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.
