Kailua-Kona, Big Island of Hawaii, July 14, 2011 — Last weekend’s Liquid Aloha Festival, brought to San Diego by Kona Brewing Company, raised $ 18,221 in gross proceeds for San Diego Coastkeeper. The event took place at NTC Promenade in the Point Loma area of San Diego, where thousands enjoyed 5 live bands including The Dirty Heads, Kalama Brothers and DJ Cory Biggs. The next Liquid Aloha Festival is set for July 23 in Newport Beach, CA.
Kona Brewing is Hawaii’s largest brewer and San Diego Coastkeeper is the city’s largest professional environmental organization working to protect inland and coastal waters along the Pacific Ocean through education, community empowerment and advocacy. The partnership between Kona Brewing and San Diego Coastkeeper began late 2010. Since then, Kona Brewing has provided monetary support to fund ongoing Coastkeeper programs and beach cleanups, as well as beer for various Coastkeeper events. Coastkeeper will use the funds raised at Liquid Aloha Festival to monitor inland water quality to identify and stop pollution sources before they enter the ocean. Urban runoff is one of the biggest threats to water quality in San Diego, especially after rainstorms when the county issues advisories to surfers and other water recreationalists.
The funds will also help the organization with its efforts to increase implementation of low impact development, which captures polluted runoff before it harms local waters. Coastkeeper encourages more educational outreach to residents, so that San Diegans can all make small changes in their daily habits to lessen their impacts on water quality in the region.
The investment in clean water is in line with Kona Brewing’s support of environmental causes. “Living and working in Hawaii provides a constant reminder of how fortunate we are to be surrounded by water, yet also how much respect we need to have for it,” said Kona president Mattson Davis. “All of the water used to brew beer in Kona is Hawaii County water, naturally percolated through the porous lava rock that makes up the island. Hawaii County water is hard and high in calcium and chloride, and fortunately, these characteristics are great for making beer.”
At Kona’s brewery in Kailua-Kona, a whiskey barrel run off system is situated in the pub’s center. This barrel collects more than 90 gallons of condensation per day from air conditioning systems, and the water is used for landscaping irrigation.
Kona’s largest fundraiser is the annual Kona Brewers Festival. Its purpose is to bring awareness to beer, food, and the environment. In 2011, the event site at King Kamehameha hotel was damaged by a tsunami the night before and the event was moved to Kona Brewing headquarters. In light of the disaster, public outpouring was a record $65,000, which went to support 12 local nonprofit organizations. An additional $5,000 was donated to Habitat for Humanity for Big Island tsunami relief efforts.
Kona Brewing Company was started in the spring of 1994 by father and son team Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa, who had a dream to create fresh, local island brews made with spirit, passion and quality. It is a Hawaii-born and Hawaii-based craft brewery that prides itself on brewing the freshest beer of exceptional quality, closest to market. This helps to minimize its carbon footprint by reducing shipping of raw materials, finished beer and wasteful packaging materials. The brewery is headquartered where it began, in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island. It has grown into Hawaii’s largest brewery, has three restaurant sites in Hawaii and beer distribution reaching 29 states and Japan. It is the 13th largest craft brewery in the country. For more information call 808-334-BREW or www.KonaBrewingCo.com.
Founded in 1995, San Diego Coastkeeper protects the region’s inland and coastal waters for the communities and wildlife that depend on them by blending education, community empowerment and advocacy. For more information, visit San Diego Coastkeeper’s website at localhost/sdcoastkeeper
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