Finding Her Own Route — A Honolulu Brewery Crawl with Cindy Goldstein

“Be there in about 10 mins,” reads Cindy Goldstein’s text on the day of our planned bar crawl around Honolulu. The message isn’t a surprise: Everyone knows the joke about island time, about expecting late starts and events running long because strict timelines feel out of place here. In this case, however, Goldstein is behind schedule because she’s run into someone she knows. That happens pretty frequently, it turns out: Her infectious enthusiasm and ready smile are familiar among the beer producers and drinkers of Hawaii’s capital. 

Over the years, Goldstein has cemented her role within Hawaii beer. She was the first executive director of the Hawaiian Craft Brewers Guild, a trade organization that advocates for breweries that produce 100% of their beer in the Aloha State. After a career in crop improvement supporting Hawaii’s diversified agriculture, she is happily retired, but Goldstein remains as busy as ever: She is also ranked as a national-level judge in the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), where she judges homebrew and commercial beer competitions, as well as supports the organization’s educational programs.

After her discovery of craft beer in the early 1990s, the trajectory of her life changed. “I used to host these house parties when I was a graduate student. Everyone would bring beer, which were divided into coolers by geography,” Goldstein recalls of her social life during her PhD program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She first learned about homebrewing from a science geek friend who was getting his degree working with supercomputers. He refused to do anything out of a can or a kit, insisting on all-grain brewing, which proved a useful learning opportunity. “I was already experienced with food science when I got my degree,” Goldstein says. “I loved cooking and recipes—each grain, yeast, hop has its own taste and flavor.” Later, she achieved her doctorate in plant physiology and molecular biology, fields of study she credits with furthering her interest in the science of brewing.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, our bar crawl had been delayed several times. But in early October, on one of the hottest days of the year (and after that delayed start), I finally find myself sitting across from Goldstein at Broken Boundary Brewery. We’re in Honolulu’s Kalihi neighborhood, which is filled with commercial and industrial businesses; the brewery is mainly surrounded by auto repair shops. Owner Chris Cook is with us too, and he talks about his brewery’s own struggles, beginning with its ill-timed grand opening in March 2020.

Luckily for us, Broken Boundary has managed to grow despite the circumstances, and earn local renown for its classic-leaning styles. Goldstein and I split a flight, including Season for the Reason Festbier, plus a Bittersweet Zymurgy ESB and Lolly & the Popsicles Clear IPA. As we sit in the fittingly industrial space, beer is being made all around us, and brewing equipment has even been incorporated into the decor. Still, there are moments of warmth: Reclaimed wood has been hand-laid into geometric patterns around the loft and bar areas, bringing a natural feel to an otherwise metal and concrete space. We chose Broken Boundary as our first stop because it is also home to Homebrew in Paradise, currently the only dedicated homebrew shop in the state.

As we drink, Cook reminisces about how much has changed with beer culture in the last few years, and reflects on Goldstein’s influence. “I only really got to know Cindy when I joined the Guild a few years ago, but there was always this awareness of her,” says Cook. “I knew about her heavy involvement in education, encouraging advancement of BJCP, and even creating online groups. She was always there in the background, pushing all the buttons.”

A LIFE OF LEARNING

Goldstein moved to Hawaii in 1994 after her PhD program concluded to pursue post-doc research in plant physiology at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Serendipity meant her lab was right next to a plant virologist’s, Wayne Borth, who also had an interest in homebrewing. With lab notebooks and guides in hand, the two ended up brewing a couple hundred batches together. Goldstein says that her favorite part was tweaking the recipes—and using varying types of grain, strains of yeast, and hop varieties—to see how the ingredients would impact the resulting beer’s character.

Fittingly, the pair’s experiments coincided with the year when craft beer culture was starting to take off in Hawaii. In 1994, Kona Brewing Company was founded in Kailua-Kona, and Gordon Biersch Brewing Company opened a brewpub at Aloha Tower Marketplace (one of its first locations outside of California). Changes to the law were required before either was allowed to brew on site.

