedules allow for it. After working out, we hopped into the landlords junker and went over to the recycling center and the dump, where you can dump your trash for free. Trash removal in Hawaii is really expensive and most people just throw their trash in the car and get rid of it at the dump, where it's free. Hawai'i also has a bottle return, so we took back our bottles and got a whopping $6. It's only five cents a bottle/can. We then went over to Island Naturals and did a bit of grocery shopping before we hit the brewery to pick up some growlers and feed the brewery cat. That pretty much cleared us for the rest of the day, but Berkley needed a walk so we took a nice stroll downtown and ending up walking about two miles by the time we got home. We've just been kicking back for the past hour or so and don't really have any big plans for the rest of the day. The weather today is pretty decent with short rain showers in between periods of sun and clouds. Temps are in the mid 70's. Hope everyone is doing well. Aloha.

Saturday, Jan. 24

Hi there. Howzit? Doing good here. Jess and I had a great day today. We got up fairly early and headed to Hapuna Beach, which is about 65 miles from Hilo. As we found out today, it was worth the drive. Hapuna is a half-mile long white sand beached on the Kohola Coast of the Big Island. The weather was good, about 80 degrees with a slight breeze from time-to-time. As luck would have it, I forgot the boogie boards today and the waves were about 2-4 feet -- perfect for riding. We spent the entire morning and some of the afternoon soaking up the sun and enjoying the warm ocean water. It was one of those days here where you just kind of look around in awe of everything, hardly believing that you actually live in this place. When I came to Hawai'i as a visitor, I always wondered what it would actually feel like to live here. Sometimes, it's a pretty overwhelming feeling. Most days it's hard to wipe the smile off my face. As I've said before, it's entirely possible to have a bad day here, but when things are going well as they normally do, it's almost an unreal feeling to be here. Alright, enough Hawai'i gushing from me. After we left Hapuna, we headed back to Hilo and went to the bastard version of Costco called "Cost You Less." It's a poor attempt at a Costco copycat and has the feeling of shopping in a garage. Sure, you can get 12 gallons of mayonnaise for $8, but I think I'll save my bulk shopping for when we're on Kona side. We did snag Berkley a new dog bed, which he seems to appreciate. Just finished up eating dinner and reading the newspaper. We were contemplating a trip to the Emerald Orchid, the local bar in Hilo, but we're both pretty wiped out and I think we'll opt for drinks on the front porch and call it an early night. We're going to get up early tomorrow and go work out at the gym and then do a bit of grocery shopping. Hope everyone is doing well. Aloha.

Aloha!

I hope you're all doing great..It's raining in Hilo a bit this morning. It's the first time I have seen any rain here. I apologize for my delay in writing..I've just been soaking it all in...
I made it!! Berkley did great, and adapted to Hawaii in about a minute, it seems. The travels to Covina/LA went well. The Pruis took off from port yesterday, and should be here in 2-3 weeks. Berkley and I did have a nice evening in the hotel in LA, then a whirlwind trip through the airport, but it went super smoothly...Berkley checked in easily, with an unbelievably helpful air cabby, or whatever they are called. I owe it to Walshman for the really great plan of action. Thanks! We flew, we arrived. I sweat, as did Berkley, for a good 3 days. We reunited with John and we're all still revelling in it. So nice to be around my best friend and partner in crime again. :) Hilo is amazing. So quirky and different and local. There is hardly any tourism at all, and mostly just people living. This side of the island is interesting...(not that I know any other side)..there's not really any beaches. The island is young. Here, there is new lava rock going right up to the ocean. So, there are county parks with man made lava boulder-created coves, sandy bottom...the sea crashes over the break and spits foam and water 30' in the air. We forgot our camera, or there would be a picture (instead of words) right here. The water is warm, and regardless of the lack of true beach, it is tropical and amazing. We have a view of Hilo Bay from the house. And..oh, the houses...the architecture is absolutely lovely. The houses are all small to medium size plantation style homes....think corrogated tin roofs with alcove-like porches, stone steps, which are covered in moss and flowers, leading up to the front door. It's truly beautiful. And this house, our house, is a 70 year old plantation style home. It has plenty windows and doors everywhere. Hardwood floors and old door knobs with skeleton keys. It's big, beautiful and dreamy..John really rolled the dog in the rug with this find.
So, I've been getting accustomed, or as much as one can in 9 days. The Farmers Market is more amazing than I expected, with so many tropical fruits and lots of vegetables and crafts and flowers...It's bustling and busy and is full of great deals on delicious things! Speaking of delicious things, I'm hungry now and going to close.
Lots of love to you. ~Aloha

