Budweiser’s New Beer is Aged With MLB-Authenticated Baseball Bats

(Photo: Budweiser)

Beer and baseball are a combination as tried-and-true as peanut butter and jelly. In fact, that’s an understatement: The earliest recorded mention of the sandwich is dated to 1901, while beer was introduced to American Association baseball stadiums in the 1870s. So what would happen if you literally put the baseball — or at least, the baseball bat — inside the beer?

Last week, Budweiser announced that it was celebrating its 150th anniversary by doing exactly that.

In honor of the upcoming MLB at Field of Dreams Game, the brewer is rolling out a limited-edition brew that swaps the beechwood chips used in its production process for Marucci baseball bats. Budweiser sent its beechwood to the Louisiana-based sports equipment maker, who crafted the logs into custom baseball bats featuring the brewer’s logo. An MLB authenticator then visited Budweiser’s St. Louis facility, officially authenticating each bat before it was placed in the aging tanks.

The beers will debut at the Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa, where the Philadelphia Phillies and the Minnesota Twins are set to face off on Aug. 13 at 6:30 pm CT. Limited quantities of Budweiser Beechwood Reserve will also be available at outlets across Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania while supplies last.

“For an event that celebrates the legacy and nostalgia of America’s favorite national pastime, we wanted to create something that reflected Budweiser’s deep-rooted connection to baseball.” Todd Allen, SVP of marketing for Budweiser at Anheuser-Busch, remarked in a news release. “As we celebrate Budweiser’s  150th anniversary and our decades-long relationship with Major League Baseball, there couldn’t be a more fitting time to debut this one-of-a-kind brew than during the MLB at Field of Dreams Game.”

As enticing as the novelty might be, there’s no reason to believe these beers will taste any different from a standard Budweiser. Since its introduction in 1876, the best-selling beer has used beechwood chips to create its signature flavor profile. Treated wood chips are placed inside aging tanks to optimize yeast contact, speed up secondary fermentation and clarify the brew without imparting woody flavors.

The only difference here is that the chips have been turned into full-sized Marucci bats. Those too might become a collector’s item if they’re ever released to the public; Marucci famously uses maple to produce nearly all of its bats, and as far as can tell has never dipped its toes into the world of beechwood until now.