Florida Brewery’s Beer for Butterfly Rescue Debuts at Major Disney Festival

Trips to Disney World are a big deal — so big, in fact, super bowl winning quarterbacks and World Series-winning pitchers announce they’re celebrating their big wins with a trip to Disney.

So if heading to Disney is a big deal for the likes of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, think how big it is for an independent brewery to get featured on the big Disney stage. That’s exactly where First Magnitude Brewing Company finds itself with its new beer that’s raising awareness about the dwindling monarch butterfly population — a species the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) says is “in trouble.”

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First Magnitude Brewing Company out of Gainesville, Florida, has a partnership with the Florida Museum of Natural History to create a series of butterfly beers. The brewery’s next beer, Monarch Milk Stout, has been accepted to the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival and will launch Feb. 28.

“Butterflies epitomize art and science in nature; they are such a beautiful and joyful part of our environment, and are critical to Florida’s ecosystems,” says Meg The Losen, First Magnitude Brewing co-founder.

The number of monarchs has fallen dramatically in the last two decades, partially due to habitat loss and climate change, according to the USFWS.

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The museum is thrilled to have First Magnitude as a partner. Even before Monarch Milk Stout’s upcoming Disney launch, First Magnitude’s butterfly beer series — which includes Miami Blue Bock, Migration Märzen and Schuas Stout — has not only raised awareness about at-risk butterflies but also raised more than $13,000 for butterfly conservation.

Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival runs from Feb. 28 through May 28, and Monarch Milk Stout is expected to be on tap throughout the festival.

Jess Baker

Jess Baker walked into a beer fest in 2010 and realized beer had come a long way from what her dad had been drinking since the 70s. She served as editor-in-chief of CraftBeer.com from spring 2016 to spring 2020, bringing you stories about the people who are the heartbeat behind U.S. craft brewing. She's a runner, a die-hard Springsteen fan, a mom who is always scouting family-friendly breweries, and always in search of a darn good porter.

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