Okolehao — the Ti-Root Spirit

Okolehao is the spirit of Hawaiʻi distilled in the nineteenth century from the roasted root of kī (ti), Cordyline fruticosa, a canoe plant the settlers brought with them. The Hawaiian name, ʻōkolehao, is commonly understood to mean iron bottom, after the iron pots in which the mash was first distilled. Distilling came to the islands only after contact with European and American ships, so the spirit is a post-contact craft built on a pre-contact plant, and the Hawaiian table had no distilled drink before it. The kī root, rich in sugar once cooked, was baked for long hours in the imu, the earth oven, and then fermented and distilled. The spirit belongs to the history of the beverage tradition, beside ʻawa, which is of an older and ceremonial order.

Okolehao is a clear to pale amber spirit made from the baked root of kī. The root is cooked in the imu until its starches turn to sugar, mashed with water and fermented, then distilled, historically in a simple pot still of iron. Sugar cane, kō, Saccharum officinarum, and other sweeteners were often added to the ferment in later practice, so that the finished spirit varied from maker to maker. The spirit is sweet and smoky in the nose, carrying the roast of the imu, and is to be understood as a pot-distilled spirit of the rum and brandy family. It is drunk neat or in small measures and is a historical drink more than a daily one.

Okolehao is drunk neat in small measures or lightly diluted, and it suits the smoked, salted dishes of the Hawaiian table, such as kālua pig and laulau, because its roast and sweetness meet the salt and smoke of the imu. Its sweetness also steadies the richness of pork and the sharpness of lomi salmon. The pairing rests on likeness of smoke and contrast of sugar to salt, as with a pot-distilled spirit served beside cured meats.