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Big Island Meadery

5.0 (51 reviews)
ModerateMeaderies, Honey
Closed 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

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Alexander G.

I have been wanting to check this place out for a long time but it never worked when I was in Hilo. Thankfully on this trip, we made it one of our first stops and were glad we did! Big Island Meadery is equal parts apiary, honey shop, and mead bar. It's very modern and clean inside, with a wooden bar and large store of jarred honey, bee related products, and full selection of draft mead. You can get small sample sizes or full pours (think wine-sized) of their meads. I really enjoyed trying the few that are served hot like a mulled cider. The owners were also our bartenders and talked about their business, bees, and all the items they make. I was fascinated with the burnt honey and flavors it imparts on the meads. Prices are reasonable for the quality of their products. It's a popular place for group happy hours and kind of appeals to both beer & wine drinkers as meads fall in between. If you're in the Hilo area and have an affinity for honey or mead, this is well worth the stop!

Megan K.

Coming from Oahu, I miss good mead. This place was phenomenal. The location is tucked away but once you get there, it's a gorgeous location. So many meads to choose from, you're sure to find something you like. My favorite was the chipotle and my boyfriend's was the Not Toddy. We tried every single one and even the honey used to make it. I especially love that they source everything local! The gentleman behind the bar was so helpful and friendly. He made the experience go from good, to great! Don't skip this place on your next outing :)

Special event
Quinn V.

Lovely couple owns this place. They get their honey from their own hives. It's a great place to hold an event. We did a flight of 4 flavors of mead. Big list of 14 mead flavors. Took a bottle of the Not Toddy home. Also some seasonal honey. Would definitely come back again.

Thomas L.

Very interesting pub! I lost my virginity to taste mead. My eyes grew big and love every sip from flight tray. I say snifter are beautiful Y'all should visit this place! I definitely will be back for more! I might get a growler, y'all!

Sampler, Li Hing Pineapple was my FAVE
Siera S.

This place was awesome!! The owners/bartender/server were so friendly and fun! Everything was so ono!! We tried the charcuterie board and the honey sampler, along with some mead samples. My favorite was the li hing pineapple!! I wanted to take home a bottle but they were sold out, shucks!! I will definitely be back, there was a nice open seating area, along with a bar area if you prefer the indoors. I also heard they have food trucks in the parking lot sometimes. The hours are kind of minimal (I think they close at 630 on the week days) but it's great for stopping by and having a nice pau hana before heading home. It would also be an excellent place for an event, like an office gathering or birthday. I love how most of the things served were all made and/or grown right in the area and everything was so affordable! Go check this place out & show them some love!

Mead flight and charcuterie board
Sally G.

So cute! This new local business is the bees kneees! Got to chat with the owners who are very knowledgeable. Got a mead flight and personal charcuterie board to share. There was also a food vendor in the parking lot with huli chicken plates. My favorite was the Lilikoi Ginger Mead and they had a slushie version available as well! Highly recommend checking them out in Kea'au.

Mead offerings
Clifton C.

My partner was curious about what a Meadery is, so took the detour off the highway as we were driving into Hilo to run some errands. What a delightful and pleasant surprise to find this charming place that specializes in Wine made out of Honey and more. It is not only a tasting room, but a comfortable place to have Mead (Honey Alcohol) and accompanying bites. The people there are so knowledgeable and friendly. I tried a flight of 3 of their Meads and my partner purchased a bottle of the Lilikoi Ginger. I am a fan of Mead now. We will definitely be back and I highly recommend stopping by this wonderful place!

kali r.

I've never had mead before and the team there was so helpful! We ended up ordering flights and by boyfriend literally tried every mead they offered! Will definitely be back!

Flight
Haley V.

Such great mead! Owners are so sweet and knowledgeable A must if you're in the area!

menu as of a week ago
Adam F.

