![Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, Delaware](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Dogfish_Head_Brewery%2C_Milton%2C_Delaware.jpg)
Dogfish Head Brewery is a
brewing company
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of beer ...
based in
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the
Boston Beer Company
The Boston Beer Company is an American brewery founded in 1984. Boston Beer Company's first brand of beer was named Samuel Adams after Founding Father Samuel Adams, an American revolutionary patriot. Since its founding, Boston Beer has started se ...
.
It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually.
Select brews (including many of the brewery's seasonal and one-off selections) can be found in 31 U.S. states, plus Washington, D.C. Dogfish Head also licenses "Dogfish Head Alehouse" with three locations in
Gaithersburg, Maryland
Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, ...
,
Falls Church, Virginia
Falls Church is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Wash ...
, and
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...
. Beer-paired food and vintage bottles of Dogfish Head's
seasonal beer A seasonal beer is a beer that is typically brewed during or for a particular season, holiday or festival period. Many breweries and microbreweries produce seasonal beers. Seasonal beers may be produced when fresh ingredients are available during ...
s are available at their alehouses, as well as kegged offerings of their staple beers. The company also has a restaurant called Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats along with a seafood restaurant called Chesapeake & Maine that only sources seafood from the eponymous locations. Both are located in
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Rehoboth Beach ( ) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the population was 1,327, reflecting a decline of 161 (11.2%) from the 1,488 counted in the 2000 ce ...
.
The brewery was featured prominently in the documentary ''
Beer Wars'' and was the subject of the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
series ''
Brew Masters
''Brew Masters'' is a television series that was run weekly on Discovery Channel starting on Sunday, November 21, 2010. The show focused on Sam Calagione, the founder and head of Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware, and his staff as they se ...
'', which premiered Sunday, November 21, 2010. The brewery takes its name from Dogfish Head,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
, where Calagione spent summers as a child.
History
Sam Calagione started brewing in his kitchen in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he created his first beer out of overripe cherries with his roommates
Ken Marino
Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as ''Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', ''Burning Love'', and ''Childre ...
and
Joe Lo Truglio
Joseph Vincent Lo Truglio (; born December 2, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. Best known for his role as Charles Boyle on the Fox/NBC sitcom '' Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', he also was a cast member on the television series ' ...
. Dogfish Head has brew houses in Rehoboth, Lewes, and Milton, Delaware. The first successful beer that Dogfish Head produced was Midas Touch, which was brewed with honey, white Muscat grapes, and saffron. Although it started by only selling beer in the state of Delaware, Dogfish Head became one of the most profitable microbreweries in the United States. As of 2017 it distributed its beer in 38 states, the most recent being Louisiana.
Calagione sources ingredients from around the world. Dogfish Head has become one of the most watched and well-respected breweries in the country thanks in large part to Calagione's unconventional brewing methods. These ingredients made it possible for his company to grow. The company used to be the smallest microbrewery in the United States, with Calagoione starting with three very small kegs with propane burners beneath them. Dogfish Head's brewery in Rehoboth, Delaware, originally produced only 10 gallons of beer per day when it opened in June 1995. By 2018, Dogfish Head had become one of America's largest and most well-known breweries, producing around 15,000 gallons of beer per day.
Acquisition by Boston Beer Co.
In 2019, Calagione had informal talks with Jim Koch, co-founder of the
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...
brewing
Boston Beer Company
The Boston Beer Company is an American brewery founded in 1984. Boston Beer Company's first brand of beer was named Samuel Adams after Founding Father Samuel Adams, an American revolutionary patriot. Since its founding, Boston Beer has started se ...
, at the annual Extreme Beer Fest in Boston. Within a few months, they were purchased by Boston Beer Co. Dogfish Head announced the acquisition by the Boston Beer Company for $300 million on May 9, 2019. As part of the merger, Calagione and his wife, Mariah, converted their Dogfish Head stock into Boston Beer Co. stock, thereby becoming the second largest non-institutional owners of the merged companies.
