With the first release of Kapahi Bourbon and Virgin Kea Moonshine scheduled for February 2020, we jump started the 2019 season by planting a large amount of west side corn. A special 110 day Beck’s hybrid whisky corn, hand selected by the great folks back in Atlanta, Indiana was planted in April on fallow farm land near Polihale. We are estimating enough corn, nearly 650 bushels, to produce another 72 barrels of Kapahi Bourbon, and Virgin Kea Moonshine. Yes, that is nearly eighteen thousand 750mL bottles of the cleanest, sweetest Hawaii grown spirit ever produced. The mash bill for the Virgin Kea is identical to Kapahi Bourbon. The only difference between the whisky and the Virgin Kea is that the Virgin Kea Moonshine never touches wood, and the alcohol is carbon and chill filtered before the final bottling. The essence of this liquor captures the truest taste possible from our farms! We will continue to update you on the progress of this year’s corn farm.
15 GALLON BARRELS 201907221-60 (Released to HI Market) Contains our first small barrel, micro aged lots of bourbon in eighteen 15 gallon barrels and was released in the spring of 2022. Having been aged for 1 year and 3 months we found it to have a floral front with notes of honey and oat. This whisky is also subtly sweet!
30/53 GALLON BARRELS 2019072261-76 (Released to HI Market) Originally, these thirty 30 gallon barrels were intended for release during the Summer of 2022, but we decided to try something different and a bit creative with the aging process. At the two year mark we decided to double oak this batch in used 53 gallon wheat whisky barrels to see what kind of taste this would impart on the bourbon. We will continue to update these new 53 gallon barrels on this page and attempt to identify the tasting characteristics of each barrel as they age over time in their double oaked state, perhaps even release a cask strength batch so our whisky loving patrons can judge it for themselves! When we first started the research and development of Kauai bourbon in 2014 it was all produced in small lots through a 50 gallon process that included a 50 gallon stripping still, and 26 gallon column spirit still. Naturally, and because we never produced runs that could fill full 53 gallon barrels, we turned to smaller barrels ranging in size from 1 gallon to 5 gallon. The result was nothing less than amazing as aging times ranged from 45 days to 6 months. At that point we figured our bourbon could only get better in larger casks. Still, it is the smaller barrel and micro aging that led the way in the early days, and it would be a mistake to not feature it as one of our selections.
53 GALLON BARRELS 2019072291-97 This is the first bourbon we have chosen to do a double oak and the results were great! With the additional aging after six years in their original char 3 new American Oak barrels this whisky has a quiet nose with warm inviting spice and sweetness, but it doesn’t come until late. On the tongue it is has a very light, citrusy, orange and lemon taste with hints of dry oak that is unsweetened. In the end the finish starts to round out with subtle vanilla and warmed wood that replaces the citrus. This whisky leaves you wanting more!
