Foodies rejoice! ‘Aipono Awards are in
Raising Spirits
Rescuing Sea Turtles +
ISLAND-WIDE
DIN I NG GUIDE
How one tequila lover turned a Makawao bike park into Hawai‘i’s only blue agave distillery.
The Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute heals injured Hawaiian sea turtles.
The 20th ‘Aipono Awards celebrate the best of Maui's culinary community.
POSTMASTER:
ON THE COVER Pan-fried mahi mahi from ‘Aipono Award winner Māla Ocean Tavern pairs with Moloka‘i sweet potatoes, veggies and ginger-garlic black bean sauce.
Photo by Keegan Kim
Tales of the island fresh off the coconut wireless. Maui Off-Road Adventures explores the island, and the Fairmont Kea Lani gets an upgrade.
Hawaiian kanpachi recipes from ‘Aipono Award winner Chef Kyle Kawakami.
Everything you need to know about dining on Maui, from casual bites to luxury experiences.
Discovering island events and people through photography, featuring the winners of the 20th annual ‘Aipono Awards.
JUNE-JULY 2024 VOL. 28, NO. 3
Maui Nō Ka ‘Oi is an internationally-distributed magazine dedicated to exploring the life and culture of Maui Nui. There’s a saying known in the islands: Maui nō ka ‘oi, Hawaiian for “Maui is the best.” We hope you think so, too.
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Fresh off the coconut wireless
by Ashley Probst
Maui Off-Road Adventures offers exhilarating rides and opportunity to plant trees to help restore island
STRAP INTO AN ALL-TERRAIN vehicle and feel the engine purr as you set off on winding trails in the West Maui Mountains. Whip around rocky curves and tunnel under natural canopies, the path shifting beneath your wheels. Laughter erupts as ATVs splash through puddles, throwing mud on occupants — a badge of honor on this thrilling adventure.
As high energy as the experience is, there’s also a sense of peace while navigating the lush landscape. Sunlight filters through the trees, butterflies and dragonflies flit through the soft air, and bright blooms pop with color amid the scent of fresh rain mingled with earth. Beyond the jungle-green interior, breathtaking views of Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i and the ‘Au‘au Channel arise in vivid splendor. Whether exploring dense grassy expanses untouched by time, revving up exposed hillsides to capture those panoramic vistas or traversing gullies, the rough terrain feels
surprisingly smooth atop Maui Off-Road Adventures’ Can-Am Maverick Sport MAX all-terrain vehicles. And the sharper the corner, the greater the surprise around the bend.
“The vehicles themselves are very apt to do whatever we could throw at them. They’ll climb up just about anything,” said Jesse Sword, vice president of operations. They’re made to handle the muddy flanks of this fertile mountainside located below one of the wettest places on the planet.
With expert staff guiding the way, guests of all ages and skill levels can enjoy a seamless journey across thousands of acres and 25 miles of interconnected trails. “We had a 92-year-old lady come up by herself and drive herself the whole two hours. She loved it,” Sword recalled of one of his most memorable riders. “She came back with three friends a month later.”
Providing an exhilarating ATV ride that also celebrates Maui County’s rich history and stunning natural beauty lies at the heart of Maui Off-Road Adventures — an island tour company committed to education and environmental stewardship. “We’re ripping around in a four-wheeldrive machine, but also getting to give back to Maui,” Sword said.
Over the last several years, Maui Off-Road Adventures’ crew and customers have planted approximately 30,000 koa, ‘a‘ali‘i, ‘ulei,
pōhinahina and other native Hawaiian trees and shrubs in partnership with Pu‘u Kukui Watershed Preserve. The reforestation project aims to transform former plantation lands into a thriving grove to help mitigate prevalent island issues such as soil erosion and freshwater scarcity, with a future goal of introducing up to 15 native species at higher elevations.
Maui Off-Road Adventures extends its philanthropic efforts beyond reforestation, demonstrating a commitment to animal welfare through a collaboration with Good Cat Network. The team also took on a humanitarian role following the Lāhainā wildfire, raising more than $40,000 for Maui Off-Road Adventures ‘ohana affected by the disaster.
The company’s present focus is returning to pre-fire operations, which Sword estimated will take about a year. From there, the company hopes to build its own shop, which will include a dedicated check-in area and parking lot.
Currently, Maui Off-Road Adventures runs its two-hour tours daily for guests ages 7 and older, bringing to life a vision in which adventure and conservation coexist and charting a path toward a more sustainable island for all.
Riders explore 25 miles of West Maui trails. Sustainability commitment includes reforestation efforts. The muddier the ride is, the bigger the smiles.
by Mike Morris
IN HAWAIIAN CULTURE, piko is known as the center — or where life begins.
That concept was applied to the recent remodel of the Fairmont Kea Lani, with the resort’s new cultural center, Hale Kukuna, serving as the piko of the 22-acre property on Maui’s south shore in Wailea.
