“Going Green” was a top priority for Kona’s Brice and Lisa Ginardi even before they opened their new business, Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge in Alii Sunset Plaza. “It’s the way we’ve been doing things since the beginning; everything from the sustainable materials we sourced for construction to the fresh local products we use to make our drinks and pupus,” says Lisa. The couple employed green business practices from the lounge’s inception. “We reconfigured the existing facility, using whatever structure, appliances, etc. we could, and repurposed the building materials in our renovation,” shares Brice. “Nearly everything we pulled out during demolition was reused later.” The Ginardis relied on sustainable bamboo, vintage furnishings and décor, plus locally-sourced tiki to give a Hawaiian feel to the interior, while drywall and finish scraps were used as needed. Low VOC paint added a splash of color. Water-regulating faucets, low-flow toilets and an on-demand tankless hot water heater were installed. “During construction, every light we added or replaced was an energy efficient CFL or LED,” adds Brice. “All new electrical appliances are Energy-Star qualified.” When planning the lounge’s menu, the couple decided to commit to buying locally sourced food as much as possible. They also wanted to revive popular tropical cocktails from the past so they researched classic recipes, working with Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, expert and author on tiki drinks and one of Imbibe magazine’s “25 Most Influential Cocktail Personalities of the Past Century.” “Our belief is that artisanal, farm-to-glass cocktails have no better home than this lush, tropical island,” states Brice, an award-winning bartender who oversees Okolemaluna’s drink menu. Local tropical and citrus fruits, organic cane sugar, 100 percent Kona coffee, herbs and spices are sourced, whenever possible, to not only “Our attention to detail is all about preserving the art of the cocktail,” muses Brice. “It is a multi-step process dependent on the correct blending of the right ingredients.” While the Ginardis offer both beer and wine, only Hawaii-brewed beers are on tap to reduce their carbon footprint. “Our complex doesn’t have a recycling program so we haul any glass bottles and Hi-5 each week for recycling, along with all cardboard and mixed recyclables,” notes Lisa. In addition, all biodegradable straws, paper products and to-go containers, are purchased through Sustainable Island Products. “You won’t find any Styrofoam or plastic in our place,” she adds. Click here to read the full article. Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai Festival Once a year Kona wakes up in a wash of Bacardi rum when the Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai Festival kicks off. With top mixologist talent coming in from all across the state and international participants and judges like William Ramos and rum expert Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, the town goes all out. Kona is packed with fun bars and charming cantinas within walking distance of the Royal Kona Resort where the Mai Tai Festival is held, making it the hot spot to party every August. With $10,000 on the line, the mixologists pulled out all the stops. Judged on presentation, nose, palate, finish, balance, creativity and trueness to form, each mai tai could earn up to 350 points. Contestants had just seven minutes to prepare their drinks and serve them with flair. Judges sniffed, scrutinized, sipped and scored. There was some stiff competition with that kind of money on the line, and in the end it was Christian Self from Oahu's ThirtyNineHotel who took the top score with his amazing Mai Tai Twist. Brice Ginardi, owner of the coming-soon OkoleMaluna Tiki Bar in Kona, came in a close-but-no-cigar second. I was surprised to find that he used Maui's own Haleakala Distilleries Okolehau liquor in his Mai Tai Twizzle recipe. He'll be featuring other cocktails with Okolehau on his menu as well. "When we heard of it becoming available, we bought a bottle as soon as we could," Ginardi said. "Immediately we noticed it has a very sweet, herbal aroma and a grassy, complex flavor. It tastes very smooth, and we first enjoyed it just as a sipping liquor. As soon as I tasted it, I knew I wanted to make it part of my mai tai recipe for this year's contest." From ono eats to beautiful scenery to excellent company, balance was what this weekend was all about. That, and some really good mai tais. Click here to read the full article. KONA COASTING By Beachbum Berry
Click here to read the full article. Click here to read Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge’s High Spirits
Gottesman served as master of ceremonies at last summer’s Second Annual Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai Festival in Kailua-Kona, which, between concerts and after a barbecue cook-off, featured a contest in which twenty-two bartenders from around Hawai‘i gave the mai tai the kind of attention it’s needed for so long. They did this to restore honor to a classic American cocktail, and they did it in hopes of seeing their name written on the oversized check for $10,000 that would go to the winner. A few hundred rollicking onlookers gathered in the late afternoon light of the Royal Kona Resort’s circa 1960s seaside bar to witness the spectacle. The bartenders muddled, mixed, shook and poured, and the judges eyeballed, sniffed, sipped and savored, pacing themselves through twenty-two potent contest entries. Gottesman, in pink shirt and black Kangol hat, roamed the drink stations doing play-by-play commentary: “Amie’s fortifying her drink with Bacardi Select and Bacardi 8 Year [yes, Bacardi was a sponsor] ... Nice bold choices. ... Now she’s using the two-handed over-the-shoulder bruising technique to bring the temperature of the cocktail down.” The most traditional drink was prepared by Brice Ginardi, a professed tikiphile and former Arizona water department employee who moved to Hawai‘i to open a tiki bar. Where other mixologists experimented with unproven ingredients like aloe juice and hibiscus tea, Ginardi went old school, recreating Don the Beachcomber’s Mai Tai Swizzle. Rather than prepare a drink for each judge, he made one enormous drink in a triangular bowl adorned with Easter Island heads, and gave each judge an extra-long straw. To serve it he dispatched an attractive young woman with a flower in her hair, whom he called The Mystery Girl. Later he explained that both the communal bowl and The Mystery Girl are reprises from the golden era of tiki bars, a time he speaks of wistfully. “Back in the ’50s and ’60s the drinks were painstakingly made with fresh local ingredients for people’s enjoyment,” he said. Then came the ’70s. Exotic cocktails grew debased, the umbrella drink became a standing joke and something good was lost. “I’m not trying to badmouth anyone for making bad mai tais,” Ginardi said. “I just think we can do better.” Click here to read the entire article
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Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge does cocktails the earth-friendly way
...The finalists were chosen by Hawaii’s go-to cocktail consultant, Joey Gottesman, whose high standards yielded an embarrassment of riches for the Bum and his fellow judges (Bacardi reps Willie Ramos and Juan Coronado, Hawaii Beverage Guide publisher Chris Teves, and Maui musician Eric Gilliom).
Nothing says Hawaiian vacatýon quite like a mai tai. It’s the drink that tells you, You’ve arrived! Aloha! Hang loose, catch the sunset, let the tropical getaway begin! Never mind that it was invented in California and has a Tahitian name, the mai tai belongs in Hawai‘i. It’s friendly, fun loving and democratic, with none of the highbrow affectations of, say, the Manhattan. That does not mean, though, that it isn’t deep. When made correctly the mai tai is a complex cocktail, with a sweet-ness carefully balanced by lime, complementary flavors of rum stacked on top of each other and a bundle of aromatic notes.
