Zingipop Brings the Fizzy and Fun to Local Craft Soda

Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino. Styling: Brie Thalmann

I stumbled upon Zingipop Sodaworks at Kailua’s Grace in Growlers on a hot summer night. The Kalihi-based business makes nonalcoholic craft soda using 100% local ingredients. Liliko‘i-ginger-honey, its most popular flavor, contains about half the sweetener of a traditional soda and with no additives or preservatives. Ice-cold with loads of bubbles, it shines with the tang of liliko‘i and zing of ginger and just a hint of honey.

The origins of the ingredients are printed on the can: fruit and ginger grown at Waianu Farm in Windward O‘ahu, and Wai Meli honey from Hawai‘i Island. “The idea originally was wanting to support local farmers,” says co-owner Adam Sullivan, who studied at the UH College of Tropical Agriculture. “So when I started getting serious about making sodas, I was working at a brewery and experimenting with local fruit.”

Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino. Styling: Brie Thalmann

The experiments honed Sullivan’s skills, and customers at the brewery were happy to try his non-boozy creations. One of them was Amelia Stucker, a Navy surface warfare officer from Maine who dreamed of opening a taproom. In no time, the two were talking about processing star fruit.

After her Navy stint, Stucker earned a certificate in entrepreneurship from Kapi‘olani Community College. As she and Sullivan experimented with fruits, they became partners in business and life, and launched Zingipop last spring. Stucker explains that while beer- and soda-making share similarities, nonalcoholic soda lacks fermentation so is faster to produce, though more challenging to carbonate and package.

“We’re trying to support other small businesses, and we’re trying to support the farmers here.”

Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

When the couple learned the business they shared a warehouse with was moving out, a mutual contact led them to Kent Kurashima, another entrepreneur producing nonalcoholic fizzy beverages. Kurashima’s Manu Brewing Co. moved in before Thanksgiving. “We’re trying to support other small businesses, and we’re trying to support the farmers here,” Stucker says.

SEE ALSO: A World First: Sparkling Māmaki Tea by Manu Brewing Co.

Zingipop flavors come and go with the seasons. At last summer’s Made in Hawai‘i Festival, Sullivan and Stucker served up Zingipop’s strawberry guava-lemon and tangelo-Rangpur lime-hibiscus flavors. Personally, I’m hoping for the return of pohā-basil, inspired by Sullivan’s mom, who provides the otherwise pricey pohā. Here’s to 100% local flavor.

Find Zingipop at Farm Link Hawai‘i, Off the Wall, KualoaGrown, Ni‘i Superette in Waipahu and other places. zingipop.com, @zingipop