As k ukuna means “rays of the sun,” the center’s name is symbolic for spreading Hawaiian culture throughout the resort as well as the larger Maui community, said cultural ambassador Kamalei Purdy.
Despite a museum-like atmosphere, the relics on display at Hale Kukuna are interactive and tangible. “Everything in our space is meant to be touched,” Purdy said as she retrieved items from themed cabinets.
One display showcases colorful leis along with a hat band made of peacock feathers. As most native Hawaiian birds are now extinct, these leis are replicas featuring brightly dyed duck, goose and chicken feathers.
Next to them, a “fishing and war cabinet” has shelves filled with handmade fishing hooks, an octopus lure and weapons made with shark teeth.
There are two music-themed cabinets — one displaying ukuleles made of koa and monkeypod, and another with more traditional drums created from coconuts and gourds.
“I like to stump a lot of people and tell them that the ukulele is not a Hawaiian instrument, it’s a Portuguese instrument,” Purdy said with a laugh.
Educating guests is one of the goals of the immersive cultural center, which boasts a curated collection of Hawaiian books that people can read in the lounge area or even borrow like a library.
A statue of the hotel’s matriarch, Queen Lili‘uokalani — the last queen of Hawai‘i — oversees the reading area. Another of sculptor Dale Zarrella’s pieces, titled “Mermaid Dream,” can be found on the other end of the resort’s expansive lobby.
Plans are in the works for select artifacts
Hale Kukuna, the Fairmont Kea Lani’s new immersive cultural center, boasts books, instruments, implements, artwork and artifact replicas made by Native Hawaiians. Nearby, guests enjoy sushi and elegantly crafted cocktails at the new ocean view lounge, Pilina.
from Hale Hō‘ike‘ike, the Maui Historical Society in Wailuku, to be displayed at Hale Kukuna, which sits just beyond the Kea Lani’s main lobby. The highly visible space also hosts ukulele and hula lessons along with lei making classes.
“People coming in from any angle can see us,” Purdy noted. “A lot of the guests tell us they’re very happy to see a space like this.”
T HE SAME PHILOSOPHY of sharing Hawaiian culture can be found just a few steps away at the Kea Lani’s new open-air bar and restaurant, Pilina, where the bartender is known to forage the property for edible flowers and herbs.
Manager Cameron Hall worked for a year to source ingredients and help connect guests to tastes that are unique to the Hawaiian Islands.
“Mauka,” one of three specialty cocktails, combines ingredients including FY O rganic Hawai‘i Wet Gin, ‘Ōhi‘a lehua honey from Big Island Bees, Ali‘i Kula Lavender and smoked bee pollen from the Big Island. Another cocktail, “Makai,” blends
Kula-based Ocean Organic Vodka with aloe, limu and sea asparagus, among other flavors.
P ilina’s Hawaiian-infused innovations apply to its signature Mai Tai, which includes a kukui and macadamia orgeat syrup.
Kukui nuts actually play a small part in a prominent display back over at Hale Kukuna: an exhibit of kapa, or bark cloth, features a pattern printed using the ash of burned kukui nuts. It’s details like these that convey an authentic experience, whether exploring the educational displays at the cultural center or sipping a craft cocktail and watching the sunset in the tropical breeze.
Pilina, which means relationship or connection, also serves lunch and dinner; the latter includes sushi rolls, sashimi and an interactive hot rock bar serving everything from ahi and ebi to wagyu and venison.
T he opening of P ilina e arlier this year marked the completion of Fairmont Kea Lani’s extensive, multi-year transformation project. In addition to 413 one-bedroom suites and 37 two-story villas, the resort unveiled its reimagined lobby with Hale Kukuna as the piko.
How one tequila lover turned a Makawao bike park into Hawai‘i’s only blue agave distillery.
by Todd A. Vines
photographs by Rachel Olsson
Blue agave plants are harvested by hand using a coa to remove needle-sharp leaves. The bulbous core, the piña, is then cooked for more than 42 hours.
AHEAVY MIST rolled across Makawao. The moisture enveloped Paul Turner’s agave fields and triggered a heady petrichor, the unmistakable scent of wet Earth.
“ The plants are happy here,” said Turner, owner of Waikulu Distillery, a farm-tobottle maker of blue agave spirits. “It’s a perfect crop for Hawai‘i.”
What began as an experiment with just a handful of plants has grown into a budding adult beverage business. Waikulu is the only distillery in Hawai‘ i producing agave spirits, a distilled alcohol similar to tequila. The word “waikulu” in ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i means “dripping water” and has historically been used to describe distilling alcohol, which drips slowly from the still.
Turner’s farm is home to some 3,000 agave tequilana destined for distillation. The spiky, blue-green plants, arranged in tidy rows across six acres, take roughly seven years to mature. The plant’s compact, bulbous core, known as the piña, is harvested by hand and brought to the property’s distinct, turquoise
barn, where it’s cooked, crushed, fermented and distilled. About half of the spirits produced are placed in barrels for aging, while the rest are bottled and sold as a crisp, unaged “silver.” Both aged and unaged varieties are offered in the adjacent tasting room, which opened to visitors in 2023.
