Published on May 1st, 2021 | by Darren Paltrowitz
0Dogfish Head Brewery Founder Sam Calagione On The Brewery’s New Lemon Quest Drink, Its Early Days, Future Plans & More
The Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has proudly focused on brewing beers with culinary ingredients outside the Reinheitsgebot since the day it opened as the smallest American craft brewery nearly 25 years ago. Dogfish Head has grown into a Top 20 craft brewery and has won numerous awards throughout the years, including “2015 Brewery of the Year” from Wine Enthusiast and the James Beard Foundation Award for “2017 Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional.” A Delaware-based brand with Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats (an off-centered brewpub and distillery), Chesapeake & Maine (a seafood and cocktail spot), Dogfish Inn (a beer-themed inn on the harbor), and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (a production brewery and distillery featuring the Tasting Room & Kitchen and Dogfish Head Distilling Co.) are among the brewery’s holdings in 2021, besides a full line of popular beverages.
Last month, the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery announced its new, non-alcoholic wheat brew Lemon Quest, which hits shelves nationwide this month. Brewed with real lemon puree, blueberry juice, acai berries, monk fruit, sea salt and special Hopsteiner Polyphenol-Rich Hop Pellets, it is a deliciously refreshing, active lifestyle-oriented, non-alcoholic alternative with just 90 calories per 12-ounce can. With invigorating flavors of bright-citrusy lemon, slightly sweet berries and just a bit of salt, Lemon Quest pairs with just about any food or adventure you can think. And it comes on the heels of the “coast-to-coast launch” of the brewery’s line of ready-to-drink Canned Cocktails: Blueberry Shrub Vodka Soda, Strawberry & Honeyberry Vodka Lemonade and Cherry Bergamot Whiskey Sour.
On April 30, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery founder Sam Calagione via Zoom, as embedded below. Besides Lemon Quest and future plans for Dogfish Head, we spoke about the early days of the brewery — which tied in with cast members from cult MTV sketch-comedy series The State — and how Dogfish Head evolved from a pie-in-the-sky concept to a successful, acclaimed, industry-leading brewery. More on Calagione, Dogfish Head and their associated establishments can be found online by clicking here, here, here and here.