HBG
  • Subscribe
  • Digital Edition
    • Digital Edition
  • The Beverage Guide
    • Beer >
      • Kamaʻāina Brewers >
        • Kauai Breweries >
          • Kaua'i Island Brewing Co.
        • Oahu Breweries >
          • Aloha Beer Co
          • Beer Lab
          • Bent Tail Brewing
          • Broken Boundary Brewery
          • Hana Koa Brewing Co
          • Honolulu Beerworks
          • Inu Island Ales
          • Lanikai Brewing Co
          • Waikiki Brewing Company
        • Maui Breweries >
          • Maui Brewing Co
          • Maui Seltzer
          • Kohola Brewery
        • Big Island Breweries >
          • Big Island Brewhaus
          • Ola Brewing
          • Hilo Brewing
          • Kona Brewing
      • Firestone Walker Brewing Co
      • Golden Road Brewing
      • San Miguel
      • Stella Artois Summer Solstice Lager
    • Spirits >
      • Kamaʻāina Distillers >
        • Aloha Awamori
        • Hali'imaile Distilling Company
        • Hanalei Spirits
        • Hawaii Sea Spirits
        • Hawaiian Shochu Co
        • Island Distillers
        • Ko Hana Rum
        • Kolani Distillers
        • Koloa Rum >
          • Koloa Cacao Rum
        • Ko'olau Distillery
        • Kuleana Rumworks
        • Kupu Spirits >
          • Kupu Whiskey
        • Royal Hawaiian Spirits
      • Bitters
      • Brandy >
        • Emperador Brandy
        • Fundador Brandy
      • Gin >
        • Indoggo Gin
      • Liqueurs and Cordials >
        • Chareau
      • Ready Made Cocktails >
        • 10 Barrels Brewing Co.
      • Rum >
        • Lemon Hart and Son
        • Real McCoy Rum
        • Tanduay Rum
      • Shochu
      • Mezcal and Tequila >
        • Tequila Making >
          • The Science of Tequila
        • Casa Sauza
        • Del Maguey
        • Tequila Comisario
        • Tequila Komos
      • Vodka
    • Cider >
      • Paradise Ciders
    • Sake
    • Wine >
      • Winemaking >
        • Hawai'i Beverage Guide To: >
          • A Guide to: Wine Prefermentation Practices
          • A Guide to: Wine Microbes
          • A Guide to: Wine Fermentation Physical Environment
          • A Guide to: Wine Fermentation Chemical Environment
          • A Guide to: Post Fermentation Flavor Adjustments
          • A Guide to: Post Fermentation Process: Stabilization
          • A Guide to: Wine Bottling
          • A Guide to: Wine Faults
          • A Guide to: Wine Polyphenols
        • Red and White Grape Aroma Compounds
        • Viticulture: The Science of Grape Growing
        • Wine Aroma Compounds: Pt 1
        • Wine Aroma Compounds: Pt 2
      • Kamaʻāina Wine Makers
      • Wine Styles >
        • White Wine Styles >
          • Riesling
          • Sauvignon Blanc
        • Rosé
        • Red Wine Styles >
          • Bordeaux Reds
          • Cabernet Sauvignon
          • Gewürztraminer
          • Grenache
          • Malbec
          • Merlot
          • Non-Alcoholic Wine >
            • Fre: Alcohol -Removed Wine
          • Zinfandel
        • Sparkling Wine
    • Non-Alcoholic Beverages >
      • Kamaʻāina Beverages >
        • Hawaiian Sun
    • Production Fundamentals >
      • A Guide to: Alcohol Fermentation
      • Distillation and Stills
      • A Guide to: Oak Barrels
      • A Guide to: Filtration
    • Featured Articles >
      • 2022 No/Low Alcohol Beverage Market Perspective
      • Hawai'i Beverage Guide To: >
        • A Guide to Cocktail Construction
        • A Guide to Filipino Flavors
        • A Guide to: Japanese Flavors
        • A Guide to Pricing Strategy
      • Your Dapper Consulting: Democratization of Venture Capital
    • Product Index
    • New Products
  • News and Events
    • Cheers to Seventy-Three Years
    • Navigating COVID-19
  • About
    • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
Picture
​https://www.islanddistillers.com/
Distillery Location:
577 Pakala St, Honolulu, HI 96825