“I only really got to know Cindy when I joined the Guild a few years ago, but there was always this awareness of her. I knew about her heavy involvement in education, encouraging advancement of BJCP, and even creating online groups. She was always there in the background, pushing all the buttons.”

Advocacy comes into Goldstein’s work later, but in the beginning it was all about fun. She took her new interest in homebrewing and joined a local club, then called the Hawaiian Homebrewers Association. It was there that she met Dave Campbell, a brewer and brewery consultant who was integral to helping open many of the state’s early microbreweries. “There were only 400-500 craft breweries in the United States at the time—it was all so new,” he says. That same year he had founded and was running one of the first homebrew stores on the island, Oahu Homebrew Supply. “Homebrewing was so loose then, the store became a gathering place for these people.”

Campbell suggested Goldstein take the BJCP entrance exam because he recognized she understood the mechanics of homebrewing, and could easily supplement that familiarity with her chemistry and technical skills. “When you look at the whole craft scene in the early days of the ’90s, there were so few people passionate about it,” says Campbell. “Cindy was so passionate about the hobby and beer. I remember she was a very, very good brewer, her and her brewing partner Wayne made great beer.”

“I probably never would have taken the exam without his encouragement,” Goldstein says of Campbell’s influence. “At the time there were very few women judges and homebrewers, which is why I got into judging.” The exam feedback she remembers most from that period was, “You know a lot about the technical aspects of brewing, but not the styles,” which led her to study up on popular and commercial beers and their histories. (Goldstein was my BJCP teacher and mentor, and the way she talks about styles, attributes, and flavors has shaped my own understanding of beer.)

Her first time judging was at the second edition of the Kona Homebrew Competition in 1997. “I had an instant sense of, these are my people, my community,” she says about meeting Rodney “Rocket Rod” Romanak, his wife Cheryl, and other enthusiasts in the Big Island homebrewing community. “They inspired me to make different kinds of beer—beer is people.” (Rocket Rod passed away in 2008, and the homebrew competition in conjunction with the Kona Brewers Festival now bears his name in tribute.) Goldstein and Borth were encouraged when their collaborative efforts won medals and received toasts from fellow homebrewers. “It was about encouragement and community; we shared recipes and knowledge,” she says.

Eventually, this excitement and positive feedback led Goldstein to set up a meeting with Dan Gordon of Gordon Biersch about a potential role at the brewery; he was keen, he said, to recruit more women brewers. She seriously considered the opportunity, but discovered commercial brewing has a hurdle homebrewing does not: scale. “I physically decided it was not something I thought I could do,” she says. “Being a short, small person, it’s not easy.” Not letting this barrier stop her, she found her own route to being a professional in the industry.

THE BIG PINEAPPLE

Many first-time visitors to Hawaii have a limited vision of its capital. They will likely picture Waikiki, with its shopping, restaurants, and white-sand beaches below Diamond Head crater. But Honolulu as a city is so much more. It is a commercial city of banking, business, and real estate with diverse neighborhoods, each with their own stories. More than 2,500 miles to the next-closest city in the United States, it is a major travel hub for destinations in Asia and the Pacific. The Port of Honolulu used to see countless ships come and go, spurring city development, especially in bustling Chinatown.

On Hotel Street is Smith’s Union Bar. Founded in 1934, it is the oldest bar in the state, and was once the heart of the former red-light district. Just a few blocks away is our second stop, Stewbum & Stonewall Brewing Company, where we try Batch 518 Pale Ale, a beer that immediately sparks a memory. “Oh, that’s really good!” Goldstein says. We are sitting at the handmade wood bar while facing a wall of gleaming, stainless-steel equipment. “I remember when I first had Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, I wanted to make one as good as that. This beer reminds me of that one.” 

Chinatown and Downtown Honolulu have suffered from closures during the pandemic. However, Monthly First Friday Art Walks have made a return in 2022, offering art exhibits and free entertainment alongside offerings from local bars and restaurants. And many of those hospitality venues have managed to hang on, despite the circumstances.

