I received a package from Kona Brewing on Friday containing quite a nice arrangement—dovetailing perfectly with my Session post on “beer hype” that it nearly became the subject—and an unexpected one: the first time I believe I’ve received a PR package acknowledging and centering around a beer cocktail.

Here’s the unboxing:

As you can see, the full spread is interesting: a bottle of Big Wave Golden Ale, surfboard bottle opener, Bombay Sapphire Gin, St. Germain liqueur, and a 4GB thumb drive (in the same wood-encased cover as the one with the Shock Top end of the world package.

The info sheet, which would normally contain promotional material about the beer, instead highlights the beer cocktail inferred from the box contents:

It’s been a great year for Kona Brewing and we wanted to send a big mahalo your way for all of your support. Inside this Hawaiian luahala basket, you’ll find the makings of the winning recipe from this year’s Battle of the Beer-tenders contest held at our Koko Marina Pub on Oahu in October. This annual event attracts professional bartenders from across the island who are tasked with creating custom-made cocktails featuring Kona brews, spirits, juices and other specialty ingredients.

Judges named The Republik Bartender Hoyt Uyehara as the grand prizewinner for his flight of Kona Brew cocktails. Here are the ingredients for Elderfire featuring one of our original brews Big Wave Golden Ale.

Elderfire Golden Ale:

Mix together everything below and share some Aloha this holiday season. Cheers!

• 1/3 chilled bottle Big Wave Golden Ale
• One chilled shot of Bombay Sapphire Gin
• One shot of St-Germain liqueur

So, part of my writeup for this beer and package will be the beer cocktail itself. That will be the first time I review a beer and it’s promoted cocktail at the same time, should be interesting.