A late effort to buy Hawai’i Nui Brewing LLC, the bankrupt Hilo microbrewery, postponed a court auction Monday and has set up a potential bidding contest between a former Hawai’i Nui partner and a rival beer producer in Honolulu.

Aloha Beer Co., led by James H.Q. Lee, emerged as an interested bidder for Hawai’i Nui with an offer to buy the company for up to $325,000.

Aloha Beer didn’t submit a bid by a Thursday deadline approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, but an attorney representing Hawai’i Nui said the informal offer is better than two existing offers.

"I like the new bid," Chuck Choi, Hawai’i Nui’s attorney, said at the auction hearing. "The debtor believes this is the best bid."

Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris agreed to give Aloha Beer a few days to submit a written a purchase agreement, and rescheduled an auction hearing for Friday.

Johnathan Bolton, an attorney representing former Hawai’i Nui partner Dustin Shindo, said a firm led by Shindo and also backed by local businessman Duane Kurisu may try to outbid Aloha Beer Friday.

The Shindo/Kurisu partnership, Hilo Brew Works LLC, submitted a $250,000 bid that would acquire most Hawai’i Nui assets, but not for cash. The purchase price essentially would be a credit that satisfies much of a $354,577 debt held by Shindo stemming from a merger that expanded Hawai’i Nui.

Hawai’i Nui was founded in 2007 to acquire Keoki Brewing Co., a Kauai brewery established in 1998. In 2009, the company merged with Mehana Brewing Co., a Hilo company Shindo started in 1995. As a result, Hawai’i Nui relocated to Hilo, kept producing Mehana beer and renamed Keoki’s brews under the Hawai’i Nui brand.

Shindo later sold his half interest in Hawai’i Nui for $350,000 but agreed to be paid over time. When Hawai’i Nui filed bankruptcy last month, most of Shindo’s payment was still owed. Hawai’i Nui also is delinquent on rent for Mehana’s brewery building owned by a company led by Shindo’s father, Calvin.

Current owners of Hawai’i Nui proposed pumping up to $250,000 into the struggling business and counting that investment as a purchase price while restructuring debts in bankruptcy.

But Hawai’i Nui’s principals, Andy Baker and Nina Lytton, are not interested in outbidding Aloha Beer, which leaves the acquisition between Aloha Beer and the Shindo/Kurisu team.

Aloha Beer’s offer is for $275,000 plus up to an additional $50,000 if Hawai’i Nui has less than $50,000 in cash on hand.

Aloha Beer is a recent offshoot of the Big Aloha Brewery established with the Sam Choy’s Breakfast, Lunch & Crab restaurant in Iwilei about 16 years ago. The restaurant closed in March, though a new Aloha Beer brew pub opened next door and the company recently began producing bottled beer.

Aloha Beer has not publicly indicated what it would do with Hawai’i Nui if its bid is successful.

Hawai’i Nui has about a dozen employees and produces about 5,200 barrels, or about 71,650 cases, of beer annually for about $1 million in annual sales.