Brewsday Tuesday: Kona Brewing Edition

Welcome to the third installment of Brewsday Tuesday on Tattoosday!

Today we are looking at a company near and dear to my heart, Kona Brewing Company (@konabrewingco).

Meet Keala Aiwohi, Senior Division Sales Manager for Kona Brewing in Hawai’i:

For those of you first seeing this feature, we like to introduce the brewery employee, talk about their tattoos, and then quench our thirst for more information about the brewery and its products.

Keala recently had this work done on his chest:

Keala explained a little about this work:

"I just kinda like the way everything flows on my chest ... I have my kids' names ... family is something that's a really big priority for me ... I have my kids' names ... over my heart, if you look at the piece, it's got ... like a tribal tiki that's making a funny face ... I wanted the tiki right over my heart, with tribal kinda swirling around, along with my daughter's name on my chest..."

Take another look at Keala and see if anything else jumps out:

There, on the inside of Keala's left arm, is a huge bottle cap from one of Kona's most popular brands, Big Wave Golden Ale:

How's that for dedication?

"Previously I worked for Anheuser-Busch, then I got offered the job with Kona Brewing Company ... I just love the way Big Wave tastes. I love it. I wanted to do something different ... I love beer and tattoos ... I didn't know exactly what I was going to do ...one day I was drinking with some friends and there was bottle caps all over the top of the counter ... and I was thinking to myself ...that would be a pretty cool tattoo ... at the moment it just felt like something that would be cool ... I love Big Wave so let's slap a Big Wave bottlecap on my arm ... I love it, I show it to people all the time."

All of Keala's work pictured was tattooed by Bronson "Bronz" Pasco (@bronzink), who works out of South Side Ink Tattoo. Pasco started tattooing in 1998 and splits his time between South Side Ink and West Coast Tattoo Parlor (@inkwestcoast) in Las Vegas.

So, how good is a beer that compels one to get the bottlecap tattooed on the body?

Let me tell you, Big Wave is a delicious ale, and one of my favorite beers from Kona.

Keala added "just the way that Big Wave tastes, I love it. I'll be drinking Big Wave for the rest of my life. Kona as a brand has an image ... it's cool, it's hip, it's for everybody ... Big Wave is inspired by the big wave riders out in Makaha ... it's the perfect beach beer ... I love the fact that it's light, it's sessionable ... it's a get-together beer, it's any-occasion type of beer."

Duly noted, my family in Brooklyn throws a Hawaiian Christmas party in December and we always have bottles of Kona's Longboard Lager, Castaway IPA, and Big Wave on hand. Big Wave has a great citrus flavor that really transports me back and tastes like advertised: "Liquid Aloha."

Speaking of advertising, Keala told me that Kona did some ads for the mainland, and I wanted to share one of them here:

Like with previous installments of Brewsday Tuesday, our participating brewery is generously offering up some giveaway items for people randomly selected among those who like, share, and retweet on social media.

A big mahalo to Keala for sharing his tattoos with us, and to Kona Brewing Company for their participation in Brewsday Tuesday! Be sure to leave comments about your favorite Kona brand for a chance to win prizes!