When Lanikai Brewing decided to open a new location in Haleiwa, the first thing owner Steve Haumschild did was venture out to meet his new neighbors. It just so happened that one of those neighboring businesses happened to be one of the oldest and most recognized brands in Hawaii, Matsumoto’s Shave Ice.
Like all craft brewers, Haumschild immediately thought about collaborating with his potential new neighbors, something the 71-year old Matsumoto store has rarely done.
While business was stalled and depressed during the worst of the pandemic months, Haumschild and Mastumoto’s third-generation operator, Remy Matsumoto, started discussing how the two brands could work together. The pair quickly decided that they should use Matsumoto’s famous shave ice syrups to help flavor a beer, but after rounds of testing, they found the sweetness of the syrup clashed with the natural acidity in beer. Haumschild suggested blending the syrups into a hard seltzer, which has a neutral base that takes on added flavors well.
This being Matsumoto’s first collaboration outside of clothing and retail, Remy and the team at Matsumoto’s stay involved with every step of the process from tasting to label design. She says they picked out flavors that were fun, fruity and from the best years of their childhood. The two flavors, lihing mango and lilikoi zu, are also some of the most popular at the store.
“Yes, our actual syrup is used in the seltzer,” Matsumoto notes.
Lanikai has slowly ventured and expanded into more than just making beer. Diversification has always been in the plans for the company, but Haumschild notes that the pandemic accelerated the projects. Along with hard seltzers, they recently branched out into distilling, creating locally infused spirits including a lemongrass gin and a macadamia nut amaretto.
The team at Lanikai takes the same creative and experimental approach they have with beer to spirits and other beverages. Local ingredients play a key role in everything they do. Haumschild notes that they see themselves as a beverage company with beer at its core, but are always looking for new ways to explore flavors and to work with local agriculture.
Although the Lanikai Brewing Haleiwa location has been stalled by regulatory disputes between the city and the landowner, the new line of tropical hard seltzers is slated for release this June. The lihing mango tropical hard seltzer Matsumoto collaboration flavor launches first, with the lilikoi yuzu to follow in July.
As Remy puts it, “You can now enjoy Matsumoto’s in the form of a seltzer.”
Certified cicerone Tim Golden is part owner of village Bottle Shop & tasting Room. Follow him on Instagram (@beerinhawaii) and check him out as co-host of “The Art of Beer” wherever you get your podcasts. Tim’s column appears every third wednesday in Crave.
