Banner
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery – Beer to Drink Music To

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery – Beer to Drink Music To

The topic of pairing beer with everything from dinners, to desserts, to breakfast foods, to even Girl Scout Cookies has been exhaustively explored by both experts and novices throughout history. One ideal pairing that is often overlooked is so basic, so integral to beer itself, that it’s surprising it doesn’t get more notice or respect. The tragic oversight is none other than the pairing of beer with music.

Before you roll your eyes, there’s a connection between music and beer that goes far beyond sitting on the grass at an amphitheater and listening to your favorite band with a beer in your hand. Ask any brewer and they’ll tell you that they need the perfect soundtrack to brew beer to the best of their abilities. Sure, most of us like to listen to music while we work, but for brewers it’s something more.

Music sets a tone and sets an atmosphere that simply can’t be initiated without it. It’s this idea of music being an integral part of beer that got Sam Calagione and Dogfish Head Brewery to partner up with Record Store Day across the country. Dogfish Head is known for brewing “Analog Beer for the Digital World” and as such their support of Record Store Day seems to be a near perfect fit.
Record Store Day

Record Store Day is all about getting people away from chain stores, online shopping, and downloading music and getting them into small, locally owned and run record stores. What was once the center of the music world has become in danger of being lost forever thanks to our diet of digital media. By taking part in Record Store Day you can help to keep small, independent shops in business and get some amazing music in the process.

Knowing what Record Store Day is all about, it’s easy to see the parallels between independent record stores and craft breweries. Both rely on quality over quantity, both have a dedicated and passionate staff, and both believe in the power of small business.

Record Store Day is the perfect event to partner with craft beer, and for the brewery known for “analog beer” it’s a match that is almost too perfect to be true.
Music to Drink Beer To

With a name that sounds like you may have had a few beers or listened to a few records a little louder than recommended, Dogfish Head’s annual Beer to Drink Music To might sound funny, but each year this one-off brew is designed to pair perfectly with its partner record, aptly titled Music to Drink Beer To.

There was a time when there was no such thing as a playlist or shuffle mode, and in this age of record needles and liner art, an album had to not only have a few great songs on it, but the entire record had to be planned out and carefully crafted so that each track worked with the one before and after it, and that together each track came together to make something larger than the sum of its parts.

Craft beer is surprisingly similar in this way. It’s the harmony of the hops, malt, and other ingredients that come together to make a beer far better than any individual ingredient could ever hope to be. Much like a record, you can’t take a beer apart piecemeal and only drink the parts you like. It’s all or nothing, so it all better be good.
Beer to Drink Music To

For Record Store Day 2017 Dogfish Head brewed a tropical blonde ale that comes in at 6.8% ABV and a respectable 30 IBU. This spring seasonal is brewed with hibiscus flowers and kiwi juice to give the beer a floral, tropical, and fruity aroma and flavor that pairs perfectly with the blonde ale style.

Poured into a glass, this year’s offering has a slight reddish hue with a bright white head. The aroma is dominated by a tropical, almost juicy body with a hint of maltiness in the background. The taste is similar to this, but starts off with a little more floral character thanks to the hibiscus. Citrus from the hops and fruitiness from the kiwi intertwine to give a well-rounded flavor that’s wrapped up with a dry, somewhat astringent finish.

With a label that screams tropical, this year’s Beer to Drink Music To is a stunningly refreshing, flavorful beer that’s perfect for the spring and early summer months.
The Crosley Cruiser

Those of you hip to records today know what a Crosley Cruiser is, but for those that don’t, a Crosley Cruiser is a portable turntable that just about screams nostalgia, bringing with it visions of kids on a bedroom floor listening to the latest records, keeping the volume just loud enough to enjoy but not loud enough for mom and dad to hear.

For Dogfish Head, the Crosley Cruiser is a mobile museum with a photo booth, a history of the record industry, and of course Dogfish Head beer and a Crosley player. Coming along for the tour is a real portable Crosley Cruiser record player that’s being given away as well as copies of the latest record.

The tour culminates with Record Store Day on Saturday, April 22nd, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Both Dogfish Head and the countless independent record shops around the country hope to win more people over to the analog side and get them excited about local, independent offerings.

With the record in stores soon and the beer out now, there’s no better time to kick back with an amazing tropical blonde ale and listen to music that’s not just in a playlist, but music that was thought out and planned through so that, just like the beer, it is enjoyable from the first note to the last sip.