LUAU KRUNKLES
A year after the discovery of the recipe for Krunkles Down Under, Terrapin sent a scout down to New Zealand to collect clues about where Krunkles may have gone. After her assignment in New Zealand hit a dead end, our Terrapin scout decided to stop in Hawaii for a few days of vacation before heading back to Athens.
She boarded the plane and sat down next to a man with glasses and a mustache wearing a large straw hat. Near the end of the flight, they began talking about her plans for her time in Hawaii, and what she had been doing in New Zealand and Australia. Twirling his mustache, the man smiled as she told the tale of Krunkles, and of Terrapin’s quest to find the great IPA brewer. He cleaned his round gray glasses and said, “Ah, what Terrapin has discovered about this Krunkles fella is very impressive!”
As the passengers deplaned, the gentleman wished the Terrapin scout good luck in her search and suggested that she take a tour of the Halemaumau Crater in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. “Most know it as a place to honor the volcano goddess Pele, but it may mean something more to you,” he said cryptically and walked off the plane.
The Terrapin Scout quickly grabbed her carry-on bag from the overhead bin then hurried off the plane to ask him what he meant. But as she stepped off the plane, she lost sight of him. “Hmm…” she thought. “I didn’t even catch his name. He looked so familiar, though. I feel like I’ve seen him before.”
Curiosity set in and our Terrapin scout decided she would take the man’s advice, and scheduled a guided tour of the area near the crater. The guide told the story of Pele, and how locals soothe the goddess’s wrath with an offering of gin. He also explained that years ago, a mustached man came from another land and had paid his respects to the goddess, not with gin, but with another beverage that he brewed using passionfruit, orange, guava, and hops. The man disappeared suddenly one day and left only an ingredient list carved into a lava rock with an elderly woman who lived near the volcano.
Our Terrapin scout’s eyes lit up at the story, and as soon as the tour was over she pulled the guide aside and asked where she could find the old woman, and the lava rock. He directed her to a small house and roadside craft market just outside the state park. When the Terrapin scout got there, she met a young boy, who told her that the old woman was gone, but that he could show her the lava rock.
Holding the rock in her hands, she could tell that it was, in fact, a recipe for a beer, most likely an IPA. It had to be the work of Krunkles! Her suspicions proved correct when she turned over the rock and saw a K carved into the bottom corner.
After taking several photos, she thanked the child and left a note with the brewery’s address and her phone number, asking that if anything else showed up with a K carved in it, to please send photos.
Back at the hotel that evening, she wrote an email to the brewery, attached the photos of the rock, and then went downstairs to the pool to catch the sunset, and wonder where Krunkles would turn up next.
Our IPA, Luau Krunkles, is brewed with the same ingredients carved into the lava rock. The IPA is packed with the flavors of passionfruit, orange, and guava, reminiscent of Hawaii’s famous POG juice.
