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Barrel Room Chronicles
Nov. 8, 2023

BRC S2 E19- Veteran’s Passion Turns to Profession: How Internships Shape Careers in Distilling

Curious about how internships and community support play a vital role in the whiskey industry? Join Kerry Moynahan in the first episode of this eye-opening two part special, where she sits down with Ian Brooks, Olivia Babiec, and Justin Rivera to discuss the importance of internships and giving back to the community. From sharing stories about their own experiences to the benefits they've witnessed firsthand, Kerry and her guests shed light on the value of internships and the positive impact they can have on individuals and the industry as a whole. If you're interested in whiskey and sustainability, this episode is a must-watch. Get ready to be inspired and learn how internships and community support are transforming the whiskey landscape.

My first guest is Ian Brooks, a passionate advocate for sustainable practices in the whiskey industry. As one of the owners of Ko’olau Distillery, he and his team are dedicated to showcasing the importance of community support and collaboration. With a background in the U.S. Marine Corps, Ian brings a unique perspective to the distilling process, highlighting the value of internships and skill development for veterans. Through partnerships with local artists, businesses, and chocolate and honey producers, Ian and his team at Ko’olau Distillery are creating a positive and environmentally conscious experience for visitors. Join us as we delve into the world of whiskey and gain insights from Ian on the significance of internships and community involvement in the pursuit of sustainable practices.

Our gin and our whiskey- It's really that in-between point for a whiskey drinker to jump off into gin, a gin drinker to jump off into whiskey. And it's a representation of how we all kind of coexist together on this small island in the middle of the Pacific. - Ian Brooks

My second guest is Lead Distiller Olivia Babiec.  As a hospitality major, she took an internship at a distillery in Philadelphia her senior year of college. At the time, she rarely drank and wasn’t a big fan of science so she surprised herself by really enjoying distilling.  So much so that she pivoted her plans to work in hospitality and stayed on at the distillery after her internship ended.  Find out how her new found passion led her across the country to Hawaii.

My Third guest is Justin Rivera, a Navy veteran, former reality show participant and a valued member of the Ko’olau Distillery team. With his experience in the spotlight, Justin brings a unique perspective to the distilling industry. Having appeared on multiple reality shows, he understands the importance of hard work and determination in pursuing one's passion. Justin's journey led him to Ko’olau Distillery, where he now contributes his skills and expertise to the production process. His role at Ko’olau Distillery showcases the diverse range of talent within the whiskey industry and highlights the opportunities available for individuals with different backgrounds and experiences. Gain insights into his journey and the significance of internships and community support in the world of distilling.

In this episode, you will be able to:

  • Discover the sustainable practices of Ko’olau Distillery that are shaping the future of the whiskey industry.
  • Explore the exciting collaborations between Ko’olau Distillery and local businesses, bringing unique flavors and experiences to the community.
  • Understand the importance of internships in the whiskey industry and how they contribute to the growth and success of aspiring professionals.
  • Experience the passion and dedication that drives Ko’olau Distillery, as they strive to create exceptional spirits that reflect their love for the craft.
  • Dive into the world of locally-inspired spirits and the spirit of experimentation that drives Ko’olau Distillery's commitment to innovation.

Exciting Collaborations with Local Businesses
The Ko’olau Distillery showcases the power of local collaborations through its strategic alliances with companies such as Manoa Chocolate and a local honey producer. These mutualistic partnerships lead to the creation of whiskey-finished chocolate and honey bourbon, adding a unique spin to their product offerings. These partnerships underline the immense potential of local businesses supporting one another, echoing the overall theme of community support and collaboration in the episode.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:

  • Support a veteran-owned distillery by purchasing their spirits and learning about their commitment to giving back through programs like Skillbridge.
  • Visit Ko’olau Distillery's tasting room and enjoy a drink or purchase a bottle of their handcrafted spirits.
  • Explore the unique artwork and military paraphernalia on display in the tasting room.
  • Learn about Ko’olau Distillery's collaborations with local businesses, such as Manoa Chocolate, and try their whiskey-infused chocolate.
  • Discover the honey bourbon and honey finished bourbon made in collaboration with a local honey producer.
  • Take a tour of Ko’olau Distillery's manufacturing facility and see their 450 gallon still, named Rona.
  • Meet Olivia Babiec, the lead distiller at Ko’olau Distillery, and learn about her journey into the world of distilling.  
  • Experience the different spirits made at Ko’olau Distillery, including whiskey, gin, aged gin, and moonshine.
  • Look forward to upcoming releases from Ko’olau Distillery, such as 2 vodkas and their small batch series.
  • Engage with the team at Ko’olau Distillery and provide feedback on their spirits to help shape future creations.
  • Check out how you can buy their products at: https://www.koolaudistillery.com/store/ 