Tasting Room and Distillery Open
Wednesday - Sunday
​10:00am to 5:00pm 
​

Hawaii Distributor: Paradise Beverages
​
@IslandDistillers

About the Brand

  • Founding Story
  • The Team
<
>

Dave Flintstone of Island Distillers is a blender at heart and has approached Hapa Vodkas that way as well. A former scuba instructor for seven years in the Caribbean, Dave spent most of his time on the island of Espanola where he learned the skillful art of blending upon discovering sugarcane spirits that included lots of rums.  After a few years of going between the island’s countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, he began taking on internships at different distilleries and production facilities learning how to make sugarcane spirits of rum, clarin, and vodka, as well as learning how to blend them. 
​
“Maui has a habit of over-regulation and bureaucracy. I spent a year getting the run-around and was either given the wrong answers or no answers on what I needed to do in order to have the building or the space I wanted to qualify for a distillery.  The attitude I was mostly met with was: “Go lease a building first, and then we’ll tell you what you might need!” I ended up making a call over here on Oahu, and found out it was a completely different situation, even though it’s under the same state laws. A week later, I was over here [Oahu] building out my first distillery space, and we opened a month later. That was ten years ago. “
​
Dave Flintstone

Still

Island Distillers uses a custom, micro, continuous distillation still that instantly vaporizes the mash, instead of boiling the mash like in a pot still.  This automatically separates heads and tails; however, not a lot of heads are produced due to this particular methodology. Flintstone helped design this custom still with a Russian petroleum engineer who worked on fuel refineries and vodka in his spare time.  However, the still was refined for the American pallet as Russians like vodka with a lot of bite.
​
Picture

Vodka Approach & Inspiration

  • Why Vodka
  • Hapa Name Origin
  • How Flavors were Chosen
<
>

“I picked vodka for a couple reasons. First, I really like vodka! It’s always been my spirit of choice. Also, a benefit of vodka from a production standpoint is that it’s un-aged by definition, so you can virtually release a product almost immediately after making it. Vodka is the most unique spirit for several reasons: One, it can be made from any commodity.  Two, with vodka, the trick is getting it not to taste bad. In distillation and with a pure fermentation, you're not trying to add flavors in as much as you’re trying to remove the other flavors. My mindset at the time was that it seemed easier trying to get something to taste good that way. However, in practice, it’s not easier at all. It’s a pure distillation, so it’s actually much more difficult.”
“Hapa, in Native Hawaiian, means “part” or “mixed.”  I decided to take advantage of hundreds of years of sugarcane history in Hawaii and my knowledge of blending, which is quite unique here as no one else does it. I take my freshly made, Hawaiian vodka and then blend it with a Brazilian sugarcane spirit that I import, merging the two, and in turn, creating something better. Blending is better! That’s why all the best rums in the Caribbean are blended rums and have been since the 1600s.”
​
“I just chose ones that I actually liked. I also included ones that weren’t really common; but more importantly, bore flavors that were associated with Hawaii. I started with the hibiscus and Hawai’i chili pepper before finally landing on the coconut flavor.”
​

Vodka Production

  • Ingredients
  • Production Process
<
>
Sugar
The sweetener for the flavored vodkas and the supplement to the “backyard” sugarcane comes from Louisiana.  
Vodka

To make the base spirit, sugarcane grown on the property is fermented and run through a custom, micro, continuous distillation still.  This instantly vaporizes the mash and automatically separates heads and tails. With this distillation technique, minimal heads and tails are produced, thus producing higher yields of the end product.  Flintstone then blends a Brazilian spirit to proof with water, lets it rest, then blends it again with his local vodka distillate.

