first collaboration, smartly branded American Beauty<\/a>, was a strong pale ale \u2014 but it was a top-shelf brew packaged in a champagne bottle, designed for special occasions. The partnership continued, and they\u2019ve since made the beer more accessible. Calagione captures that spirit by saying, \u201cLet\u2019s make beers that prove that every day is a special occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tThis ethos also fits the vision of the folks who run the Grateful Dead\u2019s business. The band\u2019s team at Rhino, the Dead\u2019s record label, first floated the idea of partnering with a beer company as an extension of Grateful Dead branding, which covers everything from skis to skateboards, shirts to wallets, since drinking a cold beer before or after a Dead show is just \u201cpart of Grateful Dead culture,\u201d Lemieux explains.<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n
\n\tSome folks in the band\u2019s organization initially wanted to partner with a big beer company, but fortuitously, somebody countered idea with Dogfish Head. \u201cBob Weir famously said, \u2018The Dead are misfit power,’\u201d Lemieux says. \u201cSo yeah, the Dead are huge, but they\u2019re off-centered, if you will.\u201d Together, the Dead and Dogfish Head developed brews with misfit power that anybody can now afford and enjoy.<\/p>\n
\n\tCalagione leans forward in his chair at the conference room and cracks open two cans he brought with him in an icy bucket. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to finish both but at least try both to get an idea of how we thought through having them be very balanced, but distinct from each other,\u201d he says.\u00a0[Editor\u2019s note: we didn\u2019t have to finish the beer \u2026 but we did.]<\/p>\n
\n\tGrateful Dead Citrus Daydream Lager has a medium body and not too many bubbles. It\u2019s just bitter enough but doesn\u2019t have an aftertaste. The Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale, on the other hand, is deliciously bitter with tiny, effervescent bubbles that never overwhelm your palate. It\u2019s a pale ale wholly and thoroughly.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe said, let\u2019s make two very approachable and complimentary beers distinct from each other,\u201d Calagione explains. \u201cThey\u2019re both exactly 5.3 percent alcohol, so very approachable in ABV. They both have two key different hop varieties, and they each have a very sustainability-oriented grain.\u201d The company brews the Juicy Pale Ale with granola and a grain called Kernza, the latter of which Calagione says \u201csequesters carbon out of the atmosphere at, like, 10 times what an acre of traditional brewers\u2019 barley would do.\u201d They make the Citrus Daydream Lager with lime, lemongrass, lemon peel, and the grain fonio, \u201cwhich is an African grain that\u2019s been cultivated since before humans invented the wheel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n
\n\tIt matters deeply to Calagione that Deadheads understand that the brand is on their side, that Dogfish Head share the same values about things like sustainability with the band, \u201cthat we care and we\u2019re all in.\u201d He says he feels honored that the Dead and Rhino have granted Dogfish Head use of iconic artwork like the Dead\u2019s dancing bear, in the past, and for the current beers, the \u201cStealie\u201d (aka the \u201cSteal Your Face\u201d skull logo) for their products.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAnother way they\u2019ve shown their commitment to Deadhead culture has been through limited-edition vinyl releases. Dogfish Head is the official beer of Record Store Day and has gotten in on the festivities beginning in 2025 via a series of limited-edition Grateful Dead compilations titled On a Back Porch.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe third volume arrived last Saturday. It contains six rare live recordings, notably \u201cSamson and Delilah,\u201d captured in 1976, a nine-minute rendition of Chuck Berry\u2019s \u201cAround and Around,\u201d from 1978, and the band\u2019s biggest hit, \u201cTouch of Grey,\u201d from 1989, among others. As with its predecessors, Lemieux worked closely with Calagione, Calagione\u2019s son, Sammy, and a friend of Sammy\u2019s named Dash, culling through their favorite recordings (some of which were selected on the brewer\u2019s boat).<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAs with the beer, these albums are one of the easiest co-productions I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d Lemieux says. \u201cWe produce these albums in a few minutes. It\u2019s a few texts. The \u2018Samson and Delilah\u2019 on there from June of \u201976, Sam said, \u2018Hey, what do you think of that?\u2019 I know it well because everything on there is from previously released Grateful Dead albums that are out of print on vinyl or CD. So we go for a lot of deeper cuts. They\u2019ve been tons of fun to make. To me, they\u2019re almost like a beginner\u2019s guide to listening to the Grateful Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLemieux understands the need for a path into the Dead\u2019s expansive catalog since he has worked with the band since 1999 and has personally listened to each of the 1,800 recordings of Grateful Dead concerts in the band\u2019s vault; about 1,500 of them sound good enough for release by his estimation. It took him roughly eight years to get through everything, and since then he\u2019s taken another eight or nine years of notes as he plans the group\u2019s archival releases, and his own personal favorites for his \u201cDave\u2019s Pick\u2019s\u201d series, which has been going since 2012. He estimates he now spends at least six hours a day listening to the Grateful Dead. \u201cI never get tired of it,\u201d he says, beaming.