The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Ko’olau Distillery

00:03:20 - Distillery Tour

00:04:54 - Interview with Olivia Babiec

00:08:20 - Favorite Spirits to Make

00:13:04 - Moonshine During the Pandemic

00:14:16 - Old Poly Road Whiskey

00:15:45 - American Dry Gin

00:16:57 - Aged Gin

00:19:44 - Pineapple Sipping Cream

00:26:42 - Initial Impressions of the Bourbon

00:27:37 - Creating a Bourbon Milkshake

00:28:31 - Overcoming Preconceptions

00:29:46 - Imagining the Perfect Drink

00:30:36 - Conclusion and Cheers

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Transcript

*Transcripts have been auto-generated, please excuse any typos.

00:00:00
Aloha, Kerry. Aloha. Welcome to Ko’olau Distillery. I'd love to go ahead and take you on a little tour of our facility here. Fantastic.

00:00:07
Let's do it. Let's do it. So first, what I'm going to take you through is the Ko’olau tasting room here. Now you can go ahead and before a tour possibly go ahead and get a nice drink, go ahead and buy a bottle. Everything you see in here is done by hand by somebody who has ownership or somebody that works for us.

00:00:24
We built this entire bar out of reuse wood from Reuse at Hawaii. We have a local shaper that goes ahead and makes our tables for us and we have local artists that we bring in and veteran artists. Chaz, who owns these beautiful pictures up here and we go ahead and have Kerry who does our surfboard art and you'll see a bunch of military paraphernalia around. Both Eric and myself are two retired Marines and our wives won't let us have these in our house. So we had to find a place to go ahead and put them up.

00:00:56
So we decided to open a distillery so we could hang up our I love me gear. I love it. The big thing that we're trying to go ahead and support here is we want to get people out of Kailua and come up here and see different things that are here in our industrial park. We wanted to go ahead and put our first tasting room up here, bring people in and really showcase what we're trying to achieve here. We have a very small manufacturing community.

00:01:21
However, the ones that are here are absolutely outstanding. And then what we want to do as well is we want to get with the community itself and do what we call collaborations over here. If you look over here, we work with a company called Manoa Chocolate. And what we'll do is we'll go ahead and take their cacao nibs and we'll soak their cacao nibs in Old Poly Road whiskey for up to four months. And when that happens, what we do is we'll take out the cacao nibs and we'll dry it out.

00:01:49
And once we dry it out, then we'll go ahead and give it back to them and they'll make this outstanding chocolate. Now there's no alcohol in this chocolate, but there is really nice whiskey finish, which I hope you'll be able to try later on today. So what we'll do after that, though, is what we'll go ahead and make. Olivia, who is our lead distiller, if you take a look at that. That's our Coca lika bitters.

00:02:10
She'll go ahead and take the liquid that's left after we drain the cacao nibs, and she'll go ahead and make that. So we're trying to go ahead and reuse, repurpose all the stuff we're supposed to be doing in a positive environment, and we're just trying to go ahead and do the best we can with what we've got. But what I'd really like to point out right here is honey that we make with a local honey producer. So what we do is we had a barrel, and we let it sit there, and we were making some outstanding bourbon. And about the eight month mark, we went up, pulling out that bourbon, and then we gave it to a local honey producer.

00:02:47
They went ahead and put their honey inside the barrel, let it rest for a while, about two months, and then what they got was a honey bourbon, finished honey. And then we got the barrel back. And what we did is we put our bourbon back inside and let it rest for a little while longer. And then what we got was a honey finished bourbon. That sounds delicious.

00:03:05
It definitely was. Okay, Ian, now we are in the distillery. Let me know what's going on in here. Well, Aloha, Carrie. Now that we've gone ahead and actually seen our tasting room, I'd like to show you what we actually have going on in our manufacturing facility.

00:03:20
This is our 450 gallon still. What we used to work on was much smaller. We've grown in the last year, which we're very proud of. We went from a nano distillery to a proper micro distillery. Nice.

