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The story
Kona Brewing Company is the state’s longest-running craft brewery. It was founded in 1994 by father-and-son duo Cameron and Spoon Healy. The brewery originally sold only to the local market. Due to costs, shipping the beer to the continental US was impractical, so the brewery made arrangements to brew beer on the Mainland.
The Kona pub was opened in November, 1998 and the Hawaii Kai pub opened in December, 2003.
In order to expand distribution to all 50 states and international markets, the brewery merged with the Craft Brew Alliance in October, 2010 and contacted with Widmer Brothers, an Oregon regional craft brewer. Ownership by Craft Brew Alliance granted the company access to the Anheuser-Busch distribution network, which, according to Hawaii Business Magazine, "has the most technologically sophisticated distributor system in the country, with computer terminals in thousands of independently owned distributors and its own network of wholly owned distribution branches."
In 2020, Kona Brewing Hawaii was established as an independent brewery, separate from the mainland's Anheuser-Busch operation. The establishment of the independent brewery included the construction of a 30,000-square foot facility with an annual capacity of 65,000 barrels and a canning line. In addition, the new brewery includes sustainable initiatives, such as solar energy collection and usage, and reusing water from the fermentation process for cleaning and irrigation.
Kona Brewing Hawaii has made significant strides to provide for the local community through its Makana Giving program, supporting local nonprofits that protect the environment and enrich residents' quality of life. Previous recipients included the Eddie Aikau Foundation, Waipā Foundation and Surfrider Hawai‘i chapters.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kona Brewing Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4