Anchor Brewing Debuts Blood Orange Blonde Ale

Anchor has announced the release of its third Pacific Siren series beer, Blood Orange Blonde. Want more details? See the press release:

San Francisco, CA (May 9, 2017) – Today, Anchor Brewing Company announces the third release in their Pacific Siren Series™, Blood Orange Blonde™- a refreshingly unique blonde ale made with juicy and tart blood oranges.

Blood Orange Blonde (4.5% ABV) has the delectable taste of the blood orange—deep crimson in color, with enticingly rich aroma and tangy-sweet juiciness which provides a distinctive twist to this blonde ale. Its taste combines the succulent complexity of blood oranges with a mild hop bitterness, subtle malty sweetness, and a long, dry finish.

“Blood Orange Blonde is an exciting addition to our wildly popular Pacific Siren Series,” said Anchor Brewmaster Scott Ungermann.  “This refreshing, crisp craft brew gets some of its citrusy aroma in the brewhouse, where California orange peels are added to the brewkettle. However, most of the action is in the cellar where the blood orange fruit—the Sanguinello cultivar variety—is added during secondary fermentation. The result is a fruit-forward blonde ale with a tangy citrus tartness, hints of sweet malt and honey notes and a dry orange peel bitterness at the back end.” 

Blood Orange Blonde joins Mango Wheat™ and Meyer Lemon Lager™ as the third addition to the Pacific Siren Series which debuted in 2016. Lured by the siren’s song, Anchor’s first brewmaster, Gottlieb Brekle, journeyed from Germany for the goldfields of California. Instead, he found his El Dorado in San Francisco, brewing beer for thirsty miners.  The brewery that Brekle built on a street called Pacific, less than a mile from the San Francisco Bay, became Anchor Brewing.  His odyssey and the mythic sirens of the Pacific is the inspiration for this series of brews. 

The eye-catching packaging artwork for Blood Orange Blonde stays true to its Pacific Siren Series counterparts, donning an illustrated siren inspired by a 75-year-old California fruit crate label. Fruit-crate labels have a long and colorful history in California dating to the late nineteenth century. Most such agricultural art features enticingly succulent fruit and an idealized pastoral landscape. Anchor’s Pacific Siren Series labels however—as unique as the beers themselves—feature a stunning siren.

Blood Orange Blonde is available nationwide starting in May 2017 in 12 oz. cans and on draught at select bars, restaurants, and stores as well as at the Anchor Brewing Taproom and Anchor Beer Garden at The Yard in San Francisco.  You can find a brew near you by using the Anchor Beer Finder.