You might be toasting the New Year around this time, so let’s dive into the intoxicating statistics one can find at … the Honolulu Liquor Commission!
Booze is a billion-dollar business on O‘ahu, literally. From 2015 to 2021, annual gross liquor sales reported to the City & County of Honolulu averaged $1.2 billion.
The liquor commission has been busy. In the fiscal year running from July 2024 to June 2025, it:
- Inspected 9,584 licensed premises,
- Investigated 169 complaints,
- Issued 180 notices of violation and 168 written warnings.
The commission doesn’t just grant licenses and inspect bars. It’s also a workforce development center providing training to servers to qualify to dispense alcohol. Throughout the fiscal year, 6,646 people registered for virtual server training classes, while 188 registered for in-person training. Almost 4,800 of these people went on to take their test, most of whom passed.
It might surprise you to know that when it comes to new liquor licenses, the commission is not terribly busy with bars and restaurants. Its single most active category was actually for special permits. These are good for up to three days and are needed by any organization holding an event that serves alcohol. The commission received 667 such applications from the nonprofit sector, followed by 251 applications from for-profit business.
For regular liquor licenses, there were 101 applications from caterers, 43 from restaurants and 16 from dispensers — the technical name for a bar.
There were also 53 applications for transient vessel licenses. Under the law, even a vessel that’s simply passing through the Islands must get a license to sell alcohol while in port here.
Entire categories of establishments saw little to no activity from 2024 to 2025. For example:
- Retail: 14 applications
- Club: 2
- Hotel: 2
- Small craft producer pub: 2
- Cabaret: 1
- Manufacturer: 1
- Wholesale: 1
- Brew pub: 0
The word cabaret always makes me think of well-dressed people out somewhere swanky, with a stylish floor show. However, the reality is that, as defined by law in Honolulu, a cabaret is really just a disco or nightclub with a dance floor and which stays open until 4 a.m., or a strip joint.
What kind of license does Honolulu need to make this nightclub happen? That's what I'd like to know.
A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.
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A. Kam Napier can be reached at kam@alohastatedaily.com.
