Budweiser Takes Beechwood Reserve to Field of Dreams
Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser, the official American beer sponsor of Major League Baseball, introduced Budweiser Beechwood Reserve this summer. The debut coincided with fans heading back to the iconic "Field of Dreams" movie site on Aug. 13 for a special regular-season game between the Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies.
The legacy brand helped mark MLB's return to Dyersville, Iowa — after a four-year hiatus for site renovations — with a limited-edition beer aged with MLB-authenticated beechwood baseball bats made by Marucci.
"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, Budweiser’s senior vice president of marketing, said in a media release. "Beechwood Reserve builds on Budweiser's iconic brewing tradition by incorporating authentic Marucci beechwood baseball bats into the finishing process, creating a beer that literally infuses the spirit of the game into every sip."
Fans aged 21 and older could visit the brand's Beechwood Brewhouse, a custom fan experience built for the event that highlighted the limited-time brew and Budweiser's longstanding baseball legacy.
On game night, former Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino made a special appearance at the brewhouse to engage with fans leading up to the first pitch of the Field of Dreams game.
The Budweiser Clydesdales were also on site, and fans could visit a photo booth for personalized vintage baseball cards, enter special raffles and walk through the Budweiser Mobile Museum.
Budweiser Beechwood Reserve is available in limited quantities at retailer locations across Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania while supplies last.
Beechwood Reserve and the Beechwood Brewhouse anchor a broader, season-long celebration of Budweiser's 150th anniversary, inviting fans of legal drinking age to engage with the brand and share their experiences on social channels.
For the limited-edition product, the brand sent the same beechwood used in its signature brewing process to Marucci, where it was crafted into custom baseball bats before returning to Budweiser's St. Louis brewery to be incorporated into the aging process. An MLB authenticator was on-site to witness the process and officially authenticate both the bats and the beer.
"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," Allen said.
Anheuser-Busch is also recognizing the farmers who make Budweiser beers possible through the recently debuted "ComBar," a mobile bar engineered from a combine harvester that is part of the brewer's larger marketing initiatives.
Touring the country this summer, the bar made its own stop in Iowa for the game. The first-of-its-kind activation was created to highlight the growers who help produce Budweiser ingredients.
