Charlotte’s developing local beer scene pushed Dogfish Head to up its game — and sales followed

Local breweries are producing high-quality beer and have made strides in getting onto store shelves and competing for bar tap handles. And, of course, beer behemoths like Bud and Coors are still ubiquitous.

So what does a national craft brewer — somewhere in the middle of that spectrum — need to do to stay relevant and even grow in cities like Charlotte? Get innovative.

That’s one of the main lessons that Dogfish Head Craft Brewery co-founder Sam Calagione had to share in an interview with the Agenda this week.

Calagione was in town — at Flight beer hall Uptown, to be precise — as part of a 12-city tour the company has put together and dubbed the Ale Trail. Dogfish’s team had recently visited St. Louis, Kansas City, Boston and Providence — all cities with beer traditions in their own right.

Dogfish Head is the 14th-largest craft brewer in the country, according to the Brewers Association. That’s one spot ahead of SweetWater out of Atlanta (Yuengling takes the top spot, followed by Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium).

The brand has been in the Charlotte market for a little over a decade, entering when the state legislature lifted the prohibition on beer with more than 6 percent alcohol by volume in 2005 after a movement called “Pop the Cap.”

At that time, Charlotte’s local beer scene was non-existent. Olde Mecklenburg Brewery wouldn’t open until 2009. Charlotteans who wanted craft beer had to go to a brand like Dogfish Head.

You might think that a dozen years later, Dogfish would be on the decline in Charlotte. But far from getting sales squeezed by local beers, Calagione says that Charlotte’s developing beer scene has helped his brewery gain more inroads among local beer drinkers. Sales of Dogfish Head products are up 40 percent year over year, he said.

Why? In part, because of the education and experience local breweries provide.

“The beer IQ of the local beer lovers is super high,” Calagione said. And brewery hoppers are also accustomed to trying different varieties of beer. Dogfish Head tries to step in with options beyond the simple pale ale.

“Our beers tend to be more bold, more exotic,” Calagione said. “Once beer lovers take that one baby step off the light lager terra firma, they usually go, ‘What’s my next step?’ We feel we have beers all along that flavor bridge.”

Those new flavors are increasingly important to Dogfish Head. The signature 60-Minute IPA is still No. 1. But there’s a reason Dogfish is also including two bolder flavors in their new canning program. One’s a sour ale, the Seaquench. The other is an IPA with blood orange and lemon flesh.

Nationally, Dogfish Head sales are up 21 percent. Nearly all of that growth is coming from their new canned products, Calagione said.

“That’s a testament to our continued innovation,” he said. “The fact that two of our four best selling beers didn’t exist a year and a half ago shows how committed to innovation we are.”

And, of course, in a beer scene that cares deeply about authenticity and local roots, Dogfish touts a leg up there as well.

Dogfish remains an independent brewer. Calagione and his wife Mariah continue to be the majority owners of the company.

“I think more customers are voicing their care about who makes their beer,” he said.