Funny enough, despite being an absolutely huge fan of mead, especially craft mead made with local honey, this was *not* on my original planned-out list of places we had to visit while we were visiting the big island last month. That is, of course, because I planned out that trip months ago, and they're newer than that plan was. Thankfully, while en route from Volcano to our airbnb in Hilo, Google Maps just *happened* to show a handful of random businesses we were driving past, and I was like, wait, what, a meadery?! We would've turned around right then and there, but it was 5:50, and we didn't want to be "those people", so we just rearranged our plans slightly for the following morning - you might wonder why a business serving nothing but alcohol would open at 10 AM, but that would be for tourists like us. We had a busy day, and there's a big difference between "drinking" and "tasting"! :D Anyway, as of a few weeks ago, they had 8 different meads, and in 8 very different styles, too (it always bugs me going somewhere, getting a flight, and discovering I'm basically drinking the same thing with subtle variations and different names). I also loved that their pricing was set up such that you could get any number of individual tasters - and very reasonably priced - though with mead, there are no styles I *don't* like when done well, so we just ordered (as a couple) their entire taster list. (Their full glass pours, notably, are also quite reasonably priced, mostly $5-6 - if I could teleport there, I'd be drinking there *all* the time.) Funny, though - I felt like their "semi-sweet" tasted sweeter than their "sweet", probably because the underlying flavor of the local honey shone through more (we loved the semi-sweet enough to bring a bottle home, even though we absolutely already have too many bottles at home.) As of when we were there, they also had a great dry mead (reminded me of a Riesling a bit), a great ginger mead, a great lillikoi mead (this one literally just tasted like lillikoi juice), one served warm that just tasted like a hot toddy, one exceptional (if you like spice) chipotle "bochet" mead that also introduced me to the word "bochet" (mead made with honey that has first been caramelized - wish they'd had a few more bochets! I brought a bottle of that home as well), and of the 8, only one I didn't love (the cocoa-vanilla didn't taste quite as balanced as the other 7, though it still was by no means bad). And this from a place that only opened fairly recently - would love to be able to come back in a couple years and see how they've grown! I'm not sure whether they're ever particularly busy, but obviously, having gotten there before lunch, plus being more than a bit off the main drag, they were pretty much empty when we were there, which was fun, as it also gave us the ability to nerd out with one of the actual makers of the mead, about how great mead is - you can tell they also put a lot of heart into it, on top of being clearly knowledgeable about what they're doing. Anyway, thanks Google Maps for informing me this place existed - I would've been quite sad if I'd only discovered it after we got home from that trip!

Jonelle R.

This place is a gem! The taproom itself is so cute. The theme of honeycomb runs throughout. It's very thoughtfully put together. It's an intimate place with knowledgeable staff they are in fact the bee keepers and owners which take game to table to a whole other level in my eyes! We went in for gifts and came out with some mead for ourself as well. We tried a couple so far. The seasonal not toddy is beautiful! Tastes like Christmas in a glass. The lilikoi ginger had beautifully blended flavors for a nice uplifting sip. This is the first time I've have mead and I am in love! I'm very glad Big Island Meadery is here!

Food options.  But you can BYOF.
Caleb J.

Just perfect. Absolutely beautiful ambiance. A pretty nice variety of meads from a semi-sweet to sweet to a chipotle variety that will spice up your life. Limited food selection to make it the perfect place to hang with 3 or 4 friends for a couple hours and learn all about mead and honey and maybe even the story behind the absolutely gorgeous bar top. Service was excellent as well. Look for the signs after you pull off the Keaau-Pahoa bypass road.

So fun! Delicious meads and honey. Highly recommend if you're in the area. Staff were so friendly and knowledgable. Thoroughly enjoyed our experience here, can tell there is a lot of love and work put into this business!

Chipotle mead

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I love bees and i love beer! Amazing experience and great beer flights! Check them out

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Great personal service. The meads and honeys were phenomenal. Best stop on the island for our vacation.

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A must visit. So Ono. Lilikoi ginger mead is da best. They have mead slushies on Friday and Saturday! Can't take them to go tho, sad face.

