Rising to the Occasion
ERIC DILL’S RETIREMENT PLANS WERE SIMPLE AND ENTICING: Move to Hawai‘i with his family, make whiskey with his best friend and surf.
But when the recent global health crisis arrived, he changed course. Alongside his business partners, Ian Brooks and Heather Pence, Dill decided to shift production at Ko‘olau Distillery from Old Pali Road Whiskey to hand sanitizer. One hundred percent of the supply is being donated to first responders, health care workers and essential civil service personnel.
“The reality is we know we have the capacity to make it, and we can legally make it,” explains Dill. “So, knowing that we can do it, and then just Ian’s and my background with being in the Marines for 20-plus years—service has been our whole life. It’s hard for us to know we can help and then not do it.”
To help with the initiative, Kokua Sun Care donated 300 empty bottles. After that, Dill says others have dropped off empty containers, and the team created a GoFundMe account to help with purchasing more bottles and supplies, such as sugar, hydrogen peroxide and glycerin. Within three weeks, they were able to distribute over 1,500 two-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer and more than 500 eight-ounce bottles to more than 30 organizations.
“We’re trying to produce as much alcohol as we can,” says Dill, noting there are days when the still stays on from 7:30 a.m. until a little after midnight. “Understanding how bad the need was really became apparent in the first couple of days, when we had well-known, high-quality private hospitals calling us saying that they were out. We knew there was a need, but we didn’t realize how bad it was here.
“We’ll keep doing this until there’s not a shortage for these frontline workers.” According to Dill, the hand sanitizer Ko‘olau Distillery has been making follows World Health Organization protocol. The main ingredient, he says, is alcohol, followed by hydrogen peroxide and humectant.
As Marines, Dill and Brooks are trained to adapt and overcome, and it’s that same mindset that prepared them for this new challenge. Both retired Lieutenant Colonels, they were previously stationed in Hawai‘i and share a love of whiskey and the island.
“The very first time I met Ian was in March 2002 on my way (to California) from Afghanistan,” recalls Dill, who is originally from Texas. “We stopped through Hawai‘i and one my good friends was Ian’s roommate.”
That same year, Dill received transfer orders to Camp Smith where he stayed until 2005, and then moved back to O‘ahu in 2017, making his home in Kailua with wife, Ginger, and their two teenage children, Drew and Emery.
Having traveled throughout the world, including much of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Dill lists Hawai‘i as his favorite.
“To live in a place that’s this beautiful,” he says, “the ocean, the mountains, the clouds—everything here is beautiful. It’s paradise. We have the best climate on the planet.
“Also, surfing is a big factor. I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t want to live here.”
Add whiskey into the picture and life was good. Dill approached Brooks about the idea of starting a whiskey making business, and along with Pence, a beverage industry veteran, they launched Ko‘olau Distillery in 2018 and bottled their first product in February of 2019. Rated one of the top 15 best crafted whiskeys under $60 by VinePair, every batch of Old Pali Road Whiskey begins with pure Hawaiian water, which Dill credits as the primary source for its smooth taste.
“Ian and I lived in Japan for a while, so we have a fascination with Japanese whisky but we also love sweet bourbons,” says Dill. “We wanted to make a whiskey that was unique and a flavor profile suited for this tropical environment.
“The thing about most tropical drinks is it’s sweet and there’s a reason for that—it tastes right in the environment. I love heavy peated scotches but that doesn’t taste right when you’re sitting on Kailua Beach, like a big heavy dark beer doesn’t taste right while you’re out at the sandbar on a Saturday afternoon.
“We blended those aspects of bourbons that we love and Japanese whiskies. It’s Japanese whisky meets American whiskey. But what’s really unique about it is the water here is absolutely superior for making whiskey. Water is the base for any fermented beverage and even more so for dis- tilled spirits like whiskey.
“Our mineral content and our pH balance are absolutely optimal for making smooth whiskey. People always remark how smooth our whiskey is. Ian and I would love to claim that it’s our distilling expertise, but we both know that it’s really the water that is the star of the show.”
Handcrafted one bottle at a time, Old Pali Road Whiskey is available at more than 300 stores, restaurants and bars in Hawai‘i, including Foodland, Safeway, Tamura’s Fine Wine, Merriman’s Honolulu, Nobu, MW Restaurant, Town, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Duke’s Waikiki and Buzz’s Original Steak House.
They also offer online shopping and retail sales at its one-of-a-kind distillery located on the Windward side, just off Kalanianaole Highway after Pali Highway heading toward Kailua. Visitors can get their bottles signed and tour the facility, while learning about the distilling process: mashing, fermenting, distilling, aging and bottling; and, of course, take part in a whiskey tasting.
“A lot of the feedback I get is that they can tell I love making whiskey and that I love the details of it,” says Dill. “My favorite part is drinking it. The way Old Pali Road is designed to drink is with a single extra-large block cube of ice. Also, when someone else drinks it and you can see they’re blown away because they’re not expecting it to be as good as it is. The most common compliment we get is, wow, that’s really smooth.”
DILL SHARES THIS RECIPE:
• 2 ounces of Old Pali Road
• 2 dashes of angosturo bitters 2 dashes of orange bitters
• 1⁄2 ounce of orgeat
Shake it and pour it over a single extra-large block cube of ice, and with a dry blood orange slice for garnish.