Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head Brewing, founder and president)
SPB: What is the connection between brewing and music?
Calagione: There are two art forms that have been created and enjoyed since the dawn of civilization, and enjoying them simultaneously amplifies the experience of each.
Our brewery has been obsessed with music since long before we opened. Back in the mid-‘90s when I was homebrewing and writing the Dogfish business plan, The Replacements were on the radio, as were Guided by Voices nad Miles Davis. And anytime today when I’m in the brewhouse there’s something playing.
It’s not only fun to brew with music, it’s fun to drink with music. And that’s been a reality since the birth of civilization. The earliest known fermented beverage in the history of mankind was discovered in a tomb in China, in the Jiahu province. This dig site is significant because it not only housed the oldest known fermented beverage, but it also housed the oldest known playable musical instrument: these hollowed-out bird bones that were like a modern flute. So you know the night they shut the tomb of this very important person, they were having a hootenanny. They were playing music, drinking beers, and feeling close to the gods.
