Anchor Brewing has once again broadened its partnership with the San Francisco Giants, introducing a new “limited-edition” collaboration brew: Orange Splash Lager.
The new beer — paying homage to the AT&T Park’s notorious “splash hits” (home runs that land on the fly into “McCovey Cove,” located beyond the right field wall) — blends pale 2-row, Caramel and Patagonia malts with Apollo, Bravo and experimental hops for a refreshing, citrus-forward beverage, the company said.
“Collaborating with the San Francisco Giants has been a longtime dream for me and many fellow brewers at Anchor,” Anchor Brewmaster Mark Carpenter said in a press statement. “Anchor Steam is San Francisco’s beer, and I think it’s fitting to brew one celebrating San Francisco’s team.”
The beer, available through October, is currently available on draft at the Anchor Brewing Beer Garden at ‘The Yard,’ located adjacent to AT&T Park. It will also be served on tap at the Anchor Brewing Taproom and at select bars throughout San Francisco, the company said.
It’s not the first time the two groups have worked together on a co-branded product, however. Anchor rolled out its first commemorative, Giants-themed 12-pack in 2013. That package was also reintroduced in 2014. Last year, Anchor extended its formal partnership – which includes the Anchor Plaza and Taproom at AT&T Park, a luxury Anchor Brewing suite and the Anchor Corral at the major league ballclub’s spring training stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz. – through 2017.
“It is only fitting that through our partnership, we have collaborated with Anchor Brewing to create the first-ever Giants beer,” Jason Pearl, the Giants’ senior vice president of sponsorship and business development, said in the statement.
Today’s announcement also comes 30 months after Anchor Brewing and the Giants jointly announced a secondary brewing facility, which was to be located at San Francisco’s historic Pier 48, across from AT&T Park.
Plans were first revealed in February 2013 and construction on the new brewery, which is part of the $1.6 billion Mission Rock Development project, was supposed to begin in late 2014. A tentative opening date was originally scheduled for 2015.
The mixed-use development project, funded in part by the San Francisco Giants, will also include eight acres of parkland, housing and commercial space.
An updated timeline for the new brewery — and the entire Mission Rock redevelopment initiative — has yet to be revealed. San Francisco residents will have a chance to vote on the fate of Mission Rock Development in November, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Update (9/2/15): An Anchor spokesperson said the company now expects construction to begin in “very late 2016/early 2017, with brewing to follow 12 months later.”