Beer or popcorn? Mankato Brewery's Boomchickapop Popcorn Ale offers both

Given the option between popcorn or a pint of beer, two Mankato business owners picked both. Now Minnesotans are drinking up that decision faster than it can be made.

Each pint of Mankato Brewery's new Boomchickapop Popcorn Ale starts with about two cups of Angie's Boomchickapop popcorn, but after a few weeks the snack is ready to sip. And sip beer fans have, so much so that liquor stores can't keep it in stock.

"It's not gimmicky, there's no movie theater butter or salt," said Tim Tupy, owner of Mankato Brewery, about the brew that hit the market just under a month ago.

The beer, a sweet Belgian farmhouse style saison, has a smooth finish without the salty, buttery, oily taste associated with its main ingredient, so it's both a good beer and a conversation piece.

Sales forecasts had the first batch lasting until July, but Minnesotans have been downing the stuff quicker than popcorn can be converted to alcohol, which takes three weeks, he said.

The popular concoction began when Tupy called Angie Bastian, founder of Angie's Boomchickapop in North Mankato, with an odd idea.

He and Mankato Brewery's head brewer, Jacob Hamilton, wanted to try crafting a farmhouse saison, which is historically a beer made by farmers with whatever leftover grain they had on hand. But Tupy wanted to try something a little different.

"We kind of want to make a beer out of popcorn. Can you make us some popcorn?" Tupy said he asked Bastian last fall.

Within a week Bastian went to work air-popping corn without oil or salt. She dropped off 25 pounds of the stuff — about two garbage bags full — at the brewery herself, free of charge.

"When you say you want to help somebody do something, you've got to invest in them," she said.

Bastian's generosity comes from a soft spot for Mankato's local businesses. While Angie's Boomchickapop is now a national popcorn brand with shelf presence in stores big and small, it wasn't always that way.

The company started out of Bastian's garage in 2001 — just like Mankato Brewery, which started in Tupy's garage.

That 25-pound batch was just the start of Bastian's investment in Tupy. That popcorn went toward developing the beer, which went through six different iterations before it was the popular limited release it is now.

Once the right beer was selected, a semitruck filled with 1,000 pounds of non-GMO, gluten-free popcorn made its way from Angie's to the brewery.

Unlike the first batch, Bastian didn't pop this shipment personally, though her staff did.

"It would've taken me months," she said. But the popcorn was free for the small brewery.

"You have to put your money with your mouth is," Bastian said.

If you'd like to try Boomchickapop Popcorn Ale, Tupy advises you to call around. Area liquor stores sell out fast, he said.

"Everything we made, based on forecasts, was supposed to last until summer," he said.

Barry Lytton is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.