Big Island Brewhaus sits at 2,764 feet on Māmalahoa Highway in Waimea, the highest brewpub in the state by its own count. Three more breweries brew on this island: Kona Brewing in Kailua-Kona, Ola Brew with taprooms in Kona and Hilo, and Wailuku Brew Works south of Hilo. Kona Brewing runs a $25 tour, 60 minutes, by appointment.
Hilo Brewing closed for good in late 2024. That leaves Hilo drinkers with Ola Brew and Wailuku Brew Works. Ola Brew and the Brewhaus pour at the bar instead of running tours, and the Brewhaus takes no reservations at all. Two festivals gather most of these beers in one place, the Kona Brewers Festival in March and the Hilo Brewfest in July.
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Kona Brewing Company (Kailua-Kona)
The Kona Brewing you buy on the mainland is brewed on the mainland, by Anheuser-Busch InBev. The Kailua-Kona operation has been independent and locally run again since 2020, and the beer from its 30,000 square foot brewery stays in Hawaiʻi. The pub pours Big Wave Golden Ale, Longboard Island Lager, Fire Rock Pale Ale and the draft-only Black Sand Porter, plus rotating Backyard Batch beers you can only get on site.
The brewery tour costs $25 and runs 60 minutes, by appointment between 12pm and 5pm daily. A shuttle picks the group up at the Growler Shack by the pub entrance and runs down Pawai Place to the brewhouse, and the tour finishes with four 4oz pours in the Thirsty Gecko tasting room. The minimum age is 15, and only guests 21 and over are served the samples. Arrive 15 minutes early. We go through the whole thing on our Kona Brewing Company page.
The pub itself is open daily from 11am to 9pm and has a full kitchen. Book a table through OpenTable or call (808) 334-2739, and note that parties of eight or more get an automatic 20% gratuity.
Website: Kona Brewing Hawaiʻi.
Address: 74-5612 Pawai Place, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
The Growler Shack at the Kona pub, where the brewery tour shuttle picks up. Photo: Courtesy Kona Brewing Co.
Ola Brew Company (Kona + Hilo)
Ola Brew makes beer, cider, hard seltzer and hard tea from locally sourced ingredients, and pours them in two taprooms, one in Kona and one in Hilo. Both have a kitchen. They aren’t running brewery tours or tastings at the moment, so it’s a taproom stop rather than a brewery tour.
Trivia night runs Mondays in Kona and Tuesdays in Hilo. The Hilo room is the one that opens early on Sunday, at 10am, and serves brunch until 2pm.
- Kona Taproom: 74-5598 Luhia Street, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740. Open Monday to Thursday 11am to 9pm, Friday and Saturday to 10pm, Sunday to 8pm.
- Hilo Taproom: 1177 Kīlauea Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720. Open Monday to Thursday 11am to 10pm, Friday and Saturday to 11pm, Sunday 10am to 8pm.
Website: Ola Brew Company
Big Island Brewhaus (Waimea)
Big Island Brewhaus started selling its own beer in Waimea in March 2011. Its founder, Tom Kerns, had spent more than a decade brewing on Maui at the operation that became Maui Brewing Company, and the beers he makes here keep winning: Great American Beer Festival Gold in 2018 for Odin’s Sword, a Baltic Porter, plus a GABF Bronze and two World Beer Cup Bronze medals in 2014.
The kitchen runs Mexican, Hawaiian and Asian dishes alongside pub food, made from scratch, and the beer comes as 3.5oz samplers, flights of five, half pints or pints. They don’t take reservations and they don’t run tours. At 2,764 feet on Māmalahoa Highway the Brewhaus sits on the northern route between Kona and Hilo rather than on Saddle Road, so it fits a Kohala or Hāmākua day better than a straight cross-island drive.
Website:Big Island Brewhaus.
Address: 64-1066 Māmalahoa Hwy, Waimea, HI 96743. Open daily 11am to 9pm, (808) 887-1717.
Wailuku Brew Works (Keaʻau)
Wailuku Brew Works is the other Hilo-side option, out in the Shipman Business Park in Keaʻau a few miles south of town. They pour their own beer on tap and you can bring your own food.
Website: Wailuku Brew Works.
Address: Shipman Business Park. 16-205 Wiliama Place, Keaʻau, HI 96749.
Hilo Brewing Company (now closed)
The Hilo Brewing Company closed permanently between late 2024 and early 2025, after co-owner Ron Jeffries died unexpectedly in October 2024. The tasting room on East Kawili Street is gone. The name itself only dated to November 2018, when Marcus Bender bought the brewery and retired the two labels it had traded under before: Mehana Brewing, incorporated in 1995, and Hawaiʻi Nui Brewing, which had acquired Mehana in January 2009.
Address: 275 E Kawili St, Hilo, HI 96720, United States
Big Island Beer Festivals
The Kona Brewers Festival (March)
The Kona Brewers Festival has run since 1996, put on by the Rotary Club of Kona Community Foundation at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel. The $100 all-inclusive pass covers ten curated beer pours and unlimited food tastings from the participating restaurants.
It’s 21 and over only, with photo ID checked at the gate and no children admitted, even in strollers. Passes for 2026 went on sale on 10 January and that edition sold out, after a Kona Low pushed it from March to April. The next one is set for 13 March 2027.
Two events run alongside it. The Run for Hops is a 5K and 10K that costs $40 and caps at 600 entries, and children are welcome at that one. The Trash Fashion Show turns reclaimed material into runway pieces. There is no parking at the venue, so park at Tony Honda Kona on Kuakini Highway.
Website: Kona Brewers Festival website.
The Hilo Brewfest (July)
The Hilo Brewfest fills a single afternoon at the Hilo Yacht Club each July, with over 70 individual brews from local and mainland breweries to sample. The 13th edition ran in July 2026. It’s 21 and over as well, and the Rotary Club of Hilo Foundation puts the proceeds into local nonprofits, including the physician residency program at Hilo Medical Center and a dog rescue that rehomed 529 animals in 2025.
There’s no parking at the yacht club at all. A free shuttle runs from the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium at 323 Manono Street, and rideshare drop-off at the club is allowed.
Website: Hilo Brewfest.