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen he says that, both Rolling Stone and Calagione want to know how he knows what\u2019s good when comparing 1,500 concerts? \u201cI listen for moments that are different,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I\u2019d go to Dead shows, I used to call it the \u2018frenzy point.\u2019 That\u2019s when the band, six guys onstage, hit the X factor and you can feel the energy in the place, and all of a sudden, you\u2019ve got 36,000 fists in the air at Madison Square Garden, because it\u2019s a release. That can happen once a night, or it can happen 10 times a night. It can happen during \u2018Me and My Uncle,\u2019 or it can happen during \u2018Scarlet Begonias.\u2019 I also listen for Jerry giving an extra inflection on a lyric or Bobby [Weir] screaming a little louder on \u2018Estimated Prophet,\u2019 where he goes off at the end of the song. When it gets a little bit more extreme and more intense, it means that they\u2019re feeling it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLemieux recently helped launch a new streaming service, Play Dead<\/a>, via Nugs, which offered more than 400 full Grateful Dead concerts, 20 of which never came out before, on its first day, with more on the way. \u201cWe\u2019ll be releasing two shows a week, so 100 shows a year,\u201d he says. \u201cThe ultimate goal is to get the vault online.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tThe archivist also recognizes Deadheads\u2019 desire for physical product (like Dogfish Head\u2019s On a Back Porch LPs) and says there\u2019s no end in sight for his own \u201cDave\u2019s Picks\u201d compilations, with a new big box set to be released every year. Although he\u2019s excited for a surprise release to be announced later this year, he\u2019s especially thrilled about what 2027 holds in store. \u201cIt\u2019s the 60th anniversary of the first record, 50th anniversary of Terrapin Station, of the release of The Grateful Dead Movie, of the famous Cornell show, the famous Englishtown and New Jersey shows,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of big anniversaries in the Grateful Dead world next year. This year has some, but next year is a big year for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOn a Back Porch offers a bite-size portion (or perhaps a better analogy would be a beer flight) of what the Dead\u2019s vault contains. \u201cLive concerts is where the magic happens, and these records are a good place to start,\u201d Lemieux says. \u201cThese are really fun albums, and they\u2019re 45 minutes of released, but really hard-to-find, Grateful Dead music. So we\u2019re loving it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe special records and the band\u2019s partnership with Dogfish Head are all part of a larger culture, according to Lemieux. \u201cFirst and foremost, what we do is music,\u201d he says. \u201cFor Deadheads, I think part of their identity of being a Deadhead is they want to show it. Right now, I am wearing Grateful Dead socks, a Grateful Dead belt, Grateful Dead phone case, a Grateful Dad hat, and a Grateful Dead wallet. This is not because I get it for free; it\u2019s because I do really like this stuff. Our identity is being a Deadhead. I think we all thought having a beer is part of Grateful Dead lifestyle, and that\u2019s what it came down to: it fits in with Grateful Dead lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n
\n\tSimilarly, Calagione says he\u2019s always admired the community Deadheads have built. \u201cCertainly, a big influence on how we\u2019ve been growing [the Dogfish Head] brand has been watching how the Grateful Dead\u2019s community has been audience-first, commerce second,\u201d he says. \u201cWe never let the tail of money wag the dog of inspiration at Dogfish Head. So this has really been the most rewarding collaborative project we\u2019ve ever been involved with, and the most durable. It\u2019s so cool to see people my son\u2019s age, in their twenties, getting into the Dead to the degree that we did when David and I were young.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCalagione is eager to make new fans, too. As they\u2019re leaving, the brewmeister pops his head into another Rolling Stone conference room, introduces himself, and tosses out Dogfish Head\/Grateful Dead hats to the execs. \u201cYou get a hat, and you get a hat,\u201d he says. And of course, he left a cold bucket of the band\u2019s beer for everyone to enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The best mornings for Sam Calagione, a tie-dyed-in-the-wool Deadhead, begin on the 19-foot whaler he takes out on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,71280],"class_list":["post-267116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-grateful-dead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}