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At a tuff time for the beer biz at large, Dogfish Head is "having a high time and living the good life," thanks in large part to continued success of its Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale launch. In fact, Dogfish Head is growing volume and sales this year, on track to grow for the first time since 2019 (the year it was acquired by Boston Beer) co-founder Sam Calagione shared with CBN this morn. Orders More than 2X Initial Forecast; On Prem 40% of the Mix; Back in Stock for Summer with Broader Reach Incremental gains from Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale are fueling growth as the brand keeps "exceed[ing] expectations" and has big oppys, "especially in the on premise," said Sam. It's officially "volumetrically" the biggest new brand launch in Dogfish Head's history over the last 3 mos. That's even as co couldn't keep up with initial demand as "orders more than doubled what was forecasted" once the beer was released. Dogfish has "plenty of capacity" but "had to play a little catch-up" and was careful "not to open new accounts" for a period. Still, Grateful Dead Juicy Pale managed to become the #1 new craft brand in New England, Atlantic and Southeast region tracked off-premise channels. On premise plays an outsized role for the brand, so far making up 40% of sales mix. Key stat that reinforces Grateful Dead Juicy Pale's incrementality: 60 Minute IPA retained 95% of its tap handles as Grateful Dead Juicy Pale rolled out.But that led to additional logistical challenges in early innings of the rollout, racing to re-up tap handle orders to fuel expansion, even tho co initially "ordered more" taps than for "any" other beer launch, Sam noted. Amusingly, tap handles took on a life of their own with fans, including co-branded Grateful Dead/Dogfish logo taps reselling on eBay for $150 a pop in some instances (or empty cans for $15, empty 6pk cartons for $25). There were 500 Dogfish tap handles that sold out almost immediately among reps, and a coupla reps hadda buy resold tap handles online to ensure important accounts could get 'em. But co was all "caught up with physical inventory" before Memorial Day weekend and tap handle inventory was fully replenished last week. All new limited-time 19.2oz cans of Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale that call out the Dead's 60th anniversary as a band are hitting the mkt. And there are several Dogfish events up and down the east coast and in mkts further afield thruout summer. Dogfish Head's 3 biggest regions are New England, Atlantic and Southeast, but co's selling "full container loads" out to states like MI and CA, and hearing about the brand resonating in NM among others. So now it's "all guns a blazin'," said Sam, assuring that "this is not just a one or two year thing," and the brand has "national relevance."Nearly $250K in Co-Branded Merch Sales & Counting The Grateful Dead Juicy Pale tap handle craze speaks to the broader success co's seen from merch sales. In the last 3 mos, Dogfish Head/Grateful Dead merch (hats, tees, glassware, etc.) sold almost $250K, which is a record, Sam shared. He gave "great props" to other skull-centric logo brands like Liquid Death and New Belgium Voodoo Ranger. But Grateful Dead's skull logo has been around for 60 yrs and Dogfish's shark logo was able to "integrate holistically" with Grateful Dead's to resonate.Canned Cocktails Back to Growth as Production Moved Entirely to DE Facility Dogfish Head Canned Cocktails are also back to growth this year. After facing supply challenges last 2 yrs, co moved 100% of RTD spirits production into co's Milton, DE facility, "no longer reliant" on 3d party production and packaging. This is "the first summer ever we have full inventory of all canned cocktail products," and the portfolio is poised to accelerate going up against out-of-stocks last yr, said Sam. He shouted out new Vodka Lemon Drop flavor and getting 12% ABV versions of its Canned Cocktails now line-priced with 7% versions as a couple key initiatives for the RTD lineup this yr. Plus, with Boston Beer's Sun Cruiser becoming a strong natl growth brand, that's opening doors for Dogfish Canned Cocktails and the Boston sales team are actively constructing "go to market programs and selling tactics" to "simultaneously" sell both brands and showcase how complementary they are."Dogfish Days of Summer": Jaws 50th Anniversary Collab; Sam & Maria Back on the Boat; 30 Min Shift; Dead & Co Shows Dogfish Head is prepping for the "Dogfish Days of Summer" in various other ways too. It'll have a natl sweepstakes for fans to win a trip to Delaware. Co's collaborating with Jaws movie for its 50th anniversary celebration, leaning into the shark logo tie-in and gearing up for a "huge activation" on Martha's Vineyard. (Sam credited a lot of the success co's seeing this yr to brand leader Jon London and the design team that helped synchronize packaging design and enhance the logo across the portfolio.) In July, Sam and co-founder/wife Mariah will "reverse engineer" a boat ride along the east coast that Sam took with his son yrs ago, stopping at places like Provincetown, Nantucket, Falmouth, Block Island and Portland for Dogfish Grateful Dead beer events in indie on- and off-premise accounts. The shift from Slightly Mighty IPA to 30 Min IPA is just finishing up, but Sam's happy to lean further into the Minute family while continuing to offer a low-calorie option. And of course, Grateful Dead Juicy Pale will be out in full force in San Fran this August for a 4 night run of Dead & Co shows at Golden Gate Park.

Dogfish Back to Growth 1st Time Since 2019; Grateful Dead Brew Exceeding Expectations & Canned Cocktails Up Too

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