Agave aficionados tend to be extremely passionate. In fact, many of the young distillery’s visitors are tequila drinkers that spontaneously stop in after spying the agave fields from Baldwin Avenue.
“They’re driving by, and they see the plants, and they U-turn and come in, and they’re just like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ ”
“I happened on this by accident,” said Turner, who got his first blue agave plants by mail in 2011 and put them in the ground for landscaping. Turner soon found that Makawao’s temperate climate and reliable rainfall produced agave that grew larger and matured faster than that grown elsewhere.
“The plants are super resilient to drought and extreme temperatures, but they’re only
happy in a narrow temperature range,” Turner said. “Here, all day, every day, they’re pretty much growing.”
For the self-professed lifelong lover of tequila, making the leap from landscaping to liquor may have been natural, but it was a leap, nonetheless.
Turner’s first business venture on the Valley Isle was Bike Park Maui, a sprawling space with trails and berms for mountain bikes that opened in 2014, not long a fter Turner’s first agave plants arrived. Within a few years, bike spokes gave way to agave spikes. Turner closed the bike park, planting more and more blue agave, sowing the seeds of what would become Waikulu Distillery.
“I didn’t always want to be a farmer,” Turner said. “That kind of came when I moved to Maui. But distilling has always been out there, fascinating me. The big thing was the added value, turning something you grow into booze, and the machinery and methods to do that was really what was interesting to me.
“So, why not give it a go?”
The company filled its first bottle in 2022. The tasting room and small-group farm tours soon followed. In 2023, Waikulu Distillery sold 5,600 bottles in its first full year of production. Despite limited distribution, the company is on track to double that number in 2024. Outside of the farm, Waikulu spirits are only available at select local restaurants and a handful of Maui retailers.
While most people are familiar with tequila, the term “agave spirit” is less commonly used.
An agave spirit is any distilled spirit made from an agave plant, the most recognizable being tequila and mezcal. Unlike other a gave spirits, tequila and mezcal enjoy a geographic distinction, designating spirits made in specific states in Mexico, much the same way that true champagne designates sparkling wine that specifically hails from the Champagne region of northeastern France.
“There’s a culture around tequila that we respect, but we’re trying to develop our own lingo and a culture that’s more Hawaiian
style, not just copy Mexico,” Turner said.
Though Waikulu Distillery’s spirits are similar to tequila, the blue agave plants they’re made from have shown distinct differences from their counterparts in Mexico. A mature Maui piña weighs nearly 400 pounds, roughly four times the weight of those grown south of the border. (One piña recently weighed in at more than 600 pounds.) Local agave plants boast a higher sugar content, too, making the piña sweeter.
“If you look at all the other spirits, they’re made from really benign ingredients: sugar, corn, potatoes, barley. They couldn’t be more boring in their natural state. Whereas this plant is badass and prehistoric. It’s not edible until it’s cooked. There’s an acid in there that’ll rip your throat apart. And the spines, and needles and everything. It’s a wrangly plant.”
Agave distilleries have popped up across a handful of U.S. states in recent years, including California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. In Hawai‘i, there is no agave industry. Just Turner.
“Tequila has always been my spirit of choice. Now, completely understanding
the process, I can see why people get so passionate about it.”
Turner moved to Maui from Colorado in 2008. A design pioneer in the bicycle industry, Turner is credited with crafting the first front suspension fork for a mountain bike, a common feature today but novel a generation ago. He started the bicycle-suspension company RockShox with a partner in 1989, which g rew to employ hundreds and eventually went public. The hands-on Turner discovered, however, that corporate success demanded a change in his role with the company.
“I was the creative person behind the company, but it got to the point where I couldn’t do creative work,” Turner said. “I had to go to board meetings and production meetings. That’s not going to happen again.”
Turner’s vision is to keep the Waikulu Distillery brand boutique.
“The plan is to not be much different than we are now,” Turner said. “It’s really frustrating, if you’re trying to do a craft, to have that disconnect from your customers. The bigger
Fermentation takes about a week before the juice, or mash (top left), is double distilled in Turner’s handcrafted still — partially modeled after his exhaust pipe designs for 2-stroke dirt bikes. Maui agave can weigh up to 400 pounds, each yielding 40 bottles of spirit, unaged or barrel-aged for up to 12 months.
you get, the more you’re pulled away from so many parts of the process.”
The entire Waikulu Distillery team consists of just four employees in addition to Turner, one of which is Viviana Amezola. As manager of Waikulu Distillery, Amezola is a familiar face around the farm and often engages with visitors. For Amezola, it’s an opportunity to expound on how the small team is doing more than just making booze — they’re telling a story.
“Everyone is drinking this huge journey,” Amezola said. “These plants have been here for a long time, and the entire process is just so hands-on and small-batch. It really makes you appreciate the plant, craft and hard work that went into it.”