“I have a very small production method, so my spirit is going to be a bit different than a larger production method. Bringing the Brazillian sugarcane and my sugarcane distillate together definitely makes all the difference when blending them. The whole is greater than some of the parts, and it creates a nice synergy and a nice harmony.”
  • Hapa Vodka
  • Hapa Coconut Vodka
  • Hapa Hibiscus Vodka
  • ​Hapa Hawaiian Chili Pepper Vodka
<
>
Picture
Hapa Vodka
Picture
Coconuts
“The coconuts come from either Thailand or the Philippines, depending on the time of year or weather.  Unfortunately, there are no coconut plantations here in Hawaii. And unlike other fruits and some botanicals, you can’t really chuck coconuts into vodka and expect much flavor transfer. You need a more intense flavor in order to infuse the [coconut] flavor and aroma into the product. I developed a distillation method of its own that uses water. It’s the same way they produce other extract products that are highly intense in flavors or aromas like essential oils.  I also quickly realized that on my own, I would not be be able to produce this product in the quantity that I needed, even with the small production that I have, because it would take a large amount of coconuts and a tremendous amount of labor. So, I created the extraction I wanted and found someone on the mainland, who had the facilities in place to process the coconuts, to do it for me.”
Picture
Hibiscus
“Hawai’i doesn’t have hibiscus farms, so I have to source elsewhere. I don’t mind doing this for my ingredients when it’s necessary because I want the best ingredients for my products no matter where they come from. The hibiscus actually comes from Egypt, and it’s dried hibiscus flower infused directly into the product, which is where the color, aroma and flavor come from.”
Hawaiian Chili Pepper
“The Hawaii chili peppers are currently sourced from the Big Island on the Puna side. Our source is a gentleman who has hundreds and hundreds of chili pepper plants that I'm able to get pounds of chili peppers from, which has been very convenient.”

Okolehao


“Okolehao has been mass produced for retail since the late 18th century, so it has a reasonably long history.  Many producers at the time had also introduced sugarcane in their Okolehau, which provided a smoother spirit. I wanted to focus on recreating what was being drunk during that time as opposed to what was common during the 1700s. I developed mine two years after the releases of my two initial Vodkas: the Straight Premium Vodka, and the Coconut Vodka.”

​
  • Ingredients
  • Process
<
>
Sourcing of Ingredients

Ti Leaf (Okolehau)
“Almost all the ones we do use have green leaves just because that’s what we’re able to source from the Big Island. However, I haven’t found any particular difference in flavor between the different colored leaves; and, we’re not using the leaves; we’re using the root.”

The Production process

“All alcohol starts with fermentation, which of course creates the alcohol and distilling, but also concentrates and refines the alcohol.  With regard to the fermentation process of my Okelehao, is sugarcane and Ti root. Sugarcane is readily fermentable, and by simply adding the correct yeast, it will ferment and produce alcohol. The Ti root, as a starch, has to be converted to sugars like all other starches, so it has to be chopped, minced, and then made into a slurry; once heated, it will convert into sugars, which after combined with the sugarcane, can then be fermented into alcohol.”

​

Distillery

Hapa Vodka - Island Distillers

6/25/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
https://www.islanddistillers.com
Distillery Location:
577 Pakala St, Honolulu, HI 96825
(Open for Tours)
​Production Process
Owner and operator Dave Flintstone of Island Distillers is a blender at heart, and such is his approach to Hapa Vodka.  To make the base spirit, sugar cane grown on property is fermented and run through a custom micro continuous distillation still.  This instantly vaporizes the mash and automatically separates heads and tales. With this distillation technique, minimal heads and tails are produced, thus proving higher yields of end product.  Flintstruitone helped design the still with a Russian engineer who worked on fuel refineries and vodka in his spare time. The still was refined for the American palate, as Russians tend to like their vodka with a lot more bite.  Flintstone then blends a Brazilian spirit to proof with water, lets it rest, then blends it again with his local vodka distillate.​​

Tasting Notes
Boquet: Slightly astringent and clean

Pallet: Hapa has a silky mouthfeel with warming alcohol.  There is a faint top note of grass or sugarcane, with a slightly sweet lasting finish.