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Ask the Community - Big Island Meadery

Review Highlights - Big Island Meadery

It is not only a tasting room, but a comfortable place to have Mead (Honey Alcohol) and accompanying bites.

Mentioned in 33 reviews

Read more highlights

Big Island Bees - Inside our Museum and store.

Big Island Bees

4.9(450 reviews)
57.6 mi
$$
Family-owned & operated
Women-owned & operated

We did the Big Island Bees tour - 100% your time and the drive. Our guide/beekeeper grew up on…read moreher family Bee farm in the mainland. She was extremely knowledgeable about beekeeping. She shared her knowledge regarding be keeping, hive management, and the lifecycle of bees. She identified drones, workers, and the queen. She also explained Big Island Bee's rotates their bee hives into three unique environments which provide distinctive flavors of honey. and the process used for honey is extraction for sale. Big Island Bee's honey is 100% pure honey. (No attatives, it was interesting to learn that some producers of honey add corn syrup an and other adjectives) And she provided information regarding the year-round, honey production that is available in Hawaii, including the fact that big Island bees rotates their hives into three unique environments which provide distinctive flavors of honey. The honey tasting offered a great sampling of the honeys produce by the bees by the and good people at Big Island Bees. This is a great activity for everyone of all ages.

The cutest local honey producer! The honey tasting was lovely and the staff were really…read moreinformative. The flavor of this honey is out of this world, if I lived on the big island I would buy up so much of their honey! Lots of cute little gift items and gift sets. The vanilla ice cream was very sweet with good flavor. The bees in a hive at the very end of the store were something interesting to look at. Great stop great product reasonably priced, other stores on the island sell this product but at a marked up price, here you are going right to the source! Super cute and charming honey production facility.

Photos
Big Island Bees - Beekeeping tour

Beekeeping tour

Big Island Bees - Honeybees on a piece of comb.

Honeybees on a piece of comb.

Big Island Bees - Our bee farm museum and honey store.

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Our bee farm museum and honey store.

Paradise Meadows, South Point Road - Fresh Produce and Eggs

Paradise Meadows, South Point Road

5.0(503 reviews)
57.5 mi
$$

I first came across Ka'u local buzz coffee and Paradise Meadows a couple of years ago and decided…read morethat this was the best coffee I've ever had. Same for the Mac Nuts. I immediately subscribed to their newsletter so I could keep up to speed on what they where offering. In a recent trip to Hawaii, we were finally able to visit in person and it was a fun experience. Enthusiastic staff, lots of laughter, delicious fruit slushies, Art Gallery with featured local artists, penny the pig, baby ducks, parrots that would squawk at you until you engaged in conversation. Premium Kau Coffee, Macnuts, chocolate, short bread, slushies, pizza (on the day we were there) made by two Italian guys. Yes please! After we gorged on free samples and margarita pizza, we went on a shopping spree at the well stocked gift shop (not sure if that's the correct term, maybe farmstand?). Since we spent a certain amount on goodies, a discount was given along with free shipping to Alaska (what?!?). It makes me so happy just knowing that places like this exist. My only regret about stopping is that because we were in go, go, go mode to get to a birthday party, we didn't spend nearly enough time here as I would've liked. Next time!

This is a must-see stop on the way to South Point. Admission is free, and you can wander the…read moregrounds filled with lush plants, birds, and an art gallery. Grab a bite from the food truck or enjoy the samples in the store. The macadamia nuts are absolutely addictive, and the thoughtfully crafted honey is just as incredible. We left a generous tip for our sample guru and went home with bags of macadamia nuts and a variety of honey. Everyone was so friendly and knowledgeable, and I loved learning how the honey develops its unique flavors. Best of all, it feels great to support local farmers!

