A new beer at First Magnitude Brewing Company is designed with butterflies in mind.
The local brewery debuted the Miami Blue Bock, a specialty golden lager, on Friday at a special launch party. The beer, which took about three months to develop, was designed to help support the conservation of the Miami blue butterfly.
Scientists at the Florida Museum of Natural History partnered with the brewery, located at 1220 SE Veitch St., to help launch the beer and raise awareness about the butterfly’s status. Five cents from every can will be donated to the museum’s conservation effort, said assistant brewer Simon McClung.
“Our message has been spring conservation since we opened,” McClung said, noting that the beer will also be sold at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park.
The cans are equipped with augmented reality features — an industry first, McClung said. Participants can download the free Libraries of Life app, point it at the beer can, see a 3-D rendering of the butterfly and learn more about its biology.
“What’s better than butterflies, beer and augmented reality?” said Jaret Daniels, the program director of the Florida Museum’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity.
Daniels said the museum is doing a number of different research projects on the butterfly. “We’re looking at the survivorship on both plants, because that will dictate where we decide to reintroduce the butterfly,” he said, adding that as of now, the butterfly is only found on a few small islands to the west of Key West.
The brewery said it hopes to start a series of butterfly-themed beers, with every can offering augmented reality. This is the second time First Magnitude brewed a beer to help conservation efforts of an endangered butterfly, Daniels said, after raising more than $2,500 for the Schaus swallowtail butter y in September 2016 with the Schaus Stout.
“First Magnitude is a fantastic partner,” Daniels said. “It’s a true collaboration.”
Miami blue butterfly
