This Cult-Favorite Craft Beer Brand Unveils Its Most Premium Whiskey Yet

While most people still only think of Dogfish Head as a brewery, the brand has actually been dabbling in distilled spirits for quite some time.

In 2019, the Delaware native unveiled its first-ever whiskey under the Alternate Takes label. But these expressions have been anything but ordinary. The malt whiskey lineup focuses on barrel finishing, in everything from brandy to cider to beer casks.

Dogfish Head

Now, for its latest offering, Dogfish Head teams up with a hugely important American publication for arguably its most complex and premium whiskey so far.

Entering the spirits world

When Dogfish Head expanded its distillery production in 2014, it surprised everyone but it wasn’t completely out of nowhere.

Since the early ‘00s, the craft beer favorite had been experimenting with distilling spirits, but this was on a tiny scale and sold almost exclusively on-site. However, just over a decade ago, it scaled up the operation, opening its brand-new distillery with large copper stills for production.

Dogfish Head

This sort of “rebellious” approach is nothing new for the brand. Known as the smallest commercial brewery when it opened in 1995, Dogfish Head has always bucked tradition. It significantly helped influence the entire craft brewery industry by pushing the envelope in terms of ingredients, technique and reach.

With a portfolio consisting of gin, rum, vodka and, yes, whiskey, it’s safe to say that Dogfish Head is now the most notable craft brewery to successfully transition to the world of hard liquor as well.

Whiskey on the rocks

To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, the brewery — er, distillery — has teamed up with an unlikely partner.

Dogfish Head

Dogfish Head

Rolling Stone, the magazine that’s become a bellwether of pop culture for the better part of 60 years, has never released a whiskey of any kind until now. The duo might feel random on paper but both icons have a penchant for the unexpected. “At Dogfish Head, we’ve always said we’re a brewery with a music problem,” says founder and brewer Sam Calagione.

Dogfish Head

The new expression is an American single malt with a five-year age statement. It pulls from a small batch of 12 barrels, combining standard whiskey with liquid finished in other casks that previously held the likes of brandy and the coveted Samuel Adams Utopias.

The end result is a 90-proof single malt that exhibits tasting notes of caramel, allspice and sherry on the palate, before giving way to a smooth finish with “subtle notes of citrus peel.”

Availability and pricing

Debuting at the Stateside Music Festival in Kingston, New York on July 4, the Dogfish Head x Rolling Stone American Single Malt will be eventually sold in Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington D.C. and Massachusetts for the time being. But don’t fret, this will surely pop up on the secondary market at some point in the future.

Pricing hasn’t been officially announced but you can expect it to land in the $100 range. This is a limited-edition release with 900 cases (around 11,000 bottles) produced in total.

Dogfish Head

Dogfish Head x Rolling Stone American Single Malt Whiskey

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