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Paradise Meadows, South Point Road
Paradise Meadows, South Point Road
Paradise Meadows, South Point Road

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Hawaiian Vanilla Company - Bread Pudding

Hawaiian Vanilla Company

4.7(446 reviews)
36.2 mi
$$

My husband and I have visited the big island many times and I was looking for things we haven't…read morealready done. When I found this, it looked interesting. It turned out to be fantastic. The food was incredible. It was interesting to hear how they use vanilla. I almost never order a grilled chicken sandwich because they're usually dry and boring, but this one was not. It was one of the best meals I've had this year. The tour portion was incredibly interesting. I learned so much about vanilla. All in all, I highly recommend this!

This is my second time doing this tour that includes a lovely meal. The last time it was about 8…read moreyears ago when it was family run and a smaller operation. Now that the family's owner's kids have grown up and moved away. They have lucked out by hiring an incredible do- everything- tour guy named Zach, who is just so filled with knowledge about the history of vanilla and the botany and post harvest detail details of the vanilla. He gives a fabulous tour that is very engaging for everybody. Zach is also incredibly jazzed up about cooking with vanilla and he and his family live on the property and he has been on board with the Hawaiian Vanilla Company since 2023. The have just become so immersed in the vanilla. He shares his recipes and findings with you via email after the tour if you're interested. He also serves up the luncheon which for us included either a vanilla black tea, unsweetened, or a vanilla lemonade or an on Palmer of the two and a starter of a vanilla, gee infused popcorn, followed by a Kristine with vanilla Gar masala and some other vanilla spices with the shrimp and then the main courseteriyaki chicken thigh, marinated in a vanilla a brioche bond made with vanilla and a holy, made with vanilla a salad topped with a balsamic vanilla dressing and a bunch of candied vanilla pecans. After you do the vanilla tour return to the main building and enjoy coffee with vanilla and Kareem and vanilla ice cream for dessert. I had been using the other sauce of the vanilla starter kit that I purchased the last time I talked about 10 years ago and I was very happy to get more beans and some tips on starting a new batch. They have a huge variety of extract made with different types of alcohol that you can smell and they also sell of course they are double strength extract, which is the bomb, but I prefer to make my own cause then I gotta tell everybody I made my own from their beans. It did rain when we were there but they provide umbrellas and if you don't feel like walking about 3rd mile on the hill too the vanilla growing area you can't get a ride in that six seater gator back-and-forth. I highly I recommend this tour!!!

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Hawaiian Vanilla Company - Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding

Hawaiian Vanilla Company - The vanilla plants

The vanilla plants

Hawaiian Vanilla Company - Lunch appetizer

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Lunch appetizer

Maku'u Farmer's Market - macadamia nut croissant

Maku'u Farmer's Market

4.6(150 reviews)
8.1 mi
$

Arrived around 7:50 am on Sunday and had no issues parking ($2 well worth it). The variety of…read moreMaku'u Farmers market is unmatched- gorgeous fruit stands, lots of prepared food stands. The papaya salad was so fresh and at ($9) for a whole quart so affordable and easy to share with friends. The papaya stand was my favorite one as she makes the salad fresh in front of you. The purple tapioca potato pudding was so dense and interesting, really rich and lovely to try. I was also blown away by the macadamia nut croissant ($6), the croissant itself was fine, flaky and well baked, but the macadamia nut butter frangipane filling for the croissant stole the show. It was so decadent and sweet I savored every bite of the croissant! The marinated goat cheeses from the goat cheese stand were the most delicious goat cheese I've had in my life. Super creamy, luscious, silky and with interesting flavors. I grabbed two spicy goat cheeses I was so obsessed. There is so much to see eat and try! Happy I got to experience the Maku'u Farmers Market

Maku'u Farmer's Market only operates on Sundays so its a great place to stop by especially when a…read morelot of establishments have limited hours or closed for the day. This is a newer Farmer's market and popular with locals compared to the Downtown Hilo Farmer's Market located at oceanfront. Remember to bring $2 cash for parking and come early because by noon, the lot seemed to be filling up fast and many cars were lining up on the freeway to enter.

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Maku'u Farmer's Market
Maku'u Farmer's Market
Maku'u Farmer's Market

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Big Island Meadery - meaderies - Updated May 2026

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