Products
Dogfish Head tends to produce experimental or "extreme" beers, such as the tongue-in-cheek "Liquor de Malt", a
bottle-conditioned malt liquor
Malt liquor is a type of mass market beer with high alcohol content, most closely associated with North America. Legally, it often includes any alcoholic beverage with 5% or more alcohol by volume made with malted barley. In common usage, it ...
, which typically comes in a Dogfish Head brown paper bag. Dogfish Head products often use non-standard ingredients, such as green
raisins
A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the da ...
in Raison D'Être ale. Some beers, including the WorldWide
Stout
Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout.
The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...
, 120 Minute
India Pale Ale, and the
raspberry
The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...
-flavored strong ale Fort, are highly alcoholic, reaching 18% to 20%
alcohol by volume
Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
(typical beers have around 3% to 7% alcohol by volume).
One of Dogfish Head's more notable odd beers was a green beer called Verdi Verdi Good, produced in 2005 and sold only on draft. The beer was not colored green artificially; rather, the green color was derived from brewing a
Dortmunder style beer that contained
spirulina, or blue-green algae.
Pangaea, first released in 2003, is a Belgian-style strong pale ale made with ingredients from every continent on Earth, including:
crystallized ginger
Candied fruit, also known as glacé fruit, is whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. Depending on the size and type of ...
from Australia, water from Antarctica,
basmati rice
Basmati, , is a variety of long, slender-grained aromatic rice which is traditionally grown in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. from Asia,
muscavado sugar from Africa,
quinoa
Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...
from South America, European
yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...
, and North American
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
. The name Pangaea refers to the
eponymous super-continent which existed about 250 million years ago.
The ''New York Times'' in 2010 profiled the brewery's efforts to make
chicha
''Chicha'' is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer (''chicha de jora'') made from a variety of maize land ...
beer, a traditional Latin American beverage made from maize, which requires chewing the corn and spitting it in a communal pot.
In 2020 the brewery began producing hand sanitiser in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
IPAs
Dogfish Head's best-selling product is its line of
India Pale Ales (IPAs), which are offered in eight varieties:
* 60 Minute IPA (denoting the length of the boil with which hops are continually added)
* 90 Minute IPA
* 120 Minute IPA
* Sixty-One, a beer-wine hybrid brewed with
Syrah
Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse B ...
grape must
* Aprihop, a Spring seasonal IPA brewed with apricots
* Burton Baton, an imperial oak-aged IPA
* Hazy-O, a hazy IPA brewed with oats and wheat
* 75 Minute IPA (cask or bottle conditioned)
The longer hops are boiled, the more hop isomerization takes place, and the more bitterness is imparted to the beer. The 60 Minute is described by the company as "a session IPA brewed with Warrior, Amarillo and Simcoe" and rated at 60 IBUs. Dogfish Head introduced a device in 2003 jokingly called Randall the Enamel Animal, an "organoleptic hop transducer module" which "Randallizes" a given beer by passing the beer through a large plastic tube filled with a flavor enhancer, often raw hops, though adaptations such as fruits and coffee beans amongst others have also been used. The alcohol in the beer lifts oils off the raw hops and imparts even more hop flavor and aroma to beers that were already hoppy to begin with.
The 75 Minute IPA was developed in 2008, and has been produced in very limited quantities, and typically distributed to vendors in
firkins. The beer—nicknamed "Johnny Cask" and featuring a mascot resembling a young
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
tapping
Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...
a firkin with a mallet—is made from a mixture of the 60 and 90 Minutes IPAs, and undergoes a separate
cask conditioning which includes the addition of
maple syrup
Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...
. As a variation on the 75 Minute IPA, the Alehouse 75 is also available. It is a mixture of the 60 and 90 Minute offerings, yet is served in a standard Sankey-style keg, rather than a firkin.
