Mānoa Honey & Mead Opens O‘ahu’s First Mead Cocktail Bar in Kaimukī

For more than a decade, Yuki Uzuhashi has been keeping bees and making honey on O‘ahu. Since he bought Mānoa Honey and relaunched it as Mānoa Honey & Mead in Wahiawā with Erika Ota, his wife and co-owner, larger dreams have been in the plans. “We started making mead during the pandemic in 2021,” Uzuhashi says—sparkling and still meads infused with local fruits like pineapple and liliko‘i—“and have been looking for a spot basically since then.” Last week, the couple opened that spot, The Honey Bar, across the island in Kaimukī.

Photo: Alexander Gates

The drop-to-spirit cocktail bar is about more than mead, a honey-based alcohol that is similar to wine. “We want visitors to experience the journey of a single drop of honey that is fermented, distilled and stirred and shaken into cocktails,” Uzuhashi says. “We aim to showcase a full spectrum of what honey can do—from raw honey, honey drinks, craft mead to honey spirit, all in one spot.” Aside from cocktails and mead, there are honey and beeswax products for sale, including various sizes and samplings of infused honey, which Uzuhashi says aids in better sleep, and spicy honeys that pair with food.

On Koko Head Avenue in the former Bubbly & Bleu space, Honey Bar is within walking distance of The Pig & The Lady, Koko Head Café, Coffee Talk and other Kaimukī favorites. Lead mixologist Austin Hinely takes me through an introductory menu of mead cocktails, divided into those with white liquor (think vodka, gin) and dark liquor bases (whiskey, spiced rum).

Photo: Alexander Gates

A refreshing start, the Koko Head 75 ($14) is made with honey gin, honey syrup and liliko‘i mead served over ice. The more complex Apiary Old Fashioned ($16) uses Mānoa’s 43% ABV honey spirit with bitters and orange over a big ice cube. My personal favorite is a cold liliko‘i mint creation that’s coming soon—among other cocktails that Hinely says will appear as inspiration hits him and Uzuhashi.

Photo: Alexander Gates

If you like your mead straight, all of Mānoa’s sparkling and still meads are on draft or in bottles. Two tasting flights showcase seasonal ($24) and core meads ($22), each with four cold sparkling and still selections. Also available are non-alcoholic house-made honey sodas ($4.50) including Hibiscus & Tulsi, Guava Lavender, and Simply Honey Lemonade, as well as mocktails. The shop is waiting for its permit to sell mead for takeout.

Photo: Alexander Gates

Food options include a tasting platter of Sweetland Farms goat cheese, assorted nuts, herbed olives, salami and crackers ($24). I get treated to the tinned fish plate ($16) with toasted bread, goat cheese, olives and—the fun part—your choice of any canned seafood, including octopus, sardines, clams, mussels or oysters from around the world. I opt for mackerel pâté with hot peppers, a delightfully spicy and savory pairing with the sweet drinks. Olives ($7), tortilla chips and salsa ($5) and mixed nuts ($3.50) are à la carte.

Mānoa Honey comes from the company’s apiaries on O‘ahu and bee farms across the islands. Other farms produce the cacao, kava, lavender and fruit that inspire the infusions. The new Honey Brand, a distilled mead more akin to whiskey than wine, is a partnership with Kō Hana Rum. “It’s not just us doing the work, it’s all of us, and one expression,” Uzuhashi says. “We want to really highlight the people behind us.”

Photo: Alexander Gates

Exclusive to the new Kaimukī shop is Mead Talk ($50), an educational tasting that explains the birth of mead from wildly fermented jars in ancient Egypt, to classical Greece, the rise of beer and brewing in monasteries in the Middle Ages, to today, with craft mead showcasing regional staples like tropical fruits in Hawai‘i. Mānoa’s Bees to Mead introductory tour ($98), which starts at its beehives and ends with a tasting at its Honey House, is still available in Wahiawā on Fridays and Saturdays.

On opening day at The Honey Bar last Friday, a steady stream of curious pedestrians stops by, as do small groups that stay for drinks. It feels like the bar has been a part of Kaimukī for a while. “I keep saying this is meant to be,” Uzuhashi says. “We want to make delicious honey that creates great beverages and share that with this community.”

Open Tuesday to Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., hours subject to change, 1142 Koko Head Ave., Kaimukī, manoahoney.com, @manoahoneymead

Alexander B. Gates, a BJCP Certified Beer Judge and Cicerone Certified Beer Server, is a regular contributor to Frolic Hawai‘i. @alohastatebeer