00:03:32
Yes. And Olivia, who is standing behind me, which you'll get to talk to in a second, she is going ahead and taking some readings right now and talking to the other owner, Eric Dill. And they're just discussing what we're doing the rest of the month with our manufacturing. But what I really like to highlight is we are a veteran owned distillerY, and what we're trying to do is give back. There's a program called Skillbridge and the last six months of your enlistment in the military, you can go ahead and do an internship to make you more marketable.

00:04:03
Do you have any of those interns here today? We do indeed. Everyone you see behind me right now is one of our interns. Oh, fantastic. Yes.

00:04:11
We've actually managed to hire one. We're about to hire another one to go ahead and stay with us permanently if they decide to live here in Hawaii. You can see our fermentation chambers over there. And what we're looking to do is this, right now, for the next year and a half, will probably be our home. What we'd like to do is honestly get a two specs distillery built for us here in Kailua.

00:04:33
We're working with the industrial park to go ahead and actually make that happen, where we can actually pair a nice restaurant with what we're trying to achieve. Oh, wow. And hopefully that'll come up in about 18 to two years. 18 months to two years. Okay, sounds good.

00:04:47
All right, well, let's see if we can grab Olivia away from her readings. To chat with us a little bit. Absolutely.

00:04:54
Olivia. Yes. It's so good to meet you. If you ever watch the show, we highly promote women in whiskey. Know, we're girls and it's a boys club.

00:05:05
So I'm very excited to have you here today. Earlier, you took me on a tour of the distillery. Let's talk about what you showed me. So, first we went and saw the big, bad distilling pot. Still.

00:05:17
Hybrid. Still. So tell me about the hybrid. Still a little bit. So it's a 1500 liter hybrid still.

00:05:23
We've been able to kind of use it to essentially its full capacity. We're still working out the kinks because we've only been operating on it for. It's been just about a year and a half now. So utilizing it for our whiskey runs, our gin runs, we're going to be utilizing it some for our Geneva, some vodka distillations, as well as we keep working out the kinks, pretty much. Really just trying to work on and see all it can do for us.

00:05:52
There's a lot of other issues that we're figuring out along the way in terms of our environment and how the still reacts to that so very much in the growing pain stage of everything. But the big guy is named what? Rona. Rona. But I call her Olivia 2.0 because I did put it together.

00:06:09
Nice. But, yeah. So week one here was putting that bad lady together. Fantastic. So let's go over your whiskey journey.

00:06:20
You are not a big drinker. No. So how did a not big drinker decide that distilling was your path? I should also point out that I never thought I liked science either. Okay.

00:06:35
I'm being blown away more and more by, like, what are you doing here? Yeah. So my mom would argue that I was always very good at science, but I wanted to go into hospitality management. I thought I was going to go. Into restaurants, and so I wanted to learn more about it.

00:06:50
And then so where I went to school, we had an internship program. So where I interned, I really liked working with the beverage managers and learning more about the cocktails and the spirits. And so my senior year of college, going into that, I was like, I want to cater more of my classes towards that. So I took the beer making course, the wine and spirits education and certification course, spirits and mixology. And then I was like, well, I still want to do more.

00:07:16
So I got an internship at a distillery that I later worked at Post college as a distilling intern, and I was like, this is great. I like this a lot. And then I didn't leave, ultimately. Okay. And so have you noticed that you've gotten to be more of a drinker since you started this job, or.

00:07:37
No. I would say I have a very refined palate. Okay. The way that I look at not just spirits, but all alcohol, though, is alcohol is an experience, and it enhances an experience. It's not the experience itself, and so you have to use it to enhance your experience.

00:07:58
So you came to this distillery to kind of check it out, see what we do. And tasting our spirits enhances that experience for you. So there's a time and place for everything. I like that aspect. I love the really intimate details of distillation and alcohol, and being able to manipulate and create and come up with something new.

00:08:20
It's probably more like the artist side of me, but I find it very beautiful, and I really enjoy that part of the science of it. So what's your favorite thing to make here so far? To make?

00:08:37
Well, let's back up. What's the easiest thing to make? What's the hardest thing to make, and then what's your favorite as a taster? I think they're all relatively easy to make. However, whiskey is much more labor intensive because there's several more steps involved.

00:08:54
Gin, I was able to put a lot more of me into, but the distillation of gin is relatively more simple than the process of making whiskey.