Ancient Ales
![Patrick McGovern Analyzing Midas sample at Microscope](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Patrick_McGovern_Analyzing_Midas_sample_at_Microscope.jpg)
In the late 90s, Dogfish Head started an "Ancient Ales" series, in which beer recipes were created based upon the chemical analysis of residue found on pottery and drinking vessels from various
archaeological sites
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
. These beers have been produced in collaboration with molecular archaeologist
Dr. Pat McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, four such brews have been crafted, and only one (Midas Touch) is produced year-round. The others are produced on a limited basis.
*Midas Touch Golden Elixir (first released in 1999). A strong ale based on residue found on drinking vessels from the tomb of
King Midas
Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house.
The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ...
, dating back to the 8th century BC. Defining ingredients include
Muscat grapes,
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
, and
saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...
. (See section below for more information.)
*Chateau Jiahu (first released in 2006). A spiced strong ale based on residue from pottery found in the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
village of
Jiahu (in central China), dating to the
7th millennium BC
The 7th millennium BC spanned the years 7000 BC to 6001 BC (c. 9 ka to c. 8 ka). It is impossible to precisely date events around this millennium, and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geological and anthropological analysi ...
. Some defining ingredients include
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
flakes,
wildflower
A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...
honey,
hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
fruit, and
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...
flowers. As of 2009, this is the oldest known beer recipe to be brewed in the modern age.
*Theobroma (first released in 2008). A chocolate beer based on residue found on pottery discovered in
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
dating to approximately 1200 BC. Some defining ingredients include
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
cocoa powder
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
, honey, and
annatto
Annatto ( or ) is an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree (''Bixa orellana''), native to tropical America. It is often used to impart a yellow or orange color to foods, but sometimes also for its flav ...
.
*Ta Henket (first released in 2010, bottles released in late 2011). This beer was created to incorporate ancient ingredients and techniques described in Egyptian
hieroglyphics
Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...
. It was brewed with
emmer
Emmer wheat or hulled wheat is a type of awned wheat. Emmer is a tetraploid (4''n'' = 4''x'' = 28 chromosomes). The domesticated types are ''Triticum turgidum'' subsp. ''dicoccum'' and ''Triticum turgidum ''conv.'' durum''. The wild plant is ...
, loaves of hearth baked bread, dom-palm fruit, chamomile, and
zatar. Fermentation was carried out by a native Egyptian
saccharomyces
''Saccharomyces'' is a genus of fungi that includes many species of yeasts. ''Saccharomyces'' is from Greek σάκχαρον (sugar) and μύκης (fungus) and means ''sugar fungus''. Many members of this genus are considered very important in f ...
wild yeast strain captured from the air in Egypt.
Midas Touch
''Midas Touch Golden Elixir'', marketed as ''Midas Touch'', was first marketed in June 2001. The recipe for this beverage is based on the chemical analysis of residues found in clay vessels believed to date back to the 8th century BC. Originally discovered in
Gordium
Gordion ( Phrygian: ; el, Γόρδιον, translit=Górdion; tr, Gordion or ; la, Gordium) was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, about southwest of Ankara (capital of Turkey), in the ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
during a 1957 dig by archaeologist
Rodney Young, the content of these vessels was left unknown for 40 years. In 1997, molecular archeologist
Dr. Patrick McGovern received a phone call from a former student of his informing him of a residue on clay jars from the tomb of
King Midas
Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house.
The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ...
. Dr. McGovern quickly did chemical analysis finding all aspects of the drink except for the spicing agent but made an assumption of
saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...
due to regional availability.
In March 2000, Calagione attended a special dinner for beer writer
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
. At this time McGovern and Calagione met and discussed recreating the brew. In early 2001 the new beverage was served at a dinner recreating the funeral feast of King Midas. At $150 a plate the meal was a benefit to support the Chemical Archaeology program at University of Pennsylvania.
