Okolehao

ʻŌkolehao is an alcoholic spirit whose main ingredient was the root of the ti plant. ʻŌkolehao's forerunner was a fermented ti root beverage or beer. When distillation techniques were introduced by an escaped British convict named William Stevenson in the 1790s, it was distilled into a highly alcoholic spirit. Hawaiians discovered that if the ti root is baked, a sweet liquid migrates to the surface of the root. Chemically, the heat changes the starch in the root to a fermentable sugar. The baked root is then soaked in a vat of water which dissolves the sugar, and fermentation begins. The fermented drink was later distilled into a highly alcoholic spirit which became Hawaii's only indigenous distilled spirit, and was prized by the king. The Merrie Monarch, King David Kalakaua, is said to have had his own distiller. The name is from the iron try pots that were brought ashore from sailing ships and converted into stills, and literally meant "iron butt", from Hawaiian ʻōkole + hao ("iron").

Source: Wikipedia