• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers

Clarity and consistency: Check out Dogfish Head’s new packaging designs

August 31, 2016CBB Editorial Staff

In the video above, Dogfish Head Founder and President Sam Calagione gives us a speedy 40-second overview of the 21-year history of Dogfish Head Brewery’s beer labels. His conclusion: We’ve been consistent about being inconsistent. The Delaware-based brewhouse is looking to change that. Dogfish Head unveiled a new packaging design last week that brings focus to the creativity, high quality and often rare ingredients that go into its eclectic portfolio of beers.

The project was a collaboration between Dogfish’s in-house creative team and Interact Boulder, a Colorado-based strategic packaging design firm. Seven Dogfish brands showcasing the new design will hit shelves early next month, with additional brands to come later in the year.

The new designs set out to honor a foundational spirit of off-centered innovation and imagination by highlighting Dogfish’s legacy of exploring goodness through ingredients and process. When Dogfish Head founder and president Sam Calagione opened the brewery in 1995, innovation wasn’t an option — it was the whole point.

“My goal was to make truly unique beers based on the idea that culinary ingredients from around the world could be as integral to brewing distinct beers as the finest barley and hops,” Calagione explains.

Ingredients are the stars of the design, showcased in playful illustrations that create realistic and authentic flavor expectations in an off-centered manner. For example, shoppers can see what goes into each bottle by viewing the side panel of each carrier, which highlights the specific ingredients and unique brewing processes involved in creating that beer. The handle area is also a unique feature, offering consumers a literal handful of the ingredients when proudly holding a four- or six-pack.

The new design also organizes key information, such as beer style and ABV, in a way that makes it easier for consumers to shop. “We wanted to create some uniformity across our portfolio without falling into the trap of being predictable and sterile,” Calagione says. The iconic Dogfish Head “shark and shield” logo and proprietary “Doggie” font are the two recognizable design elements that will carry through from the old packaging into the new style.

Dogfish Head packaging
We love how the hops hang off the rim of this sixer. 

Dogfish Head is the first American craft brewery to focus on culinary-inspired beer recipes outside traditional beer styles and it has done so since the day it opened with the motto “off-centered ales for off-centered people.” Since 1995, Dogfish has redefined craft beer and the way people think about beer by brewing with unique ingredients.

Today, Dogfish is among the fastest-growing breweries in the country and has won numerous awards throughout the years including Wine Enthusiast’s 2015 Brewery of the Year. Dogfish Head has grown into a 200+ person company based in Delaware with a brewpub/distillery in Rehoboth Beach, an innovative seafood restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, a beer-themed inn on the harbor in Lewes and a production brewery/distillery in Milton. Dogfish Head currently sells beer in 31 states.

Sam Calagione reporting new dogfish head ceo
Sam Calagione encourages your craft brewery to join the Brewers Association
Dickies_Dogfish-138
Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione is a proud citizen of the Dickies Nation
Sam Calagione reporting new dogfish head ceo
Watch Dogfish’s Sam Calagione talk about vintage bottles (and a piece of shit East German soda bottle filler)
Sam Calagione reporting new dogfish head ceo
How Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione changed Delaware brewing laws

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tapio Lundell says

    September 1, 2016 at 7:51 pm

    Tapio Lundell liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Hop Zombies, Maibocks, Strawberry Season Magic and more beers to know this week
  • Giveaway: Enter to win a trip to Lawson’s Finest Liquids in honor of Sip of Sunshine IPA’s 10 year anniversary
  • What craft brewers can learn from PMMI’s 2025 Beverage Packaging Trends Report
  • Reminder: Crafted For Action conference is June 18-22 in Atlanta

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • beer-store-grocery-distribution-wholesaler-cartoon-renderingWhat craft brewers can learn from PMMI’s 2025 Beverage Packaging Trends Report
    June 12, 2025
  • Ohio signOhio’s craft beer industry delivers $1.29 billion economic impact in 2024
    June 11, 2025
  • Station_26_Firehouse_Location_7045_E_38thAve_DenverWilding acquires Station 26 Brewing, expanding its Colorado craft beverage empire
    June 9, 2025
  • brooklyn brewery prideProud ‘Pride’ support: Brooklyn Brewery commits $25K in direct aid for trans New Yorkers
    June 5, 2025
  • thielmannThielmann completes transition to Irestal ownership, poised for growth
    June 3, 2025
  • B3 Beverage teamYards Brewing, Bald Birds and Two Roads unite to launch B3 Beverage Co.
    June 3, 2025

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2025 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by