Dogfish Head brewery dispenses approximately 1,700-1,800 cases per month to distributors. At the time of discovery Midas Touch Golden Elixir was the oldest
fermented beverage recipe discovered. Dogfish Head brewery still today holds the record with a 9,000 yr old recipe used for Chateau Jiahu, which was released in July 2007.
The ingredients for the original 7.5%
ABV
Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
recipe in 2001 included yellow muscat grapes, lightly toasted 2-row barley malt, thyme, honey and saffron. The ingredients for the 9% ABV recipe include barley, white Muscat grapes, honey and saffron.
Noble Rot
In 2010, Calagione collaborated with
Washington wine
Washington wine is a wine produced from grape varieties grown in the U.S. state of Washington. Washington ranks second in the United States (behind California) in the production of wine. By 2017, the state had over of vineyards, a harvest of ...
maker Jarrod Boyle of
Alexandria Nicole Cellars to produce a "hybrid" beer-wine beverage labeled ''Noble rot''. A
saison
Saison ( French, "season," ) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. ...
-style beer, the brewery uses
botrytis-infected
Viognier
Viognier () is a white wine grape variety. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu in the Rhône Valley.J. Robinson ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 754 Oxford University Press 2006 Outside of the Rhôn ...
and
Pinot gris
Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...
grapes from Alexandria Nicole's Destiny Ridge Vineyard in the
Horse Heaven Hills AVA
The Horse Heaven Hills AVA is an American Viticultural Area in southeastern Washington, and is part of the larger Columbia Valley AVA. The Horse Heaven Hills AVA borders the Yakima Valley AVA on the north and the Columbia River on the south ...
in the brew. This results in a beer with 49.5% of the
fermentable sugars coming from grapes that finishes with a 9%
alcohol level
Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
. Alexandria Nicole
presses the grapes, leaving the skins with the must, and Dogfish co-ferments the Viognier and grains while adding the Pinot gris later in the process. In 2012, the beer went nationwide in the United States in more than 27 states from coast to coast and was received with critical acclaim.
Sah'tea
In 2009, the Dogfish Head team began experimenting to produce their own version of the traditional Finnish-style beer called
sahti
Sahti is a Finnish type of farmhouse ale made from malted and unmalted grains including barley and rye. Traditionally the beer is flavored with juniper in addition to, or instead of, hops; . Traditional sahti is brewed with a variety of grains, malted and unmalted, including barley, rye, wheat, and oats; then flavored with juniper berries in addition to, or instead of, hops. The old-school style of brewing sahti also includes the step of heating hot rocks over a fire and using them to boil the wort.
[Dogfish Head Brews Sah'tea](_blank)
, mariah, Dogfish Head News, 5 May 2009. They departed from the traditional recipe, however, with the creative inclusion of Maya Tea Company's Original Chai tea in their brew, resulting in a rich, malty, and lightly spiced brew.
List of beers brewed
Source:''
ref name="dogfishhead_beerlist">
Collaborations and events
Microdistillery
Dogfish Head also operates a
microdistillery
A microdistillery is a small, often boutique-style distillery established to produce beverage grade spirit alcohol in relatively small quantities, usually done in single batches (as opposed to larger distillers' continuous distilling process). W ...
at the Rehoboth Beach brewpub.
Spirits
Spirit or spirits may refer to:
Liquor and other volatile liquids
* Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks
* Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol
* Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...
are hand-distilled in a small
pot still
A pot still is a type of distillation apparatus or still used to distill liquors such as whisky or brandy. In modern (post-1850s) practice, they are not used to produce rectified spirit, because they do not separate congeners from ethanol as eff ...
and often, like their beers, tend toward unique and non-traditional formulations. The
distillery
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...
is very small; Dogfish Head spirits are distributed only in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
and a handful of other states.
