Omaopio Road, which connects Kula to Puunene, didn’t have much reason to see visitor traffic, unless you had a particular interest in fancy goat cheese or adorable baby goats. Now, in addition to Surfing Goat Dairy, Omaopio Road is now also a destination for vodka connoisseurs!
In April, Ocean Vodka, the number one selling ‘made in Hawaii’ spirit, opened a brand new Organic Farm and Distillery, with tours available several times a day.
I arrived too late for the tour, but the gift shop is open to the public currently during tour hours, from 9-4 daily. There’s a few logo items available for purchase, and some vodka of course, but according to Danielle, the very friendly shop employee, in a few weeks it should be full of some great made on Maui finds! I’ll check it out and report back.
Tours of the organic farm and distillery are available daily at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 1:00 and 2:30. Tours are $10 a person or $25 includes lunch. To schedule your tour you should contact Ocean Vodka here , or just drop by and see if there’s space available!
According to their website,
Ocean Vodka is the only spirit in the world made from organically farmed sugar cane, blended with deep ocean mineral water and powered by the sun. Ocean Vodka is 100% Certified USDA Organic and gluten-free, with a proprietary column distillation process that produces an ultra-clean spirit highly decorated and unrivaled in the marketplace. When this pure refined spirit is blended with deep ocean mineral water, Ocean Vodka takes on a unique, mineral-rich flavor found in no other vodka.
Hum, I wonder if the tour includes a sample…
Just up the road from Ocean Vodka is Surfing Goat Dairy, where you can purchase goat cheese, check out the baby goats (there always seem to be some babies there! These goats breed like rabbits!), and yes, take a tour!
Surfing Goat Dairy actually offers three types of tours, a casual tour with no reservations necessary, for $10/adult and $7 kids, evening chores and milking tour, Mon-Sat at 3:15 for $15/a, $12/k, (reservations recommended) and a grand dairy tour for $25 on selected Saturday mornings, which includes milking a goat and sampling many cheeses!
I haven’t taken a tour yet, but it’s a nice, casual place where you can hang out and enjoy the goats, and if you linger long enough, you can get some good info! According to yesterday’s overheard conversation, the dairy mixes too particular types of goats (and probably more) – one that produces lots of milk, and one that produces milk with a high butter-fat content. There really is more to goat cheese than I ever knew, perhaps this summer we’ll have to add a goat tour to our list of family activities!
One thing is for sure- there’s a lilikoi goat milk cheesecake that I’m dying to try! There’s even a nice shady seating area to enjoy your cheesy delights.
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