The Microbrewery Handbook

Chapter 6Industry Q&A: Dogfish Head CEO Sam Calagione

IN THE CRAFT beer world, he's recognized by first name alone: Sam.

Sam Calagione is the owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware, one of the largest and most well‐respected independent craft breweries in the world. A pioneer in our industry from the start, he helped push the initial legislation to become Delaware's first brewery. Dogfish Head is a shelf staple in what feels like every single craft beer merchant in the U.S.

Dogfish Head got its start as a brewpub in 1995, well before our recent craft beer boom.

In May 2019 it was announced that Dogfish Head, the thirteenth‐largest craft brewery in America according to the BA, would merge with the number two craft beer producer, Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) in a $300 million deal, bringing two of the most popular and creative craft brewery owners in the world together, Jim Koch and Sam.

The merger will give Boston Beer Company an estimated 2 percent of the market share of all U.S. beer consumption, an astronomical number for a craft beer company against the big beer giants. Dogfish Head is on track to do about 300,000 barrels and $120 million in sales in 2019.

Sam and I sat down in Denver, Colorado in 2019, just before the news of the merger broke, to talk about the state of the industry, his keys to success, and the evolution of the taproom model.

D.C. Reeves:    Let's talk about the state of the industry today. You talked about the top jaw and the bottom ...