Dogfish Head: The return of our partnership with the Grateful Dead calls for a chart-topping Record Store Day!

For the record, 2025 is a BIG YEAR. It marks 30 years of brewing off-centered ales at Dogfish Head, it’s the 60th anniversary of our good friends The Grateful Dead, AND, to top it all off, it’s our 10th year of being the Official Beer of Record Store Day!

Music has been a part of Dogfish Head since before we were Dogfish Head. When a 20-something Sam Calagione was hammering out a business plan for a brewery back in 1995, he was fueled by the music of Miles Davis, Guided by Voices, The Replacements and, of course, the Grateful Dead. So, it’s a natural fit for a brewery that makes “Analog Beer for the Digital Age” to be a part of a celebration of the unique culture of record stores and the special role they play in their communities. And in 2015, we made it happen when we became the Official Beer of Record Store Day!

The official poster of Record Store Day is here!! 

At a show on the Brooklyn Bowl stage on a perfect March evening, Sam, alongside Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux,  Carrie Colliton from Record Store Day, and Pete Shapiro from Brooklyn Bowl, unveiled this year’s official Record Store Day poster! And if the style of the artwork looks familiar to you, it’s likely because you’re a fan of Drew Millward (and therefore you have exquisite taste). 

Foo Fighters, Phish, ParaNorman, Electric Forest … artist Drew Millward has created artwork for them all. He even did some stuff for the Grateful Dead just earlier this year! Now in our tenth year as the Official Beer of Record Store Day, we’re lucky enough to have had Drew create a one-of-a-kind piece just for the occasion, while also being our 2025 Season-Ales artist! 

With our love of original beer, original music and original artwork, it only made sense to partner with Drew to bring our three loves to life … and this poster steels the show! His psychedelic skull swimming in hop cones while repping a Grateful Dead emblem can be found on this year’s limited-edition Record Store Day posters. Grab a record on Apr. 12 at your local independent record store to get your hands on this FREE poster (while supplies last). 

Dogfish Head x Grateful Dead: ON A BACK PORCH, VOL. 1

We’re keeping our partnership with the Grateful Dead spinning in 2025 with our collaborative beer, Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale, and seriously what goes better with some really good beer than some really great music?! Collaborating for over a decade now, we first created a compilation album with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux in 2019 with the release of ‘Sage & Spirit.’  And with 2025 being such a big year for both Dogfish Head and the Grateful Dead, of course we’re back at it with more thoughtfully curated goodness! Like so many of the Grateful Dead’s legendary songs, our collaborative pale ale mimics the style of their sound in the way that it appeals to so many people as an easy going, approachable mix, and yet as you start to explore it more and more you realize that there are hidden depths and layers to explore each time you dive in. 

So, together with his son Sammy, Sam worked with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux to compile an album filled with live versions of Grateful Dead classics that pair perfectly with hanging out on a back porch and sippin’ on a Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale. ON A BACK PORCH, VOL 1 spans the years of 1969, 1973, 1977, 1989 and 1991 to touch upon all the eras of Grateful Dead music with classics such as “Eyes Of The World,” “Here Comes Sunshine,” and rarer cuts including “Easy Wind,” and “Big Railroad Blues.” Mastered by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer, David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, ON A BACK PORCH, VOL 1 will be available on Apr. 12 for Record Store Day. Check out the full track list and more at recordstoreday.com. 

Pssst… if you’re thinking to yourself “a Volume 1 implies there will be a volume 2” … well, you might just be on to something! But only time will tell. 

Record Store Day … scratch that, Record Store WEEKEND! 

Our collaborative record and the official Record Store Day poster will all be available at your local independent record store on Apr. 12 while supplies last, but if you’re near coastal Delaware and want to keep the musical goodness spinning, we’ll have events all across our properties in celebration of Record Store Day ALL. WEEKEND. LONG! 

Kick off the weekend on a high note with live music at both our Milton Brewery and Brewings & Eats on Friday, Apr. 11! First, Devin Canfield will be playing in Milton from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., and then you can make it a double feature with Claudie Hoyster playing on the brewpub stage from 9 – 11 p.m.! Plus, swing by Chesapeake & Maine for some specialty cocktails while you’re at it!

Saturday, Apr. 12 is the big day! After you grab your records, head on over the Brewings & Eats for a vinyl listening party and some delicious grub! From 12 – 3 p.m., we’ll be spinning your favorite records with raffles every 30 minutes with killer prizes — think posters, Analog-A-Go-Go tickets, and more! Stick around into the night for the Lovelight Band taking the stage from 9 – 11 p.m. to keep the jams going. 

Then, put a needle in the weekend with our Shakedown Street vendor market happening on Sunday, Apr. 13 at our Milton Brewery. We’ll have vinyl vendors, hand-crafted jewelry, artwork and other goodness, a music-themed menu of food specials, giveaways, freebies and so much more! Plus, you might even catch Sam spinning some records alongside DJ Droid during the afternoon. 

If you plan on hanging out all weekend, spend the night with us at the Dogfish INN! Book a room with us that weekend from Friday to Sunday and score a tote bag, one of the ON A BACK PORCH, VOL 1 records, and two pairs of Dogfish Head sunglasses. PLUS, INN guests will have the opportunity to bike to Extended Play in Rehoboth Beach alongside some Dogfish Head coworkers on the morning of Record Store Day! (This ride is only available for INN guests.) 

It’s all about good tunes, great brews, and the best company, so mark your calendar and come celebrate Record Store Day all weekend long — Dogfish style!