Release: Mana Potion IPA

As part of our San Diego Homebrew Summer program, a dozen local breweries are producing recipes from local homebrewers at their breweries during the sunny season. The next to debut will be Mana Potion, an IPA turned purple from the use of butterfly pea flower. A trendy ingredient on the bleeding edge of amateur and professional brewing, it lends a fitting purple hue to this beer, which is named for a health-restoring elixir from a fantasy-based game fitting into the gaming genre so expertly conveyed by BattleMage Brewing. That Vista outfit selected Mana Potion, a creation from local homebrew Derek Springer, brewed it at their facility, and on Friday, August 13, it will be made available on tap and in cans. Scroll down to learn more about this colorful, hoppy beer and the work that went into it, then make plans to try it out before it vanishes from the brewery’s beer board.

Mana Potion | IPA with Butterfly Pea Flower

Commentary from BattleMage Brewing Co-owner Ryan Sather

We made a few minor adjustments to this beer to suit our system for hop utilization, one grain adjustments, and we bumped it up to an IPA. We consulted Derek along the way with these changes and he brought us in some samples so we could see the awesome nature of the butterfly pea flower. Overall, the experience was a blast. We got to experiment with something new and link up with an amazing homebrewer. The way the tea bends the light spectrum is fascinating. It literally shifts colors depending on the light you hold it up to and the pH; magical and refreshing!

Q&A with homebrewer Derek Springer

What led you to submit this particular recipe for consideration?

I’ve been homebrewing in earnest for about ten years now and have been a member of the Society of Barley Engineers for about nine years. This recipe’s base is my classic pale-ale base I’ve been tinkering with for the past handful of years, but I recently began experimenting with using butterfly pea a couple years ago for one of Stone Brewing‘s annual homebrew competition. When I saw BattleMage was one of the participants in San Diego Homebrew Summer, I knew I had a great thematically-appropriate recipe I could submit that would really excite them. Turns out I was right!

How did it feel to have your recipe selected to be brewed by local breweries as part of San Diego Homebrew Summer?

Pretty exciting. The BattleMage folks are great brewers and I love the them of the brewery and basically everything they do. I’ve known them for a while, as they were previously members of the Barley Engineers in their amateur days, so I was stoked to work on this collab with them.

How was the brew day at BattleMage Brewing?

I worked with Ryan most of the day and I think he was really thrilled that I kinda knew what I was doing and attacked the tasks he assigned me in a way most guest brewers are somewhat timid with. I got the feeling there was a big Tom-Sawyer-convincing-his-friends-to-paint-the-fence energy when he let me stir the mash and empty the mash tun because I was “doing such a good job.”

In scaling up your recipe for a commercial operation, did you pick up any lessons or learn anything?

This is the first time I’ve had the chance to help brew on a professional rig, so it was really exciting to see how beer gets made with real hardware, which really isn’t that different than what I’m doing. The biggest difference is that their setup is much more efficient than my own, and I think I picked up a few opportunities to streamline my process and do some more multi-tasking. As for the recipe, I think the BattleMage folks have convinced me to put all my hops in much closer to the end of the boil.

What are you most excited about with this collaboration?

My friends and family are all stoked that I’ll have a “real beer” coming out at a professional brewery. I’m very excited to show it off and also introduce them to the great gang at BattleMage. This was a really fun project, and I’d love to see more amatuer-pro collabs like this in San Diego!