Cocktail Approach
  • Method: Muddle ingredients and Shake
  • Flavors: Sweet fruit flavors, tropical fruit like mango or pineapple, and herbs.
  • Avoid: N/A

Hawaii Beverage Guide Commentary
We feel Island Distiller’s Hapa Vodka is more robust in flavor than Ocean Vodka and less robust than Pau Vodka.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

MENU

HOME

SUBSCRIBE

DIGITAL
​EDITION

BEVERAGE
​GUIDE

SUBSCRIBER CONTENT

FEATURED
​COLUMNS

ABOUT

CONTACT

©2022 Hawaii Beverage Guide
​Terms & Conditions 
  • Subscribe
  • Digital Edition
    • Digital Edition
  • The Beverage Guide
    • Beer >
      • Kamaʻāina Brewers >
        • Kauai Breweries >
          • Kaua'i Island Brewing Co.
        • Oahu Breweries >
          • Aloha Beer Co
          • Beer Lab
          • Bent Tail Brewing
          • Broken Boundary Brewery
          • Hana Koa Brewing Co
          • Honolulu Beerworks
          • Inu Island Ales
          • Lanikai Brewing Co
          • Waikiki Brewing Company
        • Maui Breweries >
          • Maui Brewing Co
          • Maui Seltzer
          • Kohola Brewery
        • Big Island Breweries >
          • Big Island Brewhaus
          • Ola Brewing
          • Hilo Brewing
          • Kona Brewing
      • Firestone Walker Brewing Co
      • Golden Road Brewing
      • San Miguel
      • Stella Artois Summer Solstice Lager
    • Spirits >
      • Kamaʻāina Distillers >
        • Aloha Awamori
        • Hali'imaile Distilling Company
        • Hanalei Spirits
        • Hawaii Sea Spirits
        • Hawaiian Shochu Co
        • Island Distillers
        • Ko Hana Rum
        • Kolani Distillers
        • Koloa Rum >
          • Koloa Cacao Rum
        • Ko'olau Distillery
        • Kuleana Rumworks
        • Kupu Spirits >
          • Kupu Whiskey
        • Royal Hawaiian Spirits
      • Bitters
      • Brandy >
        • Emperador Brandy
        • Fundador Brandy
      • Gin >
        • Indoggo Gin
      • Liqueurs and Cordials >
        • Chareau
      • Ready Made Cocktails >
        • 10 Barrels Brewing Co.
      • Rum >
        • Lemon Hart and Son
        • Real McCoy Rum
        • Tanduay Rum
      • Shochu
      • Mezcal and Tequila >
        • Tequila Making >
          • The Science of Tequila
        • Casa Sauza
        • Del Maguey
        • Tequila Comisario
        • Tequila Komos
      • Vodka
    • Cider >
      • Paradise Ciders
    • Sake
    • Wine >
      • Winemaking >
        • Hawai'i Beverage Guide To: >
          • A Guide to: Wine Prefermentation Practices
          • A Guide to: Wine Microbes
          • A Guide to: Wine Fermentation Physical Environment
          • A Guide to: Wine Fermentation Chemical Environment
          • A Guide to: Post Fermentation Flavor Adjustments
          • A Guide to: Post Fermentation Process: Stabilization
          • A Guide to: Wine Bottling
          • A Guide to: Wine Faults
          • A Guide to: Wine Polyphenols
        • Red and White Grape Aroma Compounds
        • Viticulture: The Science of Grape Growing
        • Wine Aroma Compounds: Pt 1
        • Wine Aroma Compounds: Pt 2
      • Kamaʻāina Wine Makers
      • Wine Styles >
        • White Wine Styles >
          • Riesling
          • Sauvignon Blanc
        • Rosé
        • Red Wine Styles >
          • Bordeaux Reds
          • Cabernet Sauvignon
          • Gewürztraminer
          • Grenache
          • Malbec
          • Merlot
          • Non-Alcoholic Wine >
            • Fre: Alcohol -Removed Wine
          • Zinfandel
        • Sparkling Wine
    • Non-Alcoholic Beverages >
      • Kamaʻāina Beverages >
        • Hawaiian Sun
    • Production Fundamentals >
      • A Guide to: Alcohol Fermentation
      • Distillation and Stills
      • A Guide to: Oak Barrels
      • A Guide to: Filtration
    • Featured Articles >
      • 2022 No/Low Alcohol Beverage Market Perspective
      • Hawai'i Beverage Guide To: >
        • A Guide to Cocktail Construction
        • A Guide to Filipino Flavors
        • A Guide to: Japanese Flavors
        • A Guide to Pricing Strategy
      • Your Dapper Consulting: Democratization of Venture Capital
    • Product Index
    • New Products
  • News and Events
    • Cheers to Seventy-Three Years
    • Navigating COVID-19
  • About
    • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions