Sunday, May 16, 2010

Kona Brew with the ACF!



On May 5th I went to the AFC Kona Kohala Chef's Association Chapter Meeting at the Kona Brewing Company. While all AFC meetings are fun, this one is annually the best attended and now I know why. It is not just the great hand crafted local beers that are a draw, the food was also fantastic and the camaraderie of the Chefs and food industry people made for a terrific afternoon on the other side of the island.


Kona Brewery has an outstanding sustainability policy, employing a full time Sustainability Coordinator to source local goods and implement their recycling and energy policies. Most of the spent grain used in the brewing is given to a local cattle rancher and what is not is used in the Pub's pizza dough and breads. They are embarking on a new solar system that will be able to power the entire operation. Even the leftover food scraps are given to a local pig farmer. All to go containers and the cups used at festivals are bio-degradable. Even the condensation water (90 gallons a day) from their air conditioning system is collected and used for the landscaping. 
Culinary Students 
Brewery Tour
Ready for pizza!
The Menu
First Course Hummus Plate 
The first beer, my favorite, the new Oceanic Organic Saison (Belgian Style) with Chef/Restauranteur Daniel Thiebaut in glass. The beer was paired with the Hualalai Hummis
Local Spinach and Strawberry Salad was paired with 
The Cheeseburger Pizza was paired with Fire Rock Pale Ale
 The Puna Pie was paired with Black Sand Porter. This was a very cheesy pizza and included local Puna Goat Cheese. 
Also featured, but not shown here were Perperoni Ali'i Pizza paired with Castaway IPA, Thai Chicken Pizza paired with Coco Loco Coconut Ale and for Dessert~ Pipeline Porter Float made with Tahihtian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. And we got to keep the pint glasses! 
 Chef/Restauranteur Daniel Thiebaut was made an Honorary Member of the ACF Kona Kohala Chef's Association. 

Our next event is an Avocado Tasting and Luncheon Menu featuring Avocados at the Four Seasons with Chef James Babian on Wed. June 2nd. Member and tropical fruit expert Ken Love will be presenting the Avocado Tasting/Educational element. 

2 comments:

Jimh. said...

WOW! That sounds great! The porter sounds really good.

Kyle B. Sasaoka said...

It's so nice to see that a local company is making strides to become green. The pictures are awesome, and the food looks so 'ono. Please keep up the good work, and thanks for the blog.