Stewbum & Stonewall is another local brewery that never had the chance to fully realize its vision amidst the pandemic, but has evolved with the changing tides. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016 by owner and brewer Darren Garvey, the brewery quickly outgrew its space in Kaneohe, on the Windward side of the island. Jumping at the opportunity to pass on the site and equipment to what would become Inu Island Ales, Garvey relocated to the capital. It wasn’t easy securing his second space, and time spent on buildout and permitting meant he wouldn’t brew again until 2021. The time allowed him to do most of the work himself, from finished floors to custom tables. You can see his priorities in every inch of the work: beer, Pittsburgh sports, great food, and “Star Wars.”

After trying a few more draft beers, we head out. Our photographer, Aaron Eskaran, stops us to remark about the bright sunshine and vibrant backdrop—we hold an impromptu photo shoot with traffic zipping by on King Street. “Make sure to get in my beer earrings, I wore them special for today,” Goldstein laughs.

THE SALT MARSHES

On our way to Kakaʻako, we travel past ʻIolani Palace, the State Capitol, and other government buildings. Downtown Honolulu is a sea of shimmering glass towers, and the government area is an urban forest with its verdant banyan trees, but Kakaʻako is all blue skies. Over a century ago, this area was used for salt production from sea water, thanks to its flat land and intense sunshine. When it was no longer cost-effective to make salt in this way, Kakaʻako was filled with warehouses, which later fell into disuse. 

In the area’s most recent iteration, these buildings have been revitalized and now host new businesses, including breweries. It’s a fitting return to form. One of the original attempts at large-scale brewing in the islands was the Honolulu Brewing and Malting Company, founded in 1898; its red-brick facade still stands a few blocks away on Queen Street, all that remains of the company after it was forced to close during Prohibition. 

“She was instrumental in pushing the industry forward, both as a hobby and professionally. If someone makes great beer, they’re going to stay involved. She was there at the beginning and is still involved.”

We arrive at our next stop—SALT at Our Kakaʻako, a complex of outdoor shops, cafes, and restaurants—to visit Village Bottle Shop & Tasting Room. Home to what may be the best selection in Hawaii of canned, bottled, and draft beer, the business supports local breweries with tap takeovers and tasting nights. It also plays host to Goldstein’s BJCP classes, where she shares insights into everything from common off-flavors encountered during tropical homebrewing to issues that can arise from shipping beer from the mainland. 

This quiet afternoon, we grab an umbrella table in the courtyard overlooking a coffee shop and chocolatier and proceed to share a few Oktoberfest selections and talk about homebrew clubs. After discovering the most popular homebrew club was 170 miles away in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, Goldstein was instrumental in forming what would become HOPS: Homebrewers on Pacific Shores in 1997. “Be sure to credit my friend Allan Spitzer for the clever name,” Goldstein says with a smile. Also an experienced judge and homebrewer, Spitzer’s roots in Hawaii beer go back to his ancestor Hartwig Harders, who was chief brewer for the Honolulu Brewing & Malting Company pre-Prohibition.

In the beginning, HOPS was only for active homebrewers to get together, learn, share, and make beer. “People would say, ‘Thank you, it can be difficult to meet new people and make friends as an adult,’” Goldstein says. Today, she still considers many original HOPS members among her closest friends. Opening the club to a wider range of beer enthusiasts in 2012 led Goldstein down another road: She started arranging events with breweries for the group, which helped foster a network of close-knit, professional brewers. These relationships became the foundation for a growing Hawaii brewing community.

“She was instrumental in pushing the industry forward, both as a hobby and professionally,” Campbell says. “If someone makes great beer, they’re going to stay involved. She was there at the beginning and is still involved.”

