Dogfish Head Pulls Back
Brewery to pull out of four states
It’s a good problem to have I suppose. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has decided to pull out of Tennessee, Indiana, Rhode Island and Wisconsin because sales have out-stripped supply.
Whipped up by the coast-to-coast Discovery Channel TV show featuring founder Sam Calagione and burst of expansion into 23 states in the last nine years, the brewery felt it was better to pull out of existing markets altogether than run distributors low.
Dogfish Head has increased production by 303 percent during the past five year. Last year alone, production was ramped up 20 percent. Still, it wasn’t enough.
Some markets the company serves, such as California and South Carolina, have never seen some of Dogfish’s products, in order to keep supplies higher closer to home. But even in Delaware, the shortages began to worsen at the beginning of the year.
I live in the Ocean City, Maryland area (just 30 miles from their brewery) and my favorite local bar quit carrying their beers on draft for a while because the supply was getting quite intermittent.
Glad to see they’re looking out for us locals!
Cheers, Tim