American Craft Beer Classics – The Homebrew That Launched Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

(Courtesy Dogfish Head Craft Brewery)

Sometimes it takes to time to recognize how unique and special certain beers were, especially those beers that are no longer readily available. So welcome to another “Craft Beer Classics,” a homage to hits from the past…

And unlike many beers in this series, Dogfish Head has returned Founder Sam Calagione’s first-ever homebrew, Cherry Pale Ale, the beer that inspired him to start a brewery.

“I first brewed Cherry Pale Ale back in 1993, while I was writing the business plan for Dogfish Head,” said Sam Calagion. “After serving it to my roommates and friends at a party in our small New York City apartment, I knew – and proclaimed to everyone – that brewing beer was what I wanted to do with my life. Now, in honor of Dogfish Head’s 30^th birthday, I couldn’t be more excited to share my virgin brew with drinkers near and far!”

Rooted in coastal Delaware, Dogfish Head opened its doors as the first brewpub in the First State – and one of the smallest commercial breweries in America – in June of 1995.

And to celebrate the brewery’s  30^th anniversary, Dogfish Head is making this beer available to the public for the first time. And to make this release of Cherry Pale Ale as authentic as possible, every detail was thoughtfully inspired by Dogfish Head’s history and Calagione’s first time homebrewing.

(Sam Calagione: Courtesy Dogfish Head Craft Brewery)

The beer’s recipe includes Delaware wheat and Maine barley, offering loving nods to the brand’s bistate roots – Delaware, where the brand was founded and is still rooted today, and Maine, the state housing the jut of land after which Dogfish Head was named.

The label artwork, which features a hand-painted cherry, is a recreation of the artwork that adorned Calagione’s original homebrew. And to keep things true-to-history, it was created the same way as the original, by Calagione, using a hand-carved potato stamp and finely bristled paint brush.

“Everything about this release holds a special place in my heart, but one of my favorite details has to be the infamous ‘carpet coasters,’” said Calagione. “You’re probably thinking, ‘carpet coasters’… what the f*ck? Well, when I first brewed Cherry Pale Ale, after heating the bottles in the oven to sanitize them, I placed them on the carpet to cool. Little did I know the heat would melt the carpet to the bottles requiring me to cut a ‘coaster’ around each bottle. Hey, necessity is the mother of invention … right? So that’s why every can of Cherry Pale Ale is lovingly affixed with a hand-crafted carpet coaster of its own.”

In the world of historical beers, you don’t get more historical than this classic than Calagione’s classic homebrew, and only available online HERE. Dogfish Head’s Cherry Pale Ale 30^th birthday box includes a 6pk/12oz cans of Cherry Pale Ale alongside a selection of 90s-inspired Dogfish Head merchandise – a magnet, sticker pack, mini pennant flag and a special Post Tape digital cassette.

Cool…right?

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Want more classics?

We’ve got ‘em…

American Craft Beer Classics: The Brown Ale

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