Starting at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, Mountain Tap Brewery will once again team up with Ohana to host its second Maui wildfire fundraiser. 

As the one-month anniversary of the Hawaii tragedy has come and gone, such efforts to help the communities of Maui may have taken a back seat. But as families and residents still experience displaced housing and cleanup efforts, help from afar remains essential. 

Mountain Tap owners Rich and Wendy Tucciarone, who are previous residents of Hawaii and friends of the Lahaina community, continue to extend a helping hand to those affected by the wildfires. 

As a former brewmaster for the Kona Brewing Company on the Big Island for 12 years, Rich and Wendy immediately knew they wanted to help those affected, prompting their first event with the help of some other Maui friends at Ohana. 

After the success of the first event back in August, the team at Mountain Tap was approached by the Maui Brewing Company with exciting news of a worldwide beer release with all proceeds going toward Maui relief projects. The event is called the Kokua Session IPA, spreading one beer recipe to over 700 breweries across the world with certain proceeds being sent to efforts such as the Maui Fire Fund and others. 

“It was pretty much a no-brainer for us to jump in with that,” Rich said.

The word “Kokua” means “extending help to others” in Hawaiian, creating a fitting title to the cause led by the Maui Brewing Company. In addition to their work on this project, other breweries jumped on board by donating ingredients and supplies. The artwork of the Kokua Session IPA event, supplied by the Maui Brewing Company, depicts the banyan tree within the heart of Lahaina, which despite swallowing flames and ashes, still stands to this day, symbolizing the strength and resiliency of the Maui communities. 

“It’s inspiring to see a worldwide effort at brewing a beer to support the people affected by the tragic fires,” Rich said. 

As friends to the community, Ohana owners Emily and Luke Dudley will once again join the Mountain Tap team for a live printing event to help the Kokua Session IPA efforts. The live printing will take place 3-7 p.m., where guests can choose from an array of limited edition Maui-inspired designed T-shirts. In addition, from 4-6 p.m., guests will be able to enjoy some live Americana bluegrass music from Mountain Tap’s own Sam Patterson.