“There is enough okolehao in Honolulu today to make the whole town drunk.”
“A recent arrival from Ti-root Gulch, Ke‘ei, Kealakekua, Hawaii, talked interestingly to an Advertiser man of the manufacture of the frisky spirit yesterday.”
“Keei, by the way, is the only place boasting an okolehao distillery in the Territory.”
“The distillery has been closed down, for alterations and improvements, nearly 3000 gallons of raw spirit having been turned out during the run.”
“This is now in bonded warehouse in Honolulu, in eleven charred barrels with the designation “okolehao” burned into each head. The liquor in its present state is known as proof spirits.”
“The product of the Keei plant is said to be a liquor as clear as crystal. It is said that illicitly-distilled okolehao sent from here took prizes at The Paris Exposition and the Chicago World’s Fair. It is the purest spirit known and the only liqueur to be distilled from a root.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 6, 1907)
Eben Low tells the story … “‘It happened way back in the ‘80s – to be exact, 1889,’ said Low. ‘Col. Sam Parker have been given two gallons of okolehao which had been distilled in Waimanu valley, on the island of Hawaii. This was real okolehao, not the ‘rotgut’ which is being peddled about the country today ruining those who drink it.’”
“‘In the old days, the Hawaiians of Waimanu were noted for the excellence of the liquor they made. Copper stills were used and the liquor was given three different distillations.’”
“‘In the days of the monarchy it was illegal to have okolehao in your possession and the penalty for such an offense was severe. After sampling this liquor of Col Parker’s I decided to send some to the Paris Exposition along with a lot of other native products which were being prepared at that time.’”
“‘I did not want to take any chances of violating the law, however, and consulted John E Hassinger, who was then chief clerk of the department of the interior. Lorrin A Thurston was secretary.’”
“‘Hassinger told me that would be granted immunity provided that he received a sample.’”
“‘I took a gallon of the liquor to Macfarlane & Co, then the leading wholesale liquor dealers of this territory, and had the liquor bottled. One was given to Hassinger. Judge Dole received another, one I kept for myself and the last was prepared for the Paris Exposition.’”
“‘I designed a most attractive label and then wrote a description in Hawaiian and English as to how the beverage was made. I had another description written in French by the late Pierre Jones.’”
“‘In due time this bottle of okolehao was sent to Paris with the rest of the Hawaiian exhibit. Col ZS Spalding was the Hawaiian commissioner as the exposition. When the day of the awarding prizes arrived, he and the French awarding committee visited the Hawaiian exhibit.’”
“‘Spalding afterwards told me that the most outstanding and prominent feature of the exhibit was this artistically labeled bottle of okolehao. He was so astonished at seeing it there that he ordered it opened immediately.’”
“‘It was, in fact, when the committee and Spalding got through testing the quality of the exhibit there was none of the ti left and they immediately awarded the exhibit a bronze medal for quality and purity.’”
“‘Several months later, concluded Low, ‘a most official looking document addressed to ‘the government of Hawaii’ arrived here. It contained a diploma of award and a bronze medal – both of which had ben won by this lone bottle of okolehao.’”
“‘The diploma was in French but bracketed at the of the document was Eben Low.’” (Star Bulletin, October 10, 1925)
“‘As far as I know,’ continued Rawhide Ben, ‘it was the only award Hawaii got.’”
“‘To snub up this yarn,’ he finished, ‘Hassinger’s bottle didn’t last 24 hours. Judge Dole kept his. Before he died he told me I could have it. That bottle was snitched from my hotel room. But this bottle of mine,’ he fondled it ‘… well, when the time comes, I’m going to pull the cork and try it.’”
“Eben’s bottle of 50 year old oke is legal, federal authorities said today, although illegal when made and with no tax ever having been paid.” (October 24, 1938)
“The federal authorities have decided to make war upon our local moonshiners. The lay of the land in the Territory lends itself easily to the easily to carrying on of Illicit distilling.”
“With high mountains deep valleys, ample wood for fuel, excellent places for observing anybody coming near the lair, and with the natural leniency of those around to protect, or at least to say nothing about the moonshiners, there has been a great opportunity for this class of illicit work.”
It has been carried on close to the environs of the city and even within the city limits. The local police have been forever after these people, but the revenue officers, whose whole attention has to be given to the matter are likely to be more successful when they thoroughly understand local conditions.”
“The practice of distilling the liquor, called by the euphonious name of okolehao, from the ti root, was introduced by old lags from Australia.”
“In the early and middle part of the last century quite a number of convicts found their way here, one lot arriving in a schooner from which they landed near Kawaihae, burning their vessel to hide its identity.”
“Well, the lags started making liquor from ti root, and taught the Hawaiians. Since then the Hawaiian has found out for himself that liquor can be made from other things besides ti root. Molasses is very largely used in the manufacture of okolehao.”
“The best okolehao, however, is made from the ti root, and it was for a bottle of this that Eben Low received a medal from the Paris exposition. It was the only liquor of its class.” (Hawaiian Star, April 14, 1920)
“‘I still have the diploma, the medal and last, but not least, my bottle of okolehao. Now that so much publicity has been given to the latter I think I will have it stored in my safe deposit box.’” (Low; Star Bulletin, October 25, 1925)
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Wonder where that bottle is today?
My dad told me he and his brother “made some pretty good hootch before the war”(WW2).
Where can you get a bottle of Okolehao today?