Jim Beam’s new spirit
The world’s largest bourbon producer is dipping into moonshining’s colorful past to create its own batches of white whiskey.
Beam Inc.’s newest spirit is called Jacob’s Ghost in honor of Jacob Beam, founding distiller of its flagship Jim Beam brand. Jacob’s Ghost resembles the potent concoction that flowed from the pioneering whiskey-maker’s still in the 1790s or from a moonshiner’s still today. It’s an 80-proof whiskey aged at least one year in a charred, white oak barrel. Moonshine and other white whiskeys generally go right from the still into the bottle.
Na Leo’s Nalani Choy joins CommPac
Nalani Choy, best known as a member of the Hawaii musical group Na Leo Pilimehana, will join public relations firm Communications Pacific Inc. on Monday as a vice president.
Choy will be primarily involved in marketing and community-building work.
Choy is credited with a great deal of the strategizing, marketing and business management work that has contributed to the trio’s local, national and international success.
She established and leads NLP Music, the trio’s record label, as well as OneHawaii Music, another record label, and entities that promote concerts by Hawaiian musicians and other cultural programs.
Choy also is active in many community organizations.
Before focusing on the trio’s career, Choy was a Bank of Hawaii assistant vice president who simultaneously managed the bank’s Haleiwa and Waialua branches. She is an honors graduate of Kamehameha Schools and graduated cum laude from the University of Denver with a degree in business.
State to host consumer education fair
The state is hosting a free consumer education fair next week to help Hawaii consumers make smart choices and avoid scams.
The event, which coincides with National Consumer Protection Week, is scheduled to take place March 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the courtyard of the King Kalakaua Building at 335 Merchant St. downtown.
Representatives from more than two dozen government and nonprofit agencies are participating, including the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Hawaii, Department of the Attorney General, Social Security Administration, Better Business Bureau, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Postal Service.
The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which is promoting the fair, said one particular focus of the fair will be mortgage foreclosure rescue scams.
Information about legitimate foreclosure assistance as well as fraudulent schemes can also be found online at hawaii.gov/dcca/ocp. The website for National Consumer Protection Week is ncpw.gov.
Chocolate-cookie combo is a sweet deal
Honolulu Cookie Co. will offer cookies dipped in 100 percent locally grown Waialua Estate chocolate as part of a new line of its signature pineapple-shaped cookies.
The chocolate coating, from Waialua Estate’s 2012 harvest, will comprise primarily extra-dark chocolate blended with milk chocolate.
The chocolate also will be used in the company’s isle-inspired flavors including dark chocolate lilikoi, dark chocolate Kona coffee and chocolate-dipped macadamia.
On the Move
Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has rehired Sue Mulitalo for its Leeward office. She joined the firm’s administrative department in 2005 and was recently an escrow assistant at Pacific Access Escrow. The company also announced the following new members to NATO (New Agent Training Office): Day H.O. Ching was previously an officer for the Honolulu Police Department; Kayoko Down was previously a Realtor associate at Fusako Grant R.E. Co.; Lore Woodley served as Realtor associate at Century 21 Realty Specialists.
Bank of the Orient has hired Keven Matsuura as vice president and Hawaii district business development manager. He will oversee the bank’s three Honolulu branches in Downtown, Chinatown and Manoa Marketplace.
The YMCA of Honolulu has appointed Patricia Ann Kawehi Harano as the new membership director of the Nuuanu YMCA. She has more than 25 years of experience in sales, operations and community marketing programs, including serving as community services director for Hickam Communities, operations manager for Curves Hawaii and operations manager for American Express.