00:09:09
I think more things that we have coming out this year have been a lot of fun to make. We have our small batch series that we do, which is basically a series of barrel manipulations, and how we're able to kind of create new profiles that way. To me, nothing's really hard. It's just more of, like, a challenge of how do I get the exact flavor profiles.

00:09:32
They're all equally fun, unless I'm really tired. And I'm like, oh, I don't want to necessarily do all of this today, but that's why we have Skillbridger interns, so they can do the stuff when I'm too tired to do. Fantastic. So where do you see yourself with the company in five years? Do you plan to make other expressions or other spirits or what are your plans for the next five years?

00:09:56
Well, this year alone, we'll have two vodkas out and at least two of our small batch coming out. The Geneva should be done. And that's just this year. In the next five years, hard to say. We're going to figure that out.

00:10:12
Exactly what's to come. So how much of a say do you get and what you guys make versus the owners? I do have a good amount of say, but I also present everything to everybody because everybody else's opinion is very valuable. Right. I could just be like, yeah, this tastes right to me, but ultimately it needs to taste right to everybody.

00:10:33
Exactly. Because I'm not the only one buying it. EVerybody else is buying it. So if I'm the only one that likes it, it doesn't really matter. Right.

00:10:41
So it's definitely a team effort for sure. Well, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to meet you and keep distilling all the great stuff. I will do my best.

00:10:55
So I'm here in the tasting room. With Justin Vera, who is actually a. Former reality show participant. So, Justin, can you tell us what shows you were on? A couple of them.

00:11:05
I was in Beerland by Vice TV in 2017. Okay. And just this last year, I was on the Discovery Channel's Master Distiller, the one that's put on by the Moonshiners Group. Oh, fun. Did you win?

00:11:16
Yeah. Oh, great. Well, we got a winner right here, guys. So tell me a little bit about that experience. What were you expecting when you went.

00:11:23
Into that show, and how did it. Change your life at all? I was not sure what to expect because being a moonshiner's group, I wasn't sure how they would take to a legal distiller coming on board, but they were all very welcoming. In the alcohol industry in general, people are very open to help each other. So it was really a new camaraderie, a new group of friends that I keep in contact very frequently right now, actually.

00:11:48
Okay. And how did you end up getting. Into this line of work? When you were a little boy, did. You think one day you were going.

00:11:53
To be making whiskey somewhere? As a little boy, I had no idea what I want to do in life, so I joined the Navy. Okay. And after 20 years in the Navy, I found a love for fine spirit here or there. Port calls are good for that, right?

00:12:06
Yes. Then along with that, on my way out, I still didn't quite know exactly what I wanted to do, except that it wasn't what I was doing. I did do a program called Skillbridge, which allows you to transition out of the service with a company here, Koalao. And I learned to go from being a home brewer to a distiller. That's a little transition to the dark side, if you know the difference between brewing beer and alcohol.

00:12:30
But it was a wonderful experience, and I actually decided to follow through with that passion for a while. So is the Skillbridge thing what brought. You into this distillery, then? Absolutely. And how does one find out about the Skillbridge program?

00:12:42
Skillbridge has a website. It's a DOD program that allows every company who wants to be a partner to post what availabilities they have. So what do we have here? We have our full lineup at Colwau, we produce four core spirits. Right now.

00:12:55
As a younger company, we're continuing to grow. The first of which we'll taste will be our moonshine. Okay. And is this one the moonshine? Yes.

00:13:04
Now, this moonshine came to us during the pandemic. You'll notice it's crystal clear. Beautiful bottle. Give it a smell. Very light on the nose.

00:13:13
Light on the nose. Residual sweetness you might pick up from the corn and the sugar. So this is a pandemic success story. A lot of folks had issues with supply chain, as did we. Our bottles weren't coming in properly.

00:13:25
We weren't getting the corn shipments we needed. So we took a page out of the Moonshiners book and we made a good old fashioned corn spirit. We took feed corn from the local feed store, Wyman Owl feeding supply, up the road from my house. Wow. Yeah, they definitely looked at me funny walking in there buying a pallet of corn.

00:13:42
Then we went to Costco and we got sugar, and that's how moonshiner would do it. And I think you'll find it delicious. Sandra.

00:13:54
That is 100 proof, so it's going to hit you right in the crease. Yeah. But even at 100 proof, it feels more like 80. I like to call this surprisingly smooth. It is.

