This post is coming a day later than usual because this beer was chosen for a special event. While next Sunday all TV’s will be fixed on the Super Bowl, this weekend, no TV’s will be fixed on the Pro Bowl. Regardless, football players are descending on the state of Hawaii for their annual game of touch football. While the game will be played in Honolulu, this week’s beer is brewed a short distance away on the Big Island. This week’s Beer of the Week is Kona Brewing Company’s Fire Rock Pale Ale.
Crisp & Refreshing
Fire Rock Pale Ale is crisp, refreshing “Hawaiian-style” pale ale. Its signature copper color results from the unique blend of specialty roasted malts. The pronounced citrus-floral hop aroma comes from the liberal amounts of Galena, Cascade & Mt.Hood hops added to each brew.
Bitterness: 35 IBU
Alcohol by Volume: 5.9%
Original Gravity: 14.0 P
Malts: PALE, WHEAT, MUNICH, HONEY
Hops: GALENA, CASCADE, MT.HOOD
Fire Rock Pale Ale pours a rich golden amber with a white head of big gaseous bubbles. A lightly-hopped aroma rises off the dissipating head, a preview of the balanced pale ale which will greet your lips. Citrusy, tropical hops are evident enough to rise above the full bodied pale ale. While Fire Rock has enough bodied to feel and taste like hearty ale, there’s enough lightness that this beer would be suitable for having a couple while watching the game. The finish is crisp and there is little lingering flavor. You have to reach for another gulp to experience Fire Rock Pale Ale all over again.
I have always been a fan of Kona Brewing and Fire Rock has been an underrated member of their lineup in my opinion. Many beer geeks dismiss Kona thanks to their relationship with the Craft Brewer’s Alliance, but I think that does the beer a disservice. Very approachable, I am pleased to find Fire Rock popping up at more chain locations where the Bud-Miller-Coors taps would previously dominate.
While the Kona Brewing we get to experience here on the continent is different from the island brewery, Kona’s Fire Rock Pale is a treat wherever you may find it. Here’s to hoping I may find myself on a sandy beach drinking the brewpub version sometime in the near future. In the meantime, the 6-pack from my local grocery store will do just fine.
Guess you can count me as one of those doing this beer a disservice. I think it’s a shame that AB InBev takes up taps that could be given to a nice local craft beer.
Kona is NOT owned by AB InBev. This is a rumor. AB InBev owns a stake in the CBA, which does own Kona outright, but the AB InBev stake was a distribution deal made years ago. AB InBev is not present in any of the CBA brewhouses and does not make decisions over the quality of the brewing.
Anahieser-busch owns 32.2 percent of craft brew alliance. That’s not a rumor. And any craft brewery that has a 24 percent or greater share owned by a non craft brewery is a non craft brewery.
That’s over and above their distribution deal
It’s the same ownership stake AB InBev took when granting the CBA access to their distribution channels. Again, AB InBev has no say on what goes on inside the brewhouses at these breweries.
The Brewer’s Association picked the 24% number to define craft brewers but I don’t hold myself to their definition. The Brewer’s Association also increased the upper limit on their definition of a craft brewer to allow Boston Beer to remain in the Association. The cost? Lobby money in DC aimed at reducing excise taxes.
My point is that good beer is good beer. Fire Rock pale is a good beer. Goose Island continues to make good beer. While we know the name AB InBev and can pick it out among investors of breweries, we don’t know all the names and investors involved in all the breweries out there, nor do we know what they represent, how they made their money or what their intentions are.
I like to keep it simple and judge the beer in the glass.
My point AB InBev forcing local craft breweries off taps and shelves is never a good thing. Any deal with the devil is a deal I wouldn’t want to make
All politics aside, Kona does make some good beers. I had the Fire Rock on tap in Hawaii and it was very good. But as far as Hawaiian breweries go, the Maui Brewing Company is quite excellent. Everything I’d have from them is way better than Kona’s equivalent.