Strange
Brew
W EI R BY EM IL Y HA RR IS ON
HOW TO WRITE THE GREAT AMERICAN BEER RECIPE THE STATUS QUO HAS NEVER APPEALED TO SAM CALAGIONE ’88, P’18. When he founded Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in 1995, he adopted the motto, “Off-centered ales for off-centered people.” But off-centered is an understatement. While most of the first-wave craft breweries were looking to European traditions for ideas, Dogfish Head used extraordinarily creative ingredients to make its beer stand out. “Celest-jewel-ale” was brewed with crushed moon rocks and served with metallic space-suit koozies. “Rosabi,” a rose-colored imperial pale ale, contains wasabi, the potent horseradish paste typically served with sushi. Traditionalists looked askance at the upstart brewery’s inventions, but skepticism turned to envy as consumers embraced the ingenious flavors and Dogfish Head grew into a craft-brewing powerhouse.
30 I NMH Magazine
PH O TO : J A R E D C A S TA L D I / D E L AWA R E TO D AY