00:14:06
Most people don't expect that beautiful, smooth flavor. That tastes very. And that's just from local ingredients from a feed farm. That's hysterical. Okay, what's the next one we have here?

00:14:16
Next is our flagship old Poly road whiskey right here. This was our first spirit that we ever made at this distillery, and it is a bourbon mash whiskey. If you're familiar with bourbon, you know there's rules. Bourbon must be one made in America. Two, predominantly made of corn, and three, aged in a Virgin American white oak barrel like you see in front of you here.

00:14:35
Okay, now, the key difference for us is that barrels are very expensive to get on the island. So we use our barrels three times. That first use of the barrel is bourbon. Then the second and third is whiskey. We blend the second and third back in with that first juice.

00:14:48
Thus, we are an American whiskey. Nice. All right, let's try that bad boy, Celange.

00:14:59
Oh, wow. It's a very bourbony flavor. It's got a lot of corn, it's got some sweet tones on it, and it's not overly hot. Like, to me, a lot of bourbons are really hot. This bourbon mash whiskey was designed specifically for our locality.

00:15:20
It's hot here, so you don't want anything that's too hot or too spicy. We don't use rye for those reasons. We rely on that sweetness that's derived from the corn. And it has just beautiful profile. Like, it hits the tongue very soft, and the flavors kind of start to pop, then slowly subside.

00:15:36
Okay. And then you guys also make gin here? Right here, yes. The gin is kind of the new star of the show. Super popular right now.

00:15:45
Yes. One of our head distiller actually designed it.

00:15:51
Kind of feel it, too. Flour, kind of pop out a little bit. So this is an American dry gin. Most people are familiar with a London dry, and that is for better or for worse. What most people associate gin with that is that real high juniper content, piney, resiny flavors.

00:16:07
And in a lot of cases, that's a fine gin. But our American palate is much more attuned to more citrus and floral notes. You might notice that of the beer craze of IPAs and such, those really crushable, like citra hops and anything that brings around those real robust flavors. So right here, we actually focus on the citrus and floral. Three different citrus peels in our botanical blend.

00:16:28
And our floral contribution is hibiscus flowers from Maui. Wow. That's right here. So this one, really take a good sniff of it first, because this is where it shines. Oh, that's beautiful.

00:16:39
It smells like Hawaii. Thank you.

00:16:44
Now, question the next one. Is it aged gin? Is it the same juice? Just age. Same juice age in American white oak barrel.

00:16:57
That's the money right there. I've converted many a non gin drinker with this. I bet. Wow. So it's juniper and the flowers and what else?

00:17:04
The standard kind of gin cocktail or gin ingredients. You're going to have coriander, you're going to have your juniper berries, maybe some Angelica root, things of that. So the only domain difference then is. The flour, the flowers, and the citrus. Honestly, that citrus blend is not really focused on in London dry.

00:17:25
Wow. That's great. And then how long do you age the aged gin for? It varies, kind of depending on the use of the barrel. If it's a first use or a second use, that first use won't take as long.

00:17:36
The second use, we're going to age a little while longer. I get more floral notes on that age. So the barrel does kind of subdue a little bit of those floral notes, but it brings in that beautiful vanilla and caramel characters. So they're using the bourbon barrels for this gin. It's a brand new American white oak barrel and second use barrel blends.

00:17:55
So we'll use some new barrels and second use barrels, and we'll blend that together. Okay.

00:18:02
This is truly my favorite. Oh, my God. So earlier, Ian was saying that he felt like it had a whiskey taste in it, and I can totally see that it's kind of got a little bit of a leathery. Oh, this is. I've never had a gin like, this is great.

00:18:22
If you think about what Hawaii does, we take multiple cultures. We're a melting pot. We take two things and make it one and make it better that way. So that's what I think we've done here. We've taken our gin and our whiskey.

00:18:33
It's really that in between point for a whiskey drinker to jump off into gin, a gin drinker to jump off into whiskey. And it's a representation of how we all kind of coexist together on this small island in the middle of the Pacific. We got to have some good spirits to share. Yeah, bring us together. Fantastic.

00:18:49
I'm going to be leaving a couple of bottles of those. Too easy. We always encourage people, take bottles home, bring extra baggage, or leave some clothes at your local goodwill because you don't need those at home. It's even got legs like whiskey. And this is fantastic.

