“Hey everybody, this is Chris down here at Olohana Brewpub in Chinatown,” Chris Cook’s Instagram reel begins. “I wanted to jump up here and give you a message that gives me no pleasure to deliver. Unfortunately, we’re gonna have to stop business operations. Our last day is gonna be May 16.”
Amid closures that have been piling up lately—including longtime stalwarts like Nancy’s Kitchen, Manichi Ramen and Morio’s Sushi Bistro—this announcement stood out. Nine years after opening as Broken Boundary Brewery (later renamed Kalihi Beer) and less than a year after moving to North King Street as Olohana Brewpub, Cook’s full-time passion project is still waiting for the Honolulu Liquor Commission to greenlight its beermaking in Chinatown, he told us. Without Kalihi Beer to serve or distribute, he’s run out of time and money.
“I got into it because we’re so collaborative, you know? Brewers love talking to other brewers,” Cook says. “But from a business perspective—the extra regulations, extra taxes and a lot of limitations on being able to sell your product—I love the beer culture, but I don’t know if it’s the business for me.”…