SATURDAY

>> Local brews and food are the stars at beer festival

There’s nothing better than beer at the beach – except for lots of beer, at a nice big beach.

This Saturday, then, experience a beerlover’s paradise at the Fourth Annual Great Waikiki Beer Festival, held on the Great Lawn at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort on Saturday. More than 100 seasonal, local and craft beers will be available fortasting.

Among the local beers offered will be brews from Aloha Beer Co., Honolulu Beer Works, Kona Brewing Company, Maui Brewing Co. and the Waikiki Brewing Co., while mainland beers include Elysian Brewing Company from Seattle, Firestone Walker Brewingand Golden Road Brewing from California, and Goose Island Beer Company from Chicago.

Specialty cocktails, sake and wine will also be available, while beer-friendly foods such as Portuguese sausage, Kiawe smoked beef brisket, coconut shrimp and Gochujang chicken wings will be served.

Entertainment will be provided by island contemporary musician Ilona Irvine, soul artist Lana Kei with Da Famili, and 90’s retro group Forté.

A portion of the proceeds will go to support the Wounded Warrior Ohana.

SATURDAY-AUG. 26

>> Surfers compete in Duke’s Oceanfest

Duke’s Oceanfest returns to Waikiki this weekend for eight days of water and beach sports and entertainment, all in tribute to the great Hawaiian waterman.

Friendly competition will be waged in a host of surfing competitions, including the keiki competition on Saturday and Sunday, longboarding on Wednesday and Thursday, and the “Legends” surf classic on Aug. 24-25, while elegance and teamwork will be ondisplay during the tandem surfing competition on Wednesday and Thursday. (All competitions 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Queens Surf beach.)

Inspiration will be provided by the Wounded Warrior Canoe Regatta from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ft. DeRussy Beach and the Adaptive Surf Championships on Monday and Tuesday at Queens Surf.

And don’t forget the fun stuff, including a dogs’ “SurFUR ComPETition” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, or the Red Bull Hawaiian Party Wave event from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Aug. 26, in which teams entertain on land before attempting to catch a wavewith a creative prop, which may or may not be seaworthy.

Volleyball, surfboard waterpolo, movie nights, a mile-long swim and a luau at the Waikiki Aquarium (5:30 p.m. Aug. 25, $35-$65) are also on tap. Check dukesoceanfest.com for scheduling details and luau tickets, or to enter contests.

TUESDAY

>> Heavy metal band Mastodon set to rock the roof off The Republik

Not too many bands have stayed together for 18 years, much less with the same members. One could hardly imagine that Mastodon would be the one to do it, but that’s what Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Brent Hinds (guitar/vocals), Bill Kelliher (guitar), andBrann Dailor (drums/vocals) have managed.

“We’re pretty passive-aggressive as a group. None of us really likes conflict. Maybe that’s why we get along so well,” Dailor told Rolling Stone magazine in 2017.

A somewhat surprising description for a group whose music can easily be described as aggressive-aggressive. With metal, alternative and “stoner rock” genres built into its sound and themes of death and survival expressed in its lyrics, the group doesn’t shyaway from heavy material.

All that time together appears to be paying off. The band has been given its due by the alt-metal crowd since the release of 2002 debut album “Remission,” and earned Grammy nominations for singles starting in 2010.

Mastodon finally got its first Grammy last January, winning with “Sultan’s Curse” in the Best Metal Performance category.

The tune is from the album “Emperor of Sand,” inspired by friends of the band who were battling cancer. “Emperor of Sand” was Mastodon’s first album to receive a Grammy nomination, with two other songs, “Show Yourself” and “Steambreather,” reachingthe Billboard charts.

THURSDAY-SEPT. 23

>> Marijuana play debuts at Kumu Kahua Theatre

Medical marijuana is becoming more and more common in Hawaii since the first dispensaries opened last year. Now comes “Pakalolo Sweet,” a play about marijuana’s place in traditional Hawaii, opening this week at Kumu Kahua Theatre.

The play focuses on Junior Boy, a member of a family that has grown marijuana for generations, said playwright Hannah Ii-Epstein, a former Hawaii resident now living in Chicago. “In the play, they talk about the laws and culture around marijuana beforecolonization and through colonization, and how it was used as a healing drug — kind of like how it’s used now — before it became kapu in a lot of uses,” she said.

Epstein spoke with elders and consulted other sources about the history of marijuana in the islands, but said the origins of pakalolo are still shrouded in mystery. “I heard that it was a plant that was naturally growing when the voyagers came, and then Iheard that Captain (James) Cook had someone on his ship who had the seed, and then I heard that after Captain Cook, the next captain was the one who brought it to trade.”

The play, which stars, from left, Will Ha‘o, Po‘i Lincoln and Randall Galius Jr., is set during an evening of karaoke and partying. “It definitely feels like everyone sitting around talking story, but once you get to the end of the play, a twist there reveals the plotthat was happening the whole time but you probably didn’t realize was happening,” Epstein said. “You will realize what the plot is once it ends.”

The play is a prequel to Ii-Epstein’s play “Not One Batu,” a play about meth use that Kumu Kahua premiered in 2016.