00:19:03
So out of all of these expressions, this is your favorite. And before you were here in Hawaii. And Navy, where did you grow up? What did you do? I was born here in Hawaii, but raised in Texas.

00:19:13
So are you guys actually native Hawaiian, or do you have partially native? No, I'm Portuguese. The Portuguese people were invited to Hawaii to work in the sugarcane fields by the monarchy and that's where my family comes in. I'm fifth generation immigrant here to Hawaii, and we hail from the sugarcane fields, which is why when I did the TV show Master Distiller, I felt really comfortable bringing pineapple swipe, which is a plantation style spirit, to the national stage. It did get a little tweak when I got down there, and I found that everyone was really into these sipping creams.

00:19:44
What it is, is just taking any kind of fruited spirit and mixing it with some sweetened condensed milk or cream of some sort. So we made pineapple sipping cream, and it was a real showstopper. Everyone loved it. Is this your creation? This is my creation.

00:19:58
What do you call it? A pineapple sipping cream. Oh, it is. That's what it's called, yes. All right.

00:20:02
Now, unfortunately, I am allergic to citrus, so I can only have just a wee bit of the sipping cream. Wow. Oh, that smells so good. See, I just love pineapple. Why doesn't it like me?

00:20:13
Okay, hold on.

00:20:19
Wow. I need to not be allergic. I don't care if I'm allergic. This is the only place you could get this pineapple sipping cream here at the distillery. So I always encourage everyone, come on in and grab yourself a little glass.

00:20:31
I'm going to say you need to bottle it, because this is great. Although it might not do as well bottled.

00:20:38
It'll be fine. Most sipping creams are good a year while sealed as long as packaged properly, and usually about six months in refrigerator. That's one of the best pineapple cocktails I've ever had. I was a big Pina colada fan in my 20s, especially when I went to Greece. They don't make it mixed.

00:21:00
It's not blended like we do it here in America. It was a regular stirred drink, and they put a little cinnamon on top, they put a little sparkler in it. It was my favorite. And then the ingredients to make it, not in America, so I've never been able to duplicate it. And this brings me back to that, because those are my two favorite pineapple drinks ever.

00:21:20
Well, and if you ever try to make something with pineapple outside of Hawaii, you're going to fall a little flat. The pineapples are not the same outside. Here we have raw, Hawaiian pineapples. They're sweeter and less citric. So you might actually find yourself.

00:21:34
You might have. Okay, I'm not having a good. You're having a wonderful reaction, but not. The kind where my mouth swells up and then I can't talk. This is really good.

00:21:48
If that does happen. That's a good thing. We're closing to the end of the episode. Okay, so what do you do here now if you're not the distiller and you make these drinks? But what is your role here?

00:21:59
So I've transitioned from being one of the distilling staff to the general manager of the tasting room that you see around you. It's probably, by the way, good job. Thank you. It's the best kept secret in Kailula. Right now, we're the newest craft distillery.

00:22:12
Sorry, craft tasting room and bar here in Kailua. As the tasting room manager, are you the one who also comes up with all the cocktails that they serve here? Not entirely. Our bar staff is free rein to kind of experiment. We give bottles for them to take home and share with their family.

00:22:28
Good. And that's where we got. One of our favorites is the moonshine refresher. It's Pog juice, if you're familiar. I like passion orange guava.

00:22:38
I would just encourage everyone when you're here on vacation, come see us. We're more than just a distillery. We're more than a tasting room. We do tours because we're a younger distillery. We don't focus on history and heritage.

00:22:49
We like to teach the science. So those tours could roll right into a nice evening. Having some cocktails here in the tasting room. Fantastic. Well, Justin, thank you so much.

00:22:58
It's been a pleasure. Pleasure. These are all great. And that needs to be bottled and taken to my house, even though I shouldn't drink it. All right.

00:23:06
Thank you so much. Thank you. I'm going to take this with me. I'm going to take this with me, too. All right.

00:23:10
So today we're going to make a classic old fashioned with a Hawaiian twist on it. We're going to use our chocolate bitters. Made locally here at the distillery, and our macadamia nut pono potion, which is. A macadamia nut simple syrup. This is essentially going to give you.

00:23:25
A chocolate macadamia nut old fashioned. And if you think about your time in Hawaii, you might have seen special chocolate called Hawaiian host a lot of times, those chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Now, think about this as the cocktail of your choosing. So we're going to start, we're going. To build this over ice, meaning you're going to take a glass and add ice to it.

