A trio of businesses has come together in a sort of mash-up at the former Brew Moon space at Ward Centre, each adding its own distinct flavor(s) to the eatery-bar-nightclub.
The parent companies of Vice, the nightclub, Inferno’s Wood Fire Pizza and Hawaiian Islands Brewing Co. each bring a little something different to Vice Inferno, and though they have been open since March, July and August, respectively, the brewer’s part of the equation will mark a grand opening with a press party in October.
"We started brewing in July and began putting the different beer styles online at the bar in August," said Frank Wenzl, owner. Now settled into a production routine, HIBrewCo is "ready to show the island what we are doing," he said.
Wenzl founded Ali‘i Brewing Co., Hawaii’s first microbrewery, in 1993, and later teamed up with Greg Yount to run operations at the Iwilei facility.
Wenzl built breweries in Majuro in the Marshall Islands and Palau’s first brewery, in Koror. Yount ran operations there and then returned to Honolulu to become head brewer at Brew Moon. Yount is again partnered with Wenzl in HIBrewCo, which lists eight beers in its product line.
"We have five (beers) right now … and we are getting in another barley shipment any day to allow us to brew the remaining three styles," Wenzl said. Those would be the Imperial IPA, Barley Wine and Macadamia Nut Brown Ale.
"We have a Double-Diamond Head Ale on tap now, but that was a specialty beer that we don’t plan to brew on a regular schedule." The plan is to have the eight styles shown on the company’s website, hibrewco.com, available year-round, he said.
Hawaiian Islands Brewing Co. also distributes externally. It has delivered its Kona Coffee Stout to Real a Gastropub, a Kakaako restaurant, and anticipates orders from other players in the local food and bev biz.
"We will self-distribute to a few select accounts in town but focus mainly on providing beer at the Vice Inferno brewery restaurant," Wenzl said. The company eventually plans mainland distribution, "but that is several months out at this point."
Branding can get tricky with three businesses in one space.
As for nomenclature, nightclub owner and operator Element Management Group Inc. registered Vice Inferno, which is the official name of the restaurant. The names Vice Honolulu and Vice Nightclub have their own Facebook pages and are used when referring to the nightclub. Element’s officers are David Ung, Bryan Yoshida, Alexander Kamm and Steven Saiki.
Pizzas are provided by Inferno’s Wood Fire Pizza LLC, run by Kyle Okumoto and John Wong, who made their bones in the business with a mobile, wood-fired pizza operation.
Hawaii spas rate well
Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2012 lists of the World’s Best Hotel and Destination Spas are out, and readers’ top five Hawaii spots, in descending order from No. 1, are at the Grand Wailea on Maui, the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on Hawaii island; Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, and JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa on Oahu.
Only Hawaii’s top five spas are presently available for release, according to a spokeswoman. The full list will appear in the October issue.
T+L readers chose Capella Pedregal in Los Cabos, Mexico, as the top overall hotel spa and Red Mountain Resort in Ivins, Utah, as the No. 1 destination spa.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
