Sustainability and Community Support
Kona Brewing Company supports numerous community events throughout the year, including surf and surf-inspired events and causes that celebrate love of people, land and water. These include sponsoring professional surfers Jeff Silva and CJ Kanuha. Kona supports Sierra Club’s Blue Water Campaign and a number of chapters of Surfrider Foundation, including the Pacific NW and Hawaii’s Surfrider Kona Kai Ea Chapter. In 2008 the brewery took part in the Ho'okipa Beach Park clean up for the Maui chapter of Surfrider and supports the annual Kona Surf Film Festival held on Hawaii's Big Island each November.
Kona brings the Sno-Kona Pond Skim to Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon, each spring where costumed skiers and snowboarders skim across an icy pond. The athletes are competing for a number of prizes, among them a trip to Hawaii. Kona Brewing is also a sponsor of Portland's Backyard Bang, a snowboarding rail jam event in the streets of Portland's Pearl District hosted by Salomon Snowboards and the Art Institute of Portland. Kona also sponsored the 15-city North American tour for Lost Prophets - Search for the Collective (film) in 2009.
As well as including pro XTERRA athlete Shonny Vanlandingham on its athlete roster, Kona has been a sponsor of the XTERRA Triathlon in Maui. Each year the brewery hosts the Kona Brewers Festival, a sold-out event that has raised more than $555,000 for local environmental, educational and cultural organizations over the past 18 years. In 2007, Kona Brewing Company won the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce Kuleana Award for exemplary integrity, citizenship and stewardship.
As of January, 2008, Kona has had a sustainability coordinator in place. Also, according to the Big Island Visitor's Bureau sustainable tourism practices section, "Kona's restaurant was constructed with recycled materials and adorned with native woods; local produce, fresh-caught fish and sustainably-raised beef on menu. Heat reclamation systems in the brewery greatly reduce energy demand; plastic, paper, metal, glass, and cardboard are recycled, takeout containers are made of plant-based materials and automatic faucets and toilets reduce water usage."
In late 2009, the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association (HOFA) granted Kona Brewing with organic certification for its Oceanic Organic Saison, the first certified organic beer in the state of Hawaii. The beer will be served at Kona Brewing Company’s pubs in early January, 2010.
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