CELEBRATING THE CRAFT

In 2016, Goldstein retired from her official position in agriculture, and in 2017 decided to take a “part-time” (she rolls her eyes at this estimate) position as executive director of the Hawaiian Craft Brewers Guild. “I liked the people and mission. I also liked promoting Hawaii craft beer with local products from local agriculture,” she says. 

Fatigued from the hot afternoon sunshine, and squinting from the effects of the alcohol, we head into the bar area and its welcome air-conditioning. Beneath the antique lights and next to old maps of the city, we run into two local homebrewers who know Goldstein, Nick Wood and Gabe Lewis; it would be a coincidence, except this kind of thing happens to Goldstein all the time. The three start talking about local agricultural products and how they have been using them as experimental homebrewing ingredients. 

After another round, we stroll one block over to Honolulu Beerworks, the original Kakaʻako warehouse brewery. Despite the temperature, it feels like an oasis inside thanks to the cross-breeze and large ceiling fans, as well as works by local artists which adorn its wooden walls. Owner Geoff Seideman started the brewery as a draft-only business in 2013, but today its cans can be found all over the state. 

We each order a Greenbone IPA, which was brewed to benefit the Hawaiian Humane Society, one of many examples of local breweries partnering with charitable organizations. Goldstein held an introductory BJCP class here; interested people packed this entire outdoor area, but that number reduced as the weeks went by and classes got more intense. She looks forward to training another round of local judges as soon as in-person classes are feasible and competitions make a return, she says.

With the sun starting to set, we leave Beerworks and stroll past the walls of the neighborhood, which are filled with Pow Wow Worldwide murals from local and international artists. Many of the murals are painted over and started anew every few years, though some hold out for much longer. We liken this to the changes in the brewery and beer community; beers come and go, so you have to enjoy them while you can.

“I had an instant sense of, these are my people, my community. They inspired me to make different kinds of beer—beer is people.”

Eventually, we decide our next stop will also be our last: Waikiki Brewing Company’s Kakaʻako Pub. The brewery’s original location in the tourist playground of Waikiki was soon outgrown, so it opened a larger brewing and canning location a mile away. This second location is mostly a working brewery, but there are tables and bar seating, as well as a barbecue truck parked outside, which uses the brewery’s beers in its sauces; in the morning you smell grain, the rest of the day smoked meat. The restaurant areas are all open-air, and soft string lights offset the sunset as the night breeze starts to roll in.

Soon, Brewmaster Joe Lorenzen spots us and pulls up a chair. In between talking shop, the three of us order pints of Joe’s Mom’s Stout, a beer made to celebrate Lorenzen’s mother’s recent visit to the islands. Lorenzen knows a great deal about the advocacy work Goldstein has done for Hawaii beer. “The most striking impact she had was getting all these brewers with big personalities to work together in a kind of effortless cohesion through the Guild,” he says. “She supported craft beer through a period of miraculous growth.”

In January 2019, the inaugural Hawaiian Craft Brewers Guild’s CRAFT Festival was held in Honolulu, a celebration of the quality and availability of beer made on the main islands. February 2020 saw an expansion of this celebration with an accompanying Hawaiian Craft Beer Week and a larger version of the festival, which was masterminded and carried out by Goldstein. Little did the beer community know then that it would be our last gathering in person for a while. After five years and successfully getting the Guild up and running, not to mention the realities of the pandemic, Goldstein saw an opening to retire from this position as well. But true to character, she’s still pitching in from time to time.

Eventually, we decide we’ve probably enjoyed enough of our favorite local beers for one day—well, almost. At the last moment, we decide to head back down Queen Street to Aloha Beer Company, to try its new Festbier and Pakeweli Belgian Tripel, a beer made with heirloom sugarcane from Kō Hana Rum Distillery and brewed in collaboration with the staff of Village Bottle Shop. As we sit under the stars in the beer garden, no longer sweating in the heat, we remark that there’s always time for another beer and another story. I’m thankful for Goldstein’s enthusiasm in sharing both.

Words by Alexander GatesPhotos by Aaron Eskaran