Is okolehao (brandy made fromTi roots) still made? (home, condo)

[napaunui]

Aloha!
I have heard that a distillery on Maui has started making okolehao by an old
authentic recipe and was supposed to start selling it this year under the label
of "Nine Islands Okolehao" produced by Sandwich Islands Distilling Company.
Anybody know about the availability of this hooch?
Mahalo,
---napaunui

[Jungjohann]

There's a word I haven't heard in a long time. We used to serve Okolehau at the old Maui Outrigger on Keawekapu beach, and as I recall, it was some pretty nasty stuff, especially if you drank it along with Primo beer, which I don't believe is around any more. Ahhhh.............the good old days!
I'll look into it for you.

Okolemaluna (bottoms up)

[Jungjohann]

Just spoke with a buddy of mine who owns a liquor store near my condo, he's been here about ten years, never even heard of Okolehao, so I guess the rumors of it's reincarnation are unfounded. Really wouldn't be a bad idea to bring it back, every bar in every hotel and restuarant in the Islands would have to carry it, if not just as a novelty item. And if brewed and distilled properly, unlike the stuff in the 70's, it would probably be pretty good, if given a chance to age in some oak barrels that had previously been used for brandy or perhaps port. I may have to look into this. They had another homemade hootch over here, swipe, made from the fruit off of cactus trees, now that was REALLY pilau. When I tended bar here tourists would buy Primo, which was some fairly lousey beer, and take it home with them, to share the Aloha with their friends and family.

Aloha and okolemaluna

[kani-lehua]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

Just spoke with a buddy of mine who owns a liquor store near my condo, he's been here about ten years, never even heard of Okolehao, so I guess the rumors of it's reincarnation are unfounded. Really wouldn't be a bad idea to bring it back, every bar in every hotel and restuarant in the Islands would have to carry it, if not just as a novelty item. And if brewed and distilled properly, unlike the stuff in the 70's, it would probably be pretty good, if given a chance to age in some oak barrels that had previously been used for brandy or perhaps port. I may have to look into this. They had another homemade hootch over here, swipe, made from the fruit off of cactus trees, now that was REALLY pilau. When I tended bar here tourists would buy Primo, which was some fairly lousey beer, and take it home with them, to share the Aloha with their friends and family.

Aloha and okolemaluna

those were the days my friend. i remember my father and his friends drinking primo beer under the mango tree and eating green mangoes with a shoyu, pepper and vinegar sauce. my realtor on the big island said that he would eat guavas with that same sauce but called it bug juice?!

bet you drank awa, too?! maybe set up an awa bar. lol.

[Jungjohann]

The funny thing with the Okolehao back here in the 70's, which I think was made in Puunene, was that sometimes it was actually quite good, and at other times, absolutely horrible, but was very rare indeed that a tourist wouldn't give it a try, and of course a Primo beer!!! Living with a local family when I moved here, we went upcountry, picked a bunch of panini, the cactus fruit, extracted the juice with a homemade press. They just put the juice into a plastic bucket, covered it with a piece of cheesecloth, and let her rip!!! I forget how long we let it ferment, probably wasn't long, but this batch of swipe was for some special occasion,(may have been for any day of the week that ended in the letter "Y"), so a good deal of awa was thrown in!! I remember sitting on a chair under the plumeria tree in the Akinas yard, having finished my second glass of the stuff, and wondering, "why can't I move??????" Kahiko kaao.
As a sidenote, there was a dock strike in 1977, I'm tending bar at the old Outrigger on Maui, we start to run out of beer!!! First to go was Budweiser, second was Olympia, third to go was Millers, if I recall correctly, we still had some Primo left by the time the strike was settled and beer was delivered again....
Aloha