Making Rum from Sugar Cane in Hale‘iwa

Kō Hana Distillery grows 34 varieties of sugar cane, which goes “straight from farm to bottle.”

Kō Hana Distillery prides itself in owning the largest sugar cane farm in Hawai‘i and creating rum directly from the plant, says farm manager Jakob Dewald.

“What makes us truly unique is we’re making our product straight from the juice of the cane,” he says. “We’re not using molasses, we’re not bringing products in – it is straight from farm to bottle.”

Kō Hana’s farm in Hale‘iwa has grown from one-quarter of an acre 10 years ago to over 350 acres today, according to Kyle Reutner, GM of the distillery.

Reutner says turning sugar cane into rum can take about 15 months or more depending on the flavor. The distillery’s top seller is its cacao and honey-infused rum called Kokoleka.

Dewald says the farm has over 34 varieties of sugar cane. When workers harvest the cane, he says, they try to use regenerative practices like leaving plant matter in the fields to preserve nutrients instead of burning them.

“We don’t just grow sugar cane and treat it as a crop,” says Dewald. “We grow it for the future of agriculture in Hawai‘i.”