When Kona Brewing hit the scene a few years back it had a certain cool factor tied to it. It was from Hawaii, and carried that style in its advertising. Not only that, Kona had only been available in the islands until a big distribution brought it to the continent and just about ever restaurant and bar that sold beer. Now, Kona is best known for the Longboard Lager, but there is more to this brewery than the no frills flagship. This weekend I tried the Fire Rock Pale Ale.
As you might have figured, I’m not crazy about Longboard Lager, and this has kept me away from Kona products in general. I have tried their Pipeline Porter, and to be honest, was quite impressed. So when I grabbed the bottle of Fire Rock, I was looking forward to a pleasant experience.
My wife did the honors, pouring my beer for me before dinner and remarked “Wow, look at that.” She did a great job on the pour and we were rewarded with a deep copper pale with a thin head on top. The aroma was of citrusy hops. This was a good start.
With the first sip you’re greeted with that strong hop presence but it fades quickly, and finishes with a dry maltiness. Kind of backwards in what you would expect given the aroma, but very good. It went down easily with the tacos we had with dinner.
In the end, this was a good beer I would gladly order again. Having tried 3 beer from Kona Brewing, I now have a majority that says the brewery deserves my trust, so I will be looking for more from Kona.
I’m almost ashamed to admit this, but Kona’s heffe, “Wailua Wheat” is awesome, albeit too girlie for me to drink in public without feeling a little bit emasculated. It is flavored with passionfruit and the wheaty heffeweizen-ness goes really well with the fruitiness – much better than a lemon if you ask me.
The only place I’ve seen it is at a burger joint, Hula’s in Escalon, CA, and this beer really hits the spot when you’re sitting in central valley heat awaiting a burger, though the flavor isn’t strong enough to hold up against beef, but when Hula’s is busy, two of these before dinner is a nice touch. (The burgers are good too!)