00:23:43
There you go. Don't worry, if you spill a little bit, it happens. We're going to take some of these chocolate bitters.

00:23:51
Give it a good spray right there. Follow that up with your honopotion macadamia nut.

00:24:02
And we're making two at one time.

00:24:08
Then we're going to fill with 2oz for each cocktail of our old poly road American whiskey.

00:24:18
Old fashions are known to be a bit of a heavy pour, so that's why we have 2oz. Everyone likes to taste that liquor.

00:24:29
We're going to give that a good, quick stir, and while that rests, we're going to build our cocktail. Large ice cubes prevent too much melting happening. We will top that with a luxardo cherry. These are some of the best cherries in the world. Next, we will take this and pour that right on top.

00:24:54
Equal portions on either side. When you have thirsty friends, it's important to make sure you can make that cocktail plenty quick for them. And lastly, we're going to take an orange peel, and we're going to pull this off so that we could express the citrus from that orange peel off right onto that glass. Be sure to drag it around, give it a good twist for that proper look. Now, those citrus are very important for the aromatics of this beverage.

00:25:24
There you go.

00:25:30
World of wheezy is up next. Stay with us. There's nothing better than the smell of coffee in the morning. What if you could enjoy a coffee subscription of fresh roasted specialty coffee while making a difference in the lives of. Farmers that grew up with.

00:25:48
What if you also had access to a virtual coffee community of other coffee lovers and the coffee farmer and roaster? That's all part of the farm to cup Coffee club subscription at Unleashed coffee. Subscribe today Unleashedcoffee.com. Hey, Louise, it's good to have you here. Thank you for having me.

00:26:12
I'm glad you're here in your patriotic colors today because we are here to talk about the distillery in Hawaii that makes the old paley road bourbon and these beautiful other things. They have the gin and the moonshine and their aged gin, which are all fantastic. And then it is owned by veterans. So I'm glad you came with your veteran appropriate colors. And I am donning my Hawaiian shirt, in which I got a matching one for my dog.

00:26:42
I don't know where he is, but he looks adorable in it, too. It's great. So we have the bourbon. Let me know what you think. Let's take a sniff.

00:26:58
Mmm.

00:27:01
What do you think about that? What comes to mind? I know this is going to sound crazy, but I'm a fan of boozy milkshakes. Okay, I'm listening. And here's the thing.

00:27:15
This spirit is light. I mean, it has a lot of flavor going on. I think there's some corn in there, right? But it still is light in body, which makes me want to drink it if I'm in Hawaii. But also it makes me want to put it in a milkshake.

00:27:37
And I think that is also because you had me taste, right. These ingredients from earlier in the show, we had one of the guys make us an old fashioned with these fantastic things, right? And so now you're telling me. Well, you were telling me about this and this syrup right here with the macadamia Nut, this bitters, this bottle of bitters that has the cacao bean and vanilla. I honestly think if you put all of these together in a blender with some ice cream, a little bit of cream and some ice and whizzed it up, wow.

00:28:13
I think you could have a winter winter chicken dinner right there. Like, very, very delicious. I could totally see drinking that on the beach in Waikiki. Well, it sounds weird because I don't know, I think that there's a lot of people that are like, ew. Like brown booze with cream or something creamy.

00:28:31
Sounds disgusting, but hear me out. I think it would be really good. And also, if you are a person that does not do dairy, for whatever reason that may be, you could make macadamia nut milk. You could use another nut milk. You could use an oat milk.

00:28:50
It would be really delicious as well. It's not going to have as much of a body to it. But one little trick that I do, if I'm going to make a milkshake or something that I want creamy, that doesn't have cow, the fat of a cow milk, goat milk doesn't have that much fat. But, like, that fat content. You can always drizzle oil in.

00:29:14
Yes. Into the blender. You can actually add a neutral oil, like grapeseed oil, emulsify it. It doesn't add any extra flavor. It adds a little bit of fat.

00:29:23
I mean, I guess maybe not for people if they're watching their waistline, but cold pressed grapeseed oil isn't bad for you, and that gives you that unctious mouthfeel that you would want. But that's how I would go with this. I mean, it sounds crazy, and maybe I am crazy. I'm sure my husband tells me that every day, but, yeah, I think that. Sounds delicious, and I can totally see that.

