Maui's Craft Cocktail Makers Are Getting Creative-and Drawing Upon the Island's Bounty of Fresh Fruits

"When Marie Howe makes a winter Old Fashioned, she sweetens it with persimmons sourced from a family farm called Hashimoto in an area locals call Upcountry, at the foot of Maui's Haleakalā Crater. Hale Ihe Farm, near Twin Falls on the Road to Hana, provides calamansi, a kumquat-Mandarin hybrid whose peels Howe macerates with sugar for the oleo-saccharum in the Calamansi Dream, a bright and sweet tequila-laced drink garnished with Maui Gold pineapple fronds."

"Opened two years ago, right after the wildfires that devastated the Hawaiian island's capital of Lahaina, Tikehau is a bar with a mission to support the local community. The walls are filled with works by contemporary Polynesian artists. The furnishings are crafted from fallen mango and monkeypod trees found on the island. The staff is made up of bar pros that lost their jobs elsewhere to the fires."

Marie Howe crafts cocktails using Maui-grown ingredients such as persimmons from Hashimoto, calamansi from Hale Ihe Farm, Maui Gold pineapple fronds, and pickled watermelon rind in a fennel shrub. Howe manages Tikehau Lounge in Wailea, a community-focused bar using artwork by Polynesian artists, furniture from fallen island trees, local staff displaced by Lahaina wildfires, and mostly Maui-made ingredients. Maui's bar scene has shifted from mass-produced mixers toward fresh, local produce, house syrups, and island spirits. Esters Fair Prospect in Wailuku exemplifies the shift toward accountability and elevated rum and cocktail programs.

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