Wednesday, Jan 21

Hi everyone. Howzit? Things are good here. We have both been pretty darn busy. Me, working like crazy and Jess getting acclimated to Hilo. I've been brewing a lot lately and working with the guys on staff to get things streamlined and make things more efficient overall. It's a somewhat difficult process, but it will be worth it in the end. So, yeah, I worked today and then went to the gym after work to spend some time on the treadmill. Jess got up early and went to the farmer's market and stocked us up on food. She really enjoys the Farmer's Markets. I promise, Jess will be posting soon. I am growing tired of blogging about her in the third person. It looks like I will actually have the weekend off, so maybe we'll get out and do a little exploring. I am ready for some beach time, personally. The weather has been really nice lately, mostly sun and a few showers here and there. I will wrap up my work week with a good amount of cleaning and then make the schedule for next week on Friday. I am also meeting with on of the investors for Hawaii Nui on Friday to discuss writing a blog for the Brewery's new web site. She really wants me to do it, so I think I will give it a shot. Alright, time for some drinks. Aloha.

Sunday, Jan. 18

Hey everyone. Howzit? We are doing good here. I finally got a day off today and Jess and I took advantage of some great weather and spent most of the day at Richardson's Beach Park, which is about four miles from the house. Hilo, being on the volcano side of the island, doesn't have the white sand beaches that most associate with Hawaii. There are pockets of sand, but for the most part, there's a good deal of lava rock on the Hilo side beaches. We found our little plot of sand, got some sun, did some swimming and just relaxed. We also stopped by the brewery today so I could check on two fermentations. I pitched new yeast for the brewery on Friday and was anxious to see if things were taking off. Both tanks are fermenting well, which will allow us to supply the entire brewery with a new, clean strain of yeast. Last night, I took Jess to one of Hilo's local bars, The Emerald Orchid, for some drinks. The place got pretty packed and we lasted until about 11:30 before walking home. It's great to be able to walk home from the bar and not even have to think about driving. Other than that, Jessie did some laundry today and I cut the grass, which was getting a bit overgrown. I forgot how much I missed the smell of freshly cut grass. Well, it's back to work with me tomorrow. I will get Jess to post her thoughts on Hilo very soon.

Wednesday, Jan. 14

We're BACK!!!! I picked up Jessica and Berkley yesterday at the Kona Airport. Both arrived safe, although Berkley was very eager to get out of his airplane kennel. We had a great ride back from Kona and spent the rest of the evening checking out the house and having drinks. Jess loves the house and Berkley seems to have adapted pretty well, however, he won't go down the basement stairs for some reason. All three of us got up early this morning and after Jess and I got back from returning our rental car, she and I headed down to the Hilo Farmer's market where we stocked up on good things like tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, avocados, star fruit, lilikoi, rambutans and a really cool flower arrangement. After that, we headed back home and took Berkley down to Hilo Bay off Banyan Drive for his first Hawai'i swim. He did really well and didn't hesitate at all to head right into the water. In fact, he submerged his entire body underwater twice to pull up rocks. We walked down Banyan Drive after that and checked out a spot called Coconut Island, where we saw a sea turtle swimming in the bay. The turtle would poke it's head completely out of the water from time to time. It was pretty cool to see. Jess and I spent the remainder of the afternoon checking out some local shopping in Hilo and capped things off with her first ever trip to Jamba Juice. She's been cleaning the house up a bit and is getting ready to cook some dinner. We had a great second day together and unfortunately, I have to return to work tomorrow morning. We're going to be filtering and then double brewing on Friday and Saturday. Hope everyone is well. Aloha.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hello Everyone! I hope you are well. Happy New Year! John has relocated to Hilo. He has no computer there. I have been outrageously busy wrapping up all the loose ends for the move, which is in 2.5 days. Hence the lack of posts. We apologize for our absence. We will begin posting once again, once I get to Hilo with the computer. I arrive on Tuesday 1.13.2009. Until then...Aloha!