Skip to main content

Welcome to Cervecería Mahina: The World’s Most Remote Brewery

119589 autosave v1 mahaina2
Image used with permission by copyright holder
There are few destinations left untouched by the craft beer boom. There’s a brewery in “end of the world” Patagonia. The remote African island of Mauritius has a solid beer bar. Even Antarctica’s Tatty Flag offers occasional craft options. But, one island brewery in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean claims to be the world’s most remote.

Assuming you don’t happen to be vacationing on Easter Island — and, frankly, what Americans do? — just getting to Cervecería Mahina requires some doing. First, you’ll need to get to the Chilean capital of Santiago. Then, you’ll need to board a flight that flies nearly six hours west over nothing but deep, open ocean. It’s roughly equidistant (2,400 miles) from Tahiti and the South American mainland. The journey there is nearly the equivalent of flying coast-to-coast across the United States. At some point over the Pacific Ocean, when it seems you’ve reached the literal middle of nowhere, tiny, 63-square-mile Easter Island emerges on the horizon.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Westerners who’ve heard of Easter Island — more accurately Rapa Nui — often know only of its legendary moai — the iconic, multi-ton stone figures whose origins remain shrouded in folklore. In fact, much of the island’s history is a mystery. Best we can surmise, it reads like the timeline of many exotic isles during the peak of European colonialism. Polynesians probably arrived at some point in the last thousand years, although no one knows when for sure. Fast-forward through centuries of conquering and reconquering and re-reconquering by the Dutch, then the Spanish, then the English. By the mid-19th-century, plague, civil war, and slavery had decimated the island’s population to but a few hundred native people.

Recommended Videos

Chile eventually took control of Easter Island around 1890 and severely restricted the rights of the indigenous Rapa Nui people. It wasn’t until the mid-1960s that they were allowed to do much of anything, including brew their own beer. Mahina’s owner, Mike Rapu, still recalls his grandfather being brutally whipped and beaten for bootlegging wine and corn-based liquor. The island’s history in general and that memory, in particular, were a big inspiration for Rapu to launch the brewery in the first place.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

In 2008, Rapu met Pedro Salfate in Santiago. As a trained biologist, Salfate had experimented with homebrewing, so he already had the skills and the passion to make good beer. Two months after the meeting, he moved with his wife to Easter Island to be Mahina’s brewmaster. The brewery opened with just two beers, including a sweet, chocolatey Porter (6.8% ABV) and a British-style Pale Ale (4.8% ABV). Partly due to the novelty of its remote location, it rode a wave of success on the mainland. But the financial realities of exporting beer from a remote island more than 2,000 miles to the South America proper proved too much. It subsequently closed for a few years but reopened in 2013. Thanks to Easter Island’s steady tourism industry (and selling to hotels and restaurants), Mahina has been chugging along ever since. Today, they produce up to 3,000 liters of beer monthly.

The distribution of Mahina is limited to just Easter Island. Salfate says kegs and even an IPA may be available for sale one day. But, for now, he’s focused on his original Pale Ale and Porter — all hand-bottled, hand-labeled, and sold in local retail shops for $4-5 per six-pack. Bottom line: if you want “the secret taste of Easter Island” (the brand’s charming slogan), you’re going to have to go get it.

Mike Richard
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
This screwdriver drink recipe is simple, elegant, and downright delicious
A classic revisited: The screwdriver
Screwdriver

When you're getting started in the world of cocktails, the number of complicated recipes using multiple and unfamiliar ingredients can seem overwhelming. That's why most people start off with something simpler: a mixed drink consisting of a spirit and a mixer. Think of the gin and tonic, the rum and Coke, or today's subject, the screwdriver. Combining orange juice and vodka, this simple drink is easy to overlook -- but it's worth making it well.
Screwdriver recipe

Ingredients

Read more
Why nutrition experts say you (probably) don’t need that gluten-free diet
Do you believe these gluten-free diet myths?
Baked bread sliced on a white table

With so many diet options out there, it can be hard to know which will support your health and help you reach your fitness goals the most. You have likely heard of the Mediterranean diet, Whole30 diet, veganism, and more, but what about the gluten-free diet?

This way of eating is necessary for some, as people have gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. Gluten is a term referring to proteins found in barley, rye, triticale, and wheat. If your body doesn't naturally have an issue with digesting foods with gluten, should you still follow the gluten-free diet? According to Anna Mapson, a registered nutritionist and the founder of Goodness Me Nutrition, "There are no benefits to being gluten-free if you don't need to be."

Read more
Breckenridge is releasing a candy cane vodka just in time for the Holidays
Make the season bright with this minty vodka
Breckenridge

There are a few flavors associated with holiday desserts and treats, but none are as beloved as the minty, sweet flavor of candy canes. We enjoy these seasonal favorites from November through the New Year. And while they are an excellent, sugary, minty indulgence, they miss out on an important holiday component: booze.

The folks at Colorado's famed Breckenridge Distillery have a real Holiday treat for you this year. Just in time for the winter months and all the parties, get-togethers, and general seasonal revelry, they're releasing Breckenridge Candy Cane Vodka.
Breckenridge Candy Cane Vodka

Read more