Brewing
Don Francisco de Paula Marin, the early Spanish settler in Honolulu, was the first Island resident known to have brewed beer. In his journal entries for both February 2, 1812, and December 7, 1815, Marin recorded making “a barrel of beer,” apparently for sale.
Hawai‘i’s first full-scale brewery appeared in 1854. From April 15 to October 21, 1854, The Polynesian, a weekly newspaper, carried an unchanging one-column advertisement. Titled “Honolulu Brewery.—Genuine Beer,” the ad stated: “The undersigned, having established a Brew[e]ry in Honolulu, Fort street, opposite the French Hotel, are now prepared to supply families, hotels, boardinghouses and bar rooms, in bottles or in kegs. This beer is made of barley and hops only,—contains no alcohol. . . .” On October 28, 1854, the ad was retitled “Honolulu Brewery Malt Beer,” and the reference to its non-alcoholic contents was deleted. By the end of the year, the brewery itself was offered for sale.
Other breweries eventually followed. The National Brewery Company in Kalihi produced steam beer from January 1888 until about 1893. The Honolulu Brewing and Malting Co., Ltd., makers of Primo Beer, commenced production on February 13, 1901, and continued until the arrival of Prohibition. Renamed, the company resumed brewing in 1934 and finally discontinued its Hawaiian operations in 1979. Other beer manufacturers have included the makers of Royal Beer and, more recently, several microbreweries.