Aloha Beer Co. to reopen in Kakaako

A shutdown more than three years ago was supposed to be temporary, and the hiatus is now over for local production of a Hawaii beer brand.

Aloha Beer Co. has resumed brewing in Hawaii and next month plans to open a 150-seat tap room serving eight to 10 varieties of beer made on the premises along with food including pig knuckles, smoked meats, sandwiches and steak.

The new facility at 700 Queen St. in Kakaako near Lex Brodie’s represents a return to local production for Aloha Beer after the company shut down operations in Iwilei in 2013 but continued having two beers, a lager and a red ale, produced and bottled at a California brewery.

Brewing began last month at the new site, and company principal Steve Sombrero plans to have the Queen Street brewery be the sole source in Hawaii for Aloha Beer, which is distributed on the mainland and in Japan.

The history of Aloha Beer is connected with the former Big Aloha Brewery run by local brewmaster Dave Campbell at the Sam Choy’s Breakfast Lunch & Crab restaurant in Iwilei begun almost 20 years ago. Several months before the restaurant closed in early 2013, Aloha Beer had been established in an adjacent space connected to Big Aloha’s equipment under a partnership that included James H.Q. Lee, who co-founded the restaurant with Choy, and Sombrero, who is president and CEO of local commercial real estate firm NAI Chaney Brooks.

However, the new company had a rocky start and had closed by mid-2013, though Aloha Beer representatives at the time said the closure was a temporary one and that major renovations were needed on the premises.

Sombrero and Campbell continued having bottled Aloha Beer made in California, and last year acquired the space on Queen Street that used to be home to a wholesale shirt company.

Campbell is serving as director of brewery operations, and plans to have a different core lineup of beers compared with what he had at Sam Choy’s, though some rotating varieties will be reminiscent of what he made at Big Aloha Brewery.

“I’ve been involved with the craft-beer industry since its inception in Hawaii, and to build the new brewery on Queen Street — it really feels like I have come full circle,” Campbell, who started a homebrew supply store in Kakaako in 1994, said in a statement. “It’s exciting to be a part of the renaissance of Kakaako, and to see the area grow along with the demand for craft beer.”

Others involved with the company are Kaiao Archer as brewer, Brad Miller as beverage director and Robert McGee as chef.