Today is Sam Calagione’s 43rd birthday. Sam is the owner and marketing genius behind Delaware’s successful Dogfish Head Brewing. Sam’s also a great guy, and a rap singer of sorts, with his duo (along with his head brewer) the Pain Relievaz. See the bottom of this post for a couple videos of him singing after hours at Pike Brewery during the Craft Brewers Conference when it was held in Seattle. Join me in wishing Sam a very happy birthday.
Sam gives the thumbs up behind his booth at the Great American Beer Festival a few years ago.
With Ken Grossman at a Life & Limb collaboration beer dinner.
Priming the Randle with fresh hops at O’Briens Pub in San Diego.
Sam at the Rare Beer Tasting at Wynkoop during GABF 2009.
Rapping at Pike Place in Seattle in 2006.
This first video is “I Got Busy with an A-B Salesgirl,” the Pain Relievaz’ first hit single.
The second video is “West Coast Poseurs,” a smackdown to the hoppy West Coast beer and brewers.
Today is the 48th birthday of Mark Edelson, a co-founder and the managing partner of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, a small brewpub chain that operates 8 brewpubs in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania (and has just announced a 9th location in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania). Mark’s been a vocal and active member of the brewing community, especially around his mid-Atlantic home but also through the BA, too. Join me in wishing Mark a very happy birthday.
Toasting the Class of ’96: Greg Koch, Mark, Bill Covaleski, Tom Kehoe, Gene Muller & Sam Calagione at the “Older Bud No Weiser” event during a recent Philly Beer Week.
Carol and Ed Stoudt with Mark at the opening event for the first Philly Beer Week.
A great night For Mark during GABF week in the basement of the Falling Rock near the end of a very good evening.
I know it’s a good thing when celebrities drink craft beer, because people tend to copy their behavior. So the more celeb’s drinking good beer, the more some people might pick it up, too. But I can’t help but find it a little sad, too. I just don’t find all the minutiae about famous people very interesting. It’s just not my thing, though I have friends and loved ones who feel otherwise, so I do tend to find out about these gossipy items anyway, sometimes whether I want to or not. Case in point, I just learned that actress Charlize Theron served Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA at her house in Los Angeles during the Super Bowl. And that’s great, don’t get me wrong. Charlize Theron was, at one time, on my list of five (married men will know what I’m talking about here) so I’m certainly glad to know she has good taste in beer.
To be fair, I’ve posted a photo of television celebrity Nathan Fillion drinking a Drake’s IPA through a curly straw, that my wife took during an L.A. Browncoats convention a few years ago, but somehow that seems different. Or maybe I’m just fooling myself. What I really wanted to know from the article is why she chose that beer, and how she and her guests enjoyed it. Now that I’d find far more interesting than how she managed to carry it a few feet without breaking a sweat.
Today is the 37th birthday of Bryan Selders, who until March of this year was lead brewer of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and one-half of the hip hop duo The Pain Relievaz. I first met Bryan at Hop School in Yakima, Washington several years ago and he’s a terrifically talented and fun person. These days he’s working as a web designer at Inclind. Join me in wishing Bryan a very happy birthday.
Bryan with his boss Sam on picture day at the brewery.
Bryan with some of his “fans.”
The cover of the latest CD, Awesome = Yes, the Pain Relievaz Greatest Hits, available nowhere as far as I can tell. But below is Bryan and Sam in the video “Pinchin’ Pennies.”
Largest Cities: Wilmington, Dover, Newark, Milford, Seaford
Population: 783,600; 45th
Area: 2489 sq.mi., 49th
Nicknames: First State / Diamond State / Blue Hen State
Statehood: 1st, December 7, 1787
Alcohol Legalized: December 5, 1933
Number of Breweries: 10
Rank: 40th
Beer Production: 723,426
Production Rank: 44th
Beer Per Capita: 25.7 Gallons
Package Mix:
Bottles: 35%
Cans: 54.7%
Kegs: 10%
Beer Taxes:
Per Gallon: $0.16
Per Case: $0.35
Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $4.85
Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $4.85
Economic Impact (2010):
From Brewing: $23,500,426
Direct Impact: $189,852,007
Supplier Impact: $71,835,338
Induced Economic Impact: $124,430,536
Total Impact: $386,117,881
Legal Restrictions:
Control State: No
Sale Hours:On Premises: 9 a.m.–1 a.m. Off Premises: 9 a.m.–1 a.m. (Mon.–Sat.)
noon–8 p.m. (Sun.)Municipalities with a population over 50,000 persons may impose stricter hours of sale by local ordinance.
Grocery Store Sales: No
Notes: For off-premise consumption, alcohol may only be purchased in liquor stores, taprooms or brew pubs that have an off-premise license. No person under 21 may enter a liquor store or taproom for any reason even for the intent of purchasing only tobacco or lottery tickets. No sales of alcohol by liquor stores or taprooms are permitted during designated holidays.
In honor of the debut of Sam Calagione’s new Discovery Channel series, Brew Masters, Anat Baron (the director/writer/producer of Beer Wars) posted this short video of Sam and his Dogfish Head Craft Brewery that was originally shown at the “Alamo Draft House in April 2008 as part of the Dogfish Head Off-Centered Film Festival.” In the post, A Star Is Born, Anat reminisces about her first meeting Sam and working with him on her movie. Thanks for sharing, Anat.
One really fun event I attended during GABF this year, was the Brewer’s Feud, a beer-twisted version of the game show, the Family Feud, created by the Brewing Network. Instead of blood relatives, each side was made up of families of breweries. The first contest was east vs. west: 21st Amendment Brewery of San Francisco [...]
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery today announced the release of Bitches Brew to commemorate the original release of the milestone jazz album, Bitches Brew, by jazz legend Miles Davis. The new beer by Dogfish Head is described as “a bold, dark beer that’s a fusion of three threads imperial stout and one thread honey beer with [...]
You probably remember the big news back in August when Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada announced they’d be doing not one, but two collaboration beers. The main one is called Life & Limb, while the second is Limb & Life, a small beer made from the second runnings of Life & Limb. To launch the [...]
My “Uncorked” interview with Sam Calagione, from the Dogfish Head Brewery, is in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. If you’re unfamiliar with the Uncorked series in the San Francisco Chronicle, they’ve been doing them for some time now, and it’s an interview that begins with some expository background [...]
I was one of 42 beer writers who contributed to this big 960-page book telling the stories of 1,001 world-famous beers. The book is now available at Amazon.com and other fine booksellers.
