This Local Cocktail Aims To Boost Hawaii Agriculture 0 Ko Hana Hawaiian Agricole Rum is trying to break into the booming ready-to-drink cocktail market, but still needs to make it onto store shelves.
In the past 11 years, Jason Brand has helped build Ko Hana Hawaiian Agricole Rum into a full-fledged distillery with a burgeoning market for liquor it makes from heirloom sugar cane varieties grown here in Hawaii.
Now Ko Hana is embarking on a new project: expanding its product line to include daiquiris bottled and sold as ready-to-drink cocktails.
If all goes well, the boozy beverages could also play at least a small role in boosting Hawaii agriculture — not only local sugar cane but also produce like pineapple and lilikoi that Ko Hana mixes with its rum to make the cocktails.
Ko Hana has spent a year creating what it calls “mixologist quality” formulas that will remain stable on store shelves. It’s tweaked the product packaging, going with frosted glass bottles that Brand says make the pastel colors of the cocktails pop.
