Aloha Beer Co. is expanding to the retail market this week, sending bottles of its Aloha Lager to selected stores.
Six-packs and cases of the Hawaii-made beer are being distributed by Paradise Beverages to such stores as Costco, Whole Foods Market, Safeway and 7-Eleven. The company is planning an event to mark the launch at its Honolulu brewery next to Sam Choy’s Breakfast, Lunch & Crab restaurant on Dec. 20.
“With the end of the world supposedly upon us, we figured that now was the perfect time to start bottling our beer,” Aloha Beer Co. co-founder Steve Sombrero said in a statement, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to the belief by some that the world will end in 2012. “If the team at Aloha Beer Co. happens to not survive the end of the world on Dec. 21, we feel those that do survive deserve to have access to Hawaii’s best beer.”
The company is bottling just 6,500 cases of the beer, Sombrero noted.
“In all seriousness, we are very excited about the launch of our first bottled product, which is a regional beer perfectly suited for Hawaii’s palate,” Brewmaster Dave Campbell said. “More than any other beverage, Aloha Beer embodies the classic Hawaii lifestyle.”
Sombrero, president and principal broker for NAI Chaney Brooks, founded Aloha Beer Co. in 2011 along with partners Campbell and James H.Q. Lee, a Honolulu tax attorney.
