This weekend we decided to check out the new upcountry brewery Mahalo Aleworks in Pukalani. We generally prefer red wines, but friends had told us about this place, and we were upcountry anyway, so it seemed like a fun date night.
The Mahalo Aleworks sits in a new development (Kulamalu Town Center) across from the Pukalani Longs. This is also the neighborhood where the Saturday upcountry farmer’s market (I may have referred to it as ‘crunchy’ or ‘hippy’) take place. Much of the commercial building space is still empty, so it will be fun to see what moves in. To get there you just stay on Haleakala Hwy and turn right at the fourth light by the Longs.
Marlow Pizza shares the building and is located right next door to the brewery. Both businesses opened roughly at the same time. Marlow specializes in wood-fired sourdough pizza.
So….. how does this work?
We tend to be more traditional sit-down restaurant kinda people. This is not that, but not in a bad way. We checked into Mahalo Aleworks and ordered/paid for our beer at the counter. They have a good number of wooden tables and benches both indoors and out, with an upstairs which offers a nice view. They also have a giftshop area to the right, selling merchandise but also featuring locally made products, such as HI Spice hotsauce (the best!), Ku’ia chocolates (which reminds me – I still need to go for a chocolate tasting) etc.
Then you decide if you want food. You have two choices. You can step out into the courtyard and order a brat from Upcountry Sausage, or you can go on Marlow’s website and order takeout from next door. When it’s ready, you step next door, get your order and return to Mahalo Aleworks. Overall it’s super casual and we had a great time. I had the Chopped Salad from Marlow, Sig and one friend had brats with sauerkraut, another friend had the Funghi Pizza from Marlow. The food was delicious, the beer good, the company fantastic!
Where is Pukalani
Pukalani is located up Haleakala Hwy on the right side, at roughly 1500-1800 ft elevation. Puka means ‘hole’ in Hawaiian and Pukalani is generally known for being a dry patch in what can be a rainy area (such as just across the highway in Makawao). Generally not a touristy area, though this is the location of the Pukalani Country Club (golf course).