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The Maui Ocean Vodka Farm and Surfing Goat Dairy are the perfect activities to combine when visiting the Upcountry region of Maui. This post details a bit about our experiences visiting both farms!
The Maui Ocean Vodka farm was the first boozy tour that we ever took when visiting Maui! As the years have passed, more places have popped up on the island to satisfy the needs of us boozy travelers (you can read more about what to do in this post).
Prior to this tour, we had done a few brewery tours but the thought to do something distillery-related had never occurred to me. So, we made it happen.
We also decided to pair our visit to Maui Ocean Vodka with the Surfing Goat Dairy as it is located relatively nearby (more on that below).
Ocean Vodka Tour
Location
4051 Omaopio Road, Kula, HI 96790
The vodka farm is located in the lower Kula area on Maui, which is part way up the mountain of Haleakala.
Cost
The tour costs $17.28 per person as of 2023.
Reservations
I would recommend making a reservation online ahead of time so you can guarantee your desired tour time; otherwise, get there early and sign up for a later one and shop and explore their little garden area while you wait.
Ocean Vodka Ingredients
Spirits can be distilled from so many different types of ingredients. When we are talking about vodka specifically, one might think of potato, corn, rye and even some fruits! When it comes to Ocean Vodka, however, they certainly have a unique process.
Not only do they process their vodka with deep ocean water, their vodka is also distilled using locally-grown sugar cane. Part of the tour is to examine the different types of sugar cane they experiment with that are grown on the property. I had no idea there were so many varieties!
On our tour, we also got to see some of the sugar cane processing in action where they crush the stalks to release the sugar for the fermentation process.
Touring the Warehouse
Of course, an integral part of any distillery tours is to see where the tanks are in the warehouse and bottling area. My mom (a huge vodka fan) promptly located a large wall of “heaven” (tons of vodka boxes stacked up). This is where they will explain the distilling process in more detail also.
Vodka Tasting
After the walking portion of the tour, we all sat down for some vodka tasting. I had never done a tasting of any type of spirits before this, and I generally don’t prefer to drink hard alcohol straight, so I was a little intimidated. However, it was pretty interesting overall to first taste the vodka straight, and then diluted with their “special water.” I managed to get it all down, though one lady had a hard time and spit it up all over the place. Ah, fun.
Did we love it? Needless to say, we purchased a lovely box of minis to take home.
I would definitely recommend supporting this local and family-run business if you are into spirits. It’s always informative to walk through the process and see how these things are produced.
Surfing Goat Dairy
3651 Omaopio Road, Kula, HI 96790
www.surfinggoatdairy.com
As I mentioned above, if you are in the area of the Ocean Vodka Farm, you might as well make a stop at the little goat dairy down the road called Surfing Goat Dairy. The visitors area is a little small, but they do give tours of the farm, which you can pre-book on their website.
Baby Goats
Most importantly, they have a little fenced in area where visitors can see the little baby goats in action, playing with one another (or maybe even catch one up on their surf board for a photo op – hence the name “Surfing Goat”).
Products at the Dairy
The Surfing Goat Dairy does sell some novelties like different flavored goat cheeses, goat cheese truffles, and goats milk soaps. You can also do a sampler flight of the goat cheese which I haven’t myself yet, but it’s on my to-do list. We ended up purchasing a little truffle sampler for ourselves and I will say that their chocolates are pretty delicious!
Surfing Goat also supplies goat cheese to a lot of the local restaurants, so it’s a great business to support to help keep ingredients local!
Will you be adding a visit to the Maui Ocean Vodka Farm or Surfing Goat Dairy to your Maui Itinerary?
Mmmm vodka. I know where I will be heading to if I ever make it to the Hawaiian Islands!
Yes! Definitely a different experience 🙂