Letter from Maui

After a long absence from this blog, the indefatigable Doc Lang has just checked in again, this time from the South Seas:

   Aside from Spam dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner

and that Polynesian favorite - white rice with mayonnaise

and potatoes - Hawaiian cuisine has lately come up with a

food with mainland appeal - beer. Two microbreweries in the

islands are producing ales, lagers and porters that are as

good as suds get. Maui Brewing and Kona Brewing are little

known outside the islands, which consume nearly all the

output, but both are expanding and and becoming more

available especially on the West Coast.

   I think flavored beers generally have the lasting appeal

of flight attendants making cutesy PA announcements. Kona

offers one spiced with coriander and mandarin oranges (I

didn't dare). But both micro-breweries produce porters with

roasted coconut that are subtle, avoid sweetness, and are

worth the belch.      

     Doc offers this as a crucial part of "the library of

     Hawaiian cuisine"