Maui Brewing Co.’s efforts to diversify include Waikiki restaurant

It’s turning out to be quite an exciting year for Maui Brewing Co. CEO Garrett Marrero. As his company moves toward its 12th anniversary in January, Marrero has overseen a brewery expansion to produce about 45,000 barrels of craft beer in 2016 and continues to build upon a distribution deal he inked with California-based Stone Brewing to create Maui Stone Craft Beverages nearly two years ago.

This month, Maui Brewing introduced a rebranding of its core lineup of beers along with updated names for two of them. Polynesian tattoo artist Orly Locquiao created new designs for the brewery’s Big Swell IPA, Bikini Blonde Lager, Coconut Hiwa Porter and Pineapple Mana Wheat; the company also hired Austin, Texas-based The Butler Bros. to assist with the process.

“The beer is identical to everything we’ve made before,” Marrero assured me during a recent phone interview from Maui. “The new names and designs work functionally, but they also serve as a way to show how we’ve grown and evolved.

“I had someone introduce me last week as the creator of the ‘OG coconut porter.’ It’s given birth to so many others, so we added the ‘Hiwa’ as a different way to distinguish ours. And the Pineapple Mana Wheat, a lot of people think that one’s our sleeping giant. They think it’s really going to take off because now we have the ‘pineapple’ in the name.”

Marrero shared more about Maui Brewing’s efforts to diversify, which include production of a nonalcoholic root beer made with local ingredients and plans to begin distillery operations on Maui before the end of 2016. He also spoke about the first MBC restaurant to open on Oahu.

Question: Would you characterize the new branding as a drastic change?

Answer: It’s certainly a paradigm shift from what we’ve been doing in the past. I think when we started 11 years ago, I was 26 and we knew how to make great beer, but we didn’t really know packaging. We never thought about the branding side of things.

This is the first time we’ve worked with a formal branding company to help us refine that vision and get into the heart of who we are. It was really cool to go through the exercises that we did. It was all to try and define who we are at our core. I’m really excited at the way it turned out.

Q: How has the primary Maui Brewing Co. logo changed?

A: If you look at it side by side with the old version, you’ll notice the difference. But a lot of people won’t see it right off the bat. The core of the logo hasn’t changed too much.

When we started canning back in ’07, Maui Brewing was the smallest text on the can. We created the illustrative Hawaiian-style art that went into everybody’s packaging over the last 10 years. So it was time for us to evolve and create our space we live in, and that was by going to something we love so much, which is Polynesian and Hawaiian tattoo art and trying to evoke emotion around our beers using that type of artwork.

There’s a cohesion between each of the new cans, but at the same time they’re independent of each other. As we’ve grown, we’ve refined who we are and we’ve come to look inward a bit. We feel this is the right way to move for the next 12 years of our company.

Q: How does Maui Brewing plan to enter the spirits business?

A: We’re going to build up a bunch of (whiskey and rum) right away. I’m not passionate about vodka and I think the guys at Pau and Ocean are doing great stuff. My primary passions in the spirits world are whiskey, rum and gin. We also have a plethora of high-sugar fruits here (like) the mango, the guava, and then we have coffee.

We can take local agriculture and instead of business dictating what they grow, we take what agriculture grows and make a product out of it. We’ll monetize a crop that might otherwise bankrupt a local farmer. It shows a little different mindset, but I think that way of doing business is what makes Maui Brewing different.

This is meant to be a lot of fun. It’s business, but if it’s not fun, I don’t want to be in that business either.

Q: To be clear, you’re going to make traditional Kentucky-style whiskey?

A: We’ll make an authentic Hawaiian whiskey that’s an extension of the Maui Brewing brand. We are going to make real whiskey. There’s no other way for us to do it.

Maui County awarded us a grant for economic development that essentially pays for our new still. Licensing is going to take between nine to 12 months, but the still should be here and installed in the next six to eight months.

Most of our aging is likely going to be Upcountry, so you’ll get the cooler nights and the warmer days. And we’ve already done some trials under contract with a friend of ours on island, using his stills.

Q: Can you provide a status update on the new Waikiki restaurant?

A: It’s looking really good. I was in there a couple weeks ago and demo is moving right along. We’re looking good for (opening in) November or December as planned.

We’re really excited about the future for the restaurant group. It’s more than just opening a restaurant for us. It’s about communicating our story and educating the craft beer fan about what we love to eat and drink. And we know there’s a few more people like us out there who will love the experience we’re going to offer. Prepare to be wowed.

Jason Genegabus has written about Honolulu bars since 2001. Contact him at jason@staradvertiser.com with suggestions of places to visit and drinks to try; read his blog at inthemix.staradvertiserblogs.com.