00:29:46
I wish that I had talked to you while I was there because I totally would have had them do this because we were staying right at the beach. Yeah. And I would totally just go sit there at sunset on Friday before the fireworks with a little flour in it. Yeah. Like some really good vanilla ice cream.

00:30:02
Like, really good Tahitian bean vanilla ice cream with all of these in a beautiful glass. You can have a flower popping out of it. You could put some crushed salted macadamia. I don't know if it's legal in Hawaii, but if they had sparklers for the fireworks. Put a sparkler in it instead of.

00:30:18
The flour, I mean, yes. It'd probably blow up. Actually, never mind. It's not garnish my fancy drink. This is fancy to me.

00:30:29
All right. Well, cheers. Thank you so much. Thank you.

00:30:36
Delicious. Absolutely. Close.

 

Ian BrooksProfile Photo

Ian Brooks

COO

Ian, also a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, served 24 years as a Marine Infantry Officer, deploying to combat zones overseas multiple times. During a 2007 deployment, he was designated the U.S. Civil-Military Leader of Rhamadi, Iraq during the ``Awakening`` where the U.S. military partnered with local leaders to turn the tide against Al Qaeda in Iraq. Ian's efforts during the deployment were captured in an award-winning National Geographic special, and he has a street named after him in Rhamadi. Ian has a passion for sweet bourbons with a single large cube of ice. He is the perfect host to the many visitors of Ko'olau Distillery, loves the company of friends and shares his whiskey with anyone.

Justin RiveraProfile Photo

Justin Rivera

General Manager

Justin, a retired U.S. Navy Chief, hails from Waimanalo, HI and was raised in San Antonio, Texas. That said his aloha is Texas-sized! An experienced homebrewer, he has many accolades in the local homebrewing scene, alongside his wife, winning 9 medals in diverse categories including Best IPA and Best-in-Show Overall at the 2019 Hawaii Homebrew Competition. He represented Hawaii for the first season finale competition on VICE TV series BEERLAND 2017. Justin is deeply dedicated to brewing, trading shore-leaves while deployed to volunteer at breweries in Saipan, Guam, Alaska, Oahu, and Maui. He came to distilling through a Department of Defense program called Skillbridge. This program sets vets up with internships to help transition to the civilian sector. Yes, you heard that right the government set Justin up to learn how to distill fine spirits in paradise. He dove into distilling with passion and dedication, and it was recognized when he was invited to compete in the Discovery Channel competition series “Moonshiners, Master Distiller”. He represented the Navy in a true Army/Navy, Armed forces showdown. Check it out Justin faced off against two Army moonshiners with years of experience on their side. Armed with the taste of the islands “Pineapple swipe” Justin merged the appellation traditions of Sipping cream to make the winning spirit “Pineapple Sippin Cream”. You can taste this delicious concoction in the Distillery’s Cocktail Lounge located adjacent to the distillery. As if transitioning from Navy Chief and homebrewer to Discovery channel’s master distiller wasn’t e… Read More

Louise LeonardProfile Photo

Louise Leonard

Chef

Louise Leonard is a chef, food personality, stylist, booze lover and bon vivant, living the bi-coastal life between Los Angeles and New York. She was crowned the winner of Season 2 of ABC’s prime time hit, The Taste, where she was chosen from a nation-wide search to compete with professional chefs and home cooks. She is also a contributor with Kin Community, YouTube’s #1 multi-channel for women, as host, recipe developer and stylist.
Other work includes styling for the Emmy award winning show, Top Chef, as well as styling for Top Chef Masters, MasterChef, The Chew, Access Hollywood, and Next Food Network Star. She’s also a regular contributor with Vegetarian Times and styled celebrity chef Antonia Lofaso’s The Busy Mom’s Cookbook.

Louise was born and raised in Wisconsin where her mother and father ran a pizza parlor when she was a kid. It was there that she learned how to pour a pint of beer and play pinball, very important skills that would return to her later in life.

Louise specializes in cooking with wine and spirits and is a staunch advocate of supporting local breweries, wineries and distilleries.
She loves to travel and explore, often led by her love of food. She’s known for her ability to pull elements from cuisines around the world that will pair well with her favorite libations.

Olivia BabiecProfile Photo

Olivia Babiec

Head Distiller

I started my career in Philadelphia my senior year of college as a distilling intern. I continued to spread my wings in the Philly distilling scene until I arrived in Oahu in June of 2021 and joined the Ko'olau Distillery team as the Head Distiller.