Interview: Andrew Brunson – Brewer at Kohola Brewery

I met Andrew Brunson back in December when I visited Kohola Brewery on Maui. Brunson had recently moved to the islands to take up the brewer job at Kohola. It was a huge leap of faith for the Kentucky native. New brewery, thousands of miles away from home and a culturally different place. But Andrew was beyond stoked to be in Hawaii and brewing with Kohola. There’s something about a new brewery and the excitement of creating new beers that is infectious. For Brunson, the opportunity was too good to pass up and he’s been hard at work cranking out beers at the Lahaina brewery along with head brewer Justin Brouhard. Here’s a quick chat with Brunson.

How did you first get into brewing and when did you make the leap to professional brewing?
I first got into brewing in college when I won a cheap extract home brew kit at a silent auction. From there things escalated pretty rapidly and I ended up brewing in the backyard nearly every weekend with my friends Josh and Matt. I made the leap to pr

…