I want to make okolehao - need ti roots! - Tiki Drinks and Food

K Kilauearift Member Puna and Seattle Joined: Jun 22, 2009 Posts: 1	K Kilauearift Posted posted on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 12:47 PM It’s too bad ‘Okolehao hasn’t been picked back up by a Hawaiian distillery. Does anyone here perhaps know what caused the closure of the 9 Isles distillery and their effort to resurrect ‘Okolehao? I’m in the process of moving back to the Big Island and have been looking for something to do on the side and resurrecting legal ‘Okolehao might be just the thing (but not too sure yet). I just returned from a survey trip on our newest land purchase in lower Puna. Pleased to say; we’ve hundreds of green Ti leaf plants and whole heck of lot of weed Guava :(, mango and possible breadfruit trees amongst countless other things. In any case, we’ve lots of farms in the area and also up along the Hamakua coast for the basic ingredient sources. I see wild Ti growing all over the place and I’m not sure why finding a source seems to be a problem as I’ve seen a small Ti leaf farm right off hwy 130. There might not be large scale farms but certainly there’s plenty of it to be found about the north and east sides of the Big Island. I’ve been doing some research into the topic of licensing a Distillated Spirits Plant (beverage) and not really sure why so many folks avoid the licensing aspects. Apart from a modest bond through the TTB, I don’t see any insurmountable costs involved in starting up an experimental facility that may be later upgraded to a full DSP (beverage). Is there anyone here who has credible knowledge as to the full scope of beginning a small legal operation? If so… feel free to pm me about the ins and outs of the topic. Is there any reason why the last effort (9 Isles) seemed to be so grand in scale? Why can’t a small distillery be started serving only direct sales to local Hawaiian bars/etc and for point of production public sales? Why the immediate need to incorporate internet sales and contracting with distributors export? Seems to me that Oke has been so long out of circulation that it needs to be slowly reintroduced, its reputation should have no problem producing immediate sales on its own home turf. From that point, the rest is merely a matter of time as the word is spread on island time.

It’s too bad ‘Okolehao hasn’t been picked back up by a Hawaiian distillery.
Does anyone here perhaps know what caused the closure of the 9 Isles distillery and their effort to resurrect ‘Okolehao?

I’m in the process of moving back to the Big Island and have been looking for something to do on the side and resurrecting legal ‘Okolehao might be just the thing (but not too sure yet). I just returned from a survey trip on our newest land purchase in lower Puna. Pleased to say; we’ve hundreds of green Ti leaf plants and whole heck of lot of weed Guava :(, mango and possible breadfruit trees amongst countless other things. In any case, we’ve lots of farms in the area and also up along the Hamakua coast for the basic ingredient sources. I see wild Ti growing all over the place and I’m not sure why finding a source seems to be a problem as I’ve seen a small Ti leaf farm right off hwy 130. There might not be large scale farms but certainly there’s plenty of it to be found about the north and east sides of the Big Island.

I’ve been doing some research into the topic of licensing a Distillated Spirits Plant (beverage) and not really sure why so many folks avoid the licensing aspects. Apart from a modest bond through the TTB, I don’t see any insurmountable costs involved in starting up an experimental facility that may be later upgraded to a full DSP (beverage). Is there anyone here who has credible knowledge as to the full scope of beginning a small legal operation? If so… feel free to pm me about the ins and outs of the topic.
Is there any reason why the last effort (9 Isles) seemed to be so grand in scale? Why can’t a small distillery be started serving only direct sales to local Hawaiian bars/etc and for point of production public sales? Why the immediate need to incorporate internet sales and contracting with distributors export? Seems to me that Oke has been so long out of circulation that it needs to be slowly reintroduced, its reputation should have no problem producing immediate sales on its own home turf. From that point, the rest is merely a matter of time as the word is spread on island time.

Post #463715 by Kilauearift on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 12:47 PM