It’s taken Darren Garvey more than two years — and more money than he cares to acknowledge — to open Stewbum & Stonewall Brewing Co. on the outskirts of Chinatown, across from The Pig & The Lady.

But the doors are open and beer is flowing at 96 North King St., even though Garvey is still waiting for electrical upgrades in his building before he can actually start making his own brews once again.

“It’s probably been one of the most taxing things I’ve done in a long time,” Garvey said last week. “There was always a surprise around the corner. A lot of ‘by the ways’ and other last-minute stuff.

“We’ve been waiting so long, but we can pour beer, pour wine, pour liquor. So we can generate revenue that way, and I’m looking at collaborations with other breweries so we can serve something with our name on it.”

When Stewbum & Stonewall opened at the end of November, only one of the 20 taps featured a beer Garvey had a part in making: Wit a Little Help From My Friends, a Belgian-style witbier made in collaboration with Kailua’s Lanikai Brewing Co.. The rest of the taps feature local beers from Aloha Beer Co., Beer Lab HI, Big Island Brewhaus, Honolulu Beerworks, Kohola Brewery, Maui Brewing Co., Ola Brew, Waikiki Brewing Co. and Lanikai, along with one offering from Paradise Ciders.

“The craft brewing community is just that, a community, especially here in Hawaii,” Garvey explained. “Even when we’re brewing full-bore in a few months, we’ll still do six or eight of the other local beers.”

Garvey, who hails from the East Coast, opened Stewbum & Stonewall in 2015, making his beer in a Kaneohe industrial park using a two- barrel brewing system that produced about 12 kegs per week (the downtown Honolulu operation, by contrast, will have a 10-barrel system). After a crowdfunding campaign helped raise more than $200,000 for a new brewery, he got the keys to his new space and shut down his Kaneohe operation in summer 2017.

Now that he’s back in action, Garvey hopes to become a fixture of the Chinatown scene. He’s signed a five-year lease with two five-year extensions, so he’s committed for the long-haul.

“We have the downtown crowd that works around here and wants to enjoy a beer at pau hana, and then there’s the First Friday crowd,” he said. “Obviously, our draw is that we’re a brewery, but we also want to be an option for everyone who doesn’t drink beer. We’ll have food. We’ve got other drinks. We’ve got the TVs.”

LOOKING FOR the perfect gift for the rum drinker in your life? Head out to KoHana Distillers in Kunia for a bottle of the first local rum that’s been finished in a koa wood barrel.

Previously, KoHana’s Koa rum comprised an agricole distillate that had spent two years in second-fill American oak whiskey barrels. Now, KoHana is taking that aged rum and finishing it for an additional six months in koa barrels made with wood sourced from Hawaii island. The rum formerly known as Koa will be renamed “Kila,” or “strong,” said KoHana’s Kyle Reutner, and will continue to be aged for two years without any finishing before being bottled.

“This has been in the works for a while, and it will get better as we go along,” Reutner said. “The goal is to be super, hyper-local. We can take wood that’s not perfect and do something awesome. I don’t need gorgeous wood, like you might need for a bowl.”

Tasting notes for the new rum showcase flavors of honeysuckle and vanilla on the nose, while the palate will detect butterscotch and dried figs with a finish that Reutner admits is hard to describe. “The closest I’ve gotten is praline,” he said. “It really has some unique flavors to it.”

After tasting a small sample last week, I agree that this rum is unlike anything I’ve tried before. While you can smell and taste the funkiness KoHana’s agricole juice is known for, I discovered a sweet molasses note that is more akin to a blackstrap rum, the product of a completely different process. At 58.1% alcohol by volume, this rum benefits from sitting for a few minutes to get rid of the alcohol burn and draw out more of its finish.

While using koa may appear to be just a gimmick, KoHana has succeeded in pushing the envelope of the local rum scene with this release, which yielded 437 bottles from the first 55-gallon barrel. Going forward, KoHana will cooper its own 30-gallon barrels on Oahu, with a goal of eventually using koa grown and harvested on Oahu to keep the entire process on-island.

“We’re trying to do something similar to what Mizunara wood has done for Japan,” Reutner said. “If we can use this local wood that creates rum that’s delicious and dope, why wouldn’t we do it?”

To commemorate the inaugural batch of KoHana’s new-style Koa, 50 individually numbered bottles were packaged in a koa box; bottles 51 to 437 received special koa medallions on the neck. KoHana also partnered with the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative to sponsor the planting of 50 koa trees on Hawaii island in conjunction with the release.

Want a bottle? Expect to pay $75 ($150 for one of the first 50 in the koa boxes) at the distillery, the only place you can buy it. The tasting room at 92-1770 Kunoa Road is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

Looking for a cheaper gift option? Don’t sleep on KoHana’s killer rum cake, made by Jackie Lau, former corporate chef for Roy’s Restaurants, and sold in a spiffy collector tin at the distillery for $20. Call 517-4067 to check on availability.

GET INTO the holiday spirit with a visit to one of Honolulu’s three Christmas-themed bars open this year.

After popping up at Ala Moana in 2017, the Christmas Bar is back in Kakaako after transforming Big City Diner at Ward Entertainment Center into a holiday wonderland at the end of last month. Bill Tobin, Albert Ale and Michael Miller of Tiki’s Grill & Bar have partnered with BCD’s Lane Muraoka to present a fun experience that’s approachable for the entire family.

Along with Christmas-themed cocktails, a full menu by Tiki’s chef Ronnie Nasuti is also available. Hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily (until midnight Fridays and Saturdays); call 738-8855.

If the Christmas Bar is the family- friendly option, Chinatown’s Mistletoe Tavern is where you’ll want to stop if you’re looking for a raucous pau hana with friends or coworkers. Cardboard cutouts abound here, if you’re looking for a fun Instagram photo, and there’s a full menu of both cocktails and holiday- themed shots, all in the $10 to $15 price range. Located next to SIN Lounge at 1111 Nuuanu Ave.; it is open 4 p.m. to midnight through Dec. 31; call 538-8746.

Even more Instagram-worthy opportunities abound at the Holiday Bar at Ala Moana Center, thanks to the same crew that produced the Halloween- themed Ghost Bar at the mall the last couple of years. Harders Hawaii has stepped up to create a frozen butter beer this year, among a number of holiday- themed drinks. Check it out from 2 p.m. to midnight daily on Mall Level 2 of Ala Moana’s Ewa Wing; follow @holidaybarhonolulu on Instagram for updates.

Jason Genegabus has written about the local bar and drink scenes since 2001. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @honolulupulse or email jason@staradvertiser.com.