Partnerships
Dogfish Head often collaborates with other businesses outside of the beer industry. Dogfish Head has worked with the Grateful Dead to create a strong pale ale called American Beauty, a pickle company in Brooklyn, NY called Brooklyn Brine to create a pickle with beer ingredients, and an old glass company in Europe to design a unique IPA glass. In addition, Dogfish Head has worked with many other businesses outside of the beer industry. Calagione believes the collaboration with businesses like these distinguishes the Dogfish Head brand.
Dogfish Head will be one of the main partners in Birreria, the roof-top brewpub being constructed at
Mario Batali
Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and Ne ...
's
Eataly
Eataly is a chain of large format/footprint Italian marketplaces (food halls) comprising a variety of restaurants, food and beverage counters, bakery, retail items, and a cooking school. Eataly was founded by Oscar Farinetti, an entrepreneur for ...
project in New York City. They had originally planned on collaborating with 3 other breweries -
Russian River Brewing Company
Russian River Brewing Company is a brewery and brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa, California, with a second location in Windsor. The company is known for strong India pale ales and sour beers.
History
Russian River Brewing Company was created in ...
, as well as Birrificio Baladin and Birra del Borgo, both from Italy, but Russian River Brewing Company withdrew. They aim to craft rustic, artisanal beers that will pair directly with food served at the restaurant. The beers were brewed in a copper-clad brewing system and will be unpasteurized, unfiltered, naturally carbonated, and hand-pulled through traditional beer engines, recalling old world Italian craft brewing. The
Eataly
Eataly is a chain of large format/footprint Italian marketplaces (food halls) comprising a variety of restaurants, food and beverage counters, bakery, retail items, and a cooking school. Eataly was founded by Oscar Farinetti, an entrepreneur for ...
brewpub opened in 2011.
Media
Calagione and the brewery were the focus of ''
Brew Masters
''Brew Masters'' is a television series that was run weekly on Discovery Channel starting on Sunday, November 21, 2010. The show focused on Sam Calagione, the founder and head of Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware, and his staff as they se ...
'', a
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
series that gave viewers an inside look at the brewery's operations, starting with the recipe development process and through the bottling and packaging process. The series premiered on Sunday, November 21, 2010 with an episode focusing on the creation of the Bitches Brew beer to commemorate the
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
album of the same name. The final episode aired on December, 16th 2011 and chronicled the brewing of Chateau Jiahu, one of their Ancient Ales.
Dogfish Head's Brewings & Eats restaurant was featured in a December 2021 episode of the
Cooking Channel
Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting p ...
's ''
Man v. Food
''Man v. Food'' is an American food reality television series. It premiered on December 3, 2008 on the Travel Channel. The program was originally hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman. In each episode, Richman explores the "big food" o ...
''.
Sponsorships
Dogfish Head is the annual lead sponsor of
Beer Advocate
Beer rating is assessing and evaluating beer using a point system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, though the participants are con ...
's Extreme Beer Fest in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts. Each year, Dogfish Head brews a special beer for the festival in collaboration with the Alström brothers of Beer Advocate. This special beer's name is voted on by visitors to the Beer Advocate website. The beer brewed for 2010's festival was "Wrath of Pecant". In addition to the year's special beer, Dogfish Head (like most other breweries) bring specially-altered version of normal beers such as 120 minute IPA pressurized through whole-leaf hops, Red & White pressurized through orange peels, and World Wide Stout pressurized through espresso beans in 2010.
References
External links
Dogfish Head official web siteDogfish Head Alehouse restaurantsInternational Mead Festival award winnersRecreating King Midas' Golden ElixirPatrick E. McGovern Biomolecular Archaeology LaboratoryOral History Interview with Sam Calagione, Hagley Digital Archives
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American beer brands
Beer brewing companies based in Delaware
Restaurants in Delaware
Buildings and structures in Sussex County, Delaware
Companies based in Sussex County, Delaware
1995 establishments in Delaware
Food and drink companies established in 1995
2019 mergers and acquisitions