Featured Activity: Kuleana Rum Works
Mai Tais is one of Hawai`iʻ s iconic cocktails, but did you know Hawai`i Island is also home to Kuleana Rum Works, a company which crafts award-winning rum from the fresh juice of sugar cane grown on its farm in North Kohala? If this interests you, the company offers tours of its sugar cane farm in historic North Kohala – once a bustling sugar cane town. The “Farm to Glass” tour is for adults 21 and older. It includes a walk through lush sugar cane fields and a stop at the distillery for a taste of fresh sugar cane juice and to see how the cane is crushed for its juice and its spirit-making process. Your final stop is the Kuleana Rum Shack, the company’s family-friendly restaurant in the Queen’s Marketplace in Waikoloa Beach Resort, for a tasting of the final products. For more information, visit the website.
Featured Restaurant: Kuleana Rum Shack
For a dozen years Kuleana Rum Works has been distilling rum from sugar cane (kō) grown in North Kohala, a former sugar cane town. There are 35 varieties of heirloom Hawaiian kō (sugarcane) on its 45-acre farm in Kohala. Kuleana Rum Works crafts its world-class rum from the fresh juice of the cane. It is an extremely rare spirit (about 3% of the world’s rum is made from fresh juice and only two companies are making it from Hawaiian kō). The company provides tours and is an active contributing member of the Kohala community. Its restaurant, the Kuleana Rum Shack located in Queens Marketplace in the Waikoloa Beach Resort, introduces diner to not only its rum, but a menu focused on fresh island cuisine. Open daily from 12 pm– 9 pm reservations are highly recommended for this popular dining spot. The lunch/dinner menu takes the best of the island’s products and presents them in innovative and tasty fashion, while staying true to the culture of Hawai`i. some menu favorites are the fresh poke bowls, short rib loco moco, fresh catch and, for dessert, their house-made rum cake or malasada (Portuguese doughnuts) with dipping sauces. Accompany your meal with a cocktail created with one of their five rums. Keep in mind that Wine Enthusiast has named Hōkūlei “Best American Aged Rum” and its Hawaiian Rum Agricole as Best American White Rum in 2024. You can also book mai tai classes, rum tasting or take a tour of the sugar cane farm. Call 808.238.0786 or visit their website.
