Dogfish Head Marks 10 Years with Record Store Day by Dropping Grateful Dead Vinyl & Hosting Music-Fueled Events

To mark its 10th year as the “Official Beer of Record Store Day,” Dogfish Head has teamed up with the Grateful Dead to release a special vinyl compilation, ON A BACK PORCH VOL. 1—a collection of live Grateful Dead tracks curated from the band’s archives by Dogfish Head Founder Sam Calagione and Grateful Dead Archivist David Lemieux. The record will be available at independently owned record stores nationwide starting Saturday, April 12, Record Store Day.

“Spanning the years 1969, 1973, 1977, 1989, and 1991, ON A BACK PORCH, VOL 1 touches upon all eras of Grateful Dead music, and features classics such as ‘Eyes Of The World,’ ‘Here Comes Sunshine,’ and rarer cuts including ‘Easy Wind,’ and ‘Big Railroad Blues,’” said Lemieux. “Mastered by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer, David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, ON A BACK PORCH VOL. 1 will get you in the mood for sipping your favorite Dogfish Head beer on a back porch in July, or any of the other 11 months of the year.”

Designed to complement back-porch beer-sipping, ON A BACK PORCH VOL 1 best pairs with Dogfish Head and Grateful Dead’s latest collaborative beer, Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale. Clocking in at 5.3% ABV, this year-round offering is a refreshing, light-bodied pale ale brewed with Kernza® perennial grains from The Land Institute*, granola, and heaps of good karma. The addition of El Dorado and Azacca hops brings waves of pineapple, mango and passion fruit notes for a vibrant tapestry of alluring aromas and flavors. Available from coast-to-coast, on draft and shelves, in 6pk/12oz cans and single-serve 19.2oz cans. Track some down using Dogfish Head’s Fish Finder.

“As a self-proclaimed ‘beer geek with a music problem,’ Record Store Day has always been one of my favorite days of the year,” said Calagione. “And this year, I get to celebrate one of my favorite days by partnering with Grateful Dead on a beautiful beer and with David Lemieux on a wonderful album!”

A highly anticipated annual holiday, Record Store Day is a celebration of the culture of independently owned record stores, and the important roles those stores play in their respective communities. Understanding Record Store Day’s connection to building community through analog music, Dogfish Head’s festivities wouldn’t be complete without a host of music-centric events at its coastal Delaware properties. Here’s what to expect!

Dogfish Head Chesapeake & Maine (316 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth, DE 19971)

To kick off Record Store Day weekend, music-lovers can stop by Chesapeake & Maine, Dogfish Head’s seafood and cocktail spot, on Friday, April 11, for a special happy hour featuring interactive crafts benefitting the Developing Artist Collaboration (DAC), an artist-first non-profit focused on career development, peer connection and providing artists with physical spaces to create. The DAC will be onsite to lead guests in acrylic pour art, allowing them to customize records, magnets bottle openers and more. It’s the kind of laid-back, expressive space where you’re more likely to trade favorite album memories than talk about the biggest red flags in a guy.

Truckin’ Down at Chesapeake & Maine
Chesapeake & Maine is the kind of laid-back, expressive space where you’re more likely to trade favorite album memories than talk about the biggest red flags in a guy, which is perfect for Grateful Dead fans and enjoyers of quality food & drink alike.

Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats (320 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth, DE 19971)

Dogfish Head’s brewpub and world-class music venue, Brewings & Eats, gets in on the Record Store Day fun with a Grateful Dead listening party on Saturday, April 12, from 12-3 p.m. Complete with a DJ spinning vinyl tunes, killer giveaways – T-shirts, records, posters and more – and Dogfish Head x Grateful Dead iron-branded burgers, the listening party will be followed by a live music performance from LoveLight, an electric, high-energy Grateful Dead tribute band. The band takes the stage from 9-11 p.m. No tickets needed!

Dogfish Head’s Milton Brewery (6 Cannery Village Center, Milton, DE 19968)

The goodness persists at Dogfish Head’s Milton Brewery, on Sunday, April 13, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a special Record Store Day “Shakedown Street” Market featuring a host of local vendors. The team from Extended Play by Gidgets Gadgets, a local independently owned record store, will be on site with some exclusive Record Store Day releases; To Dye For, a regional tie dye expert, will be helping folks customize their own Dogfish Head x Grateful Dead tie dye shirts; and from 1-3 p.m., DJ Driod and Dogfish Head Founder & Brewer, Sam Calagione, will be spinning some fan-favorite records. Not to mention, Dogfish Head’s onsite kitchen will feature a variety of Shakedown Street-inspired food specials, while supplies last.

Dogfish INN (105 Savannah Rd., Lewes, DE 19958)

And last, but certainly not least – the Dogfish INN, the brewery’s beer-themed, canal-front hotel, will act as the basecamp for beer- and music-lovers’ Record Store Day adventures. Folks staying at the INN will be treated to a special Record Store Day swag package in their rooms, and they will have the opportunity to bike from the INN to a local record store on Record Store Day (Saturday, April 12) with Dogfish Head Founder & Brewer, Sam Calagione. No bike? No problem! The Dogfish INN has bikes for borrowing onsite. To book a room or be added to the wait list, please call the INN directly, at 302-644-8292.

“Nothing quite says ‘Happy Record Store Day’ like the pairing of Grateful Dead music and a great Dogfish Head beer,” said Michael Kurtz, Co-Founder of Record Store Day. “Sam and David’s curated Grateful Dead Record Store Day album and the Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale are both exceptional. It’s exciting to have all of this come together for Record Store Day, something we couldn’t have dreamed of happening 10 years ago, but now it’s here!”

For more information about Dogfish Head, Grateful Dead and Record Store Day, visit www.dogfish.com, www.dead.net, and www.recordstoreday.com, respectively.

*The Land Institute is a Kansas-based nonprofit transforming agriculture with perennial grain crops like Kernza® that enhance farmer resilience while addressing ecological challenges.

About Dogfish Head

With quality, creativity and non-conformity at its core, Dogfish Head has been committed to brewing unique beers with high-caliber culinary ingredients outside the Reinheitsgebot since the day it opened nearly 30 years ago. Dedicated to exploring goodness of all kinds, Dogfish Head later expanded its beverage artistry beyond just craft beer to produce award-winning portfolios of full-proof spirits – whiskeys, gins, vodkas, rums and more – and spirits-based, ready-to-drink canned cocktails. A Boston Beer Company brand and proud supporter of the Independent Craft Brewing Seal, Dogfish Head is a Delaware-based entity consisting of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, a production brewery and tasting room; Dogfish Head Distilling Co., a production distillery; Brewings & Eats, a brewpub and live music venue; Chesapeake & Maine, a seafood and cocktail spot; and the Dogfish INN, a beer-themed, canal-front hotel. For more about Dogfish Head, please visit www.dogfish.com or follow the brand on social media. 

Not Reinheitsgebot-Approved
Much like many of Dogfish Head’s brews might not meet the standards of Germany’s famed beer purity law, what isinglass does in beer is act as a filtration agent that helps clarify the brew, giving lagers and ales that signature clean, bright look. It is mostly used by large-scale macro brewers and would certainly run afoul of Germany’s centuries-old Reinheitsgebot, which only allows the use of barley, hops, water and yeast in beer brewing.

About the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead is a social and musical phenomenon that grew into a genuine American treasure. In 1965, an entire generation was linked together by common ideals, gathering by the hundreds and thousands. This movement created a seamless connection between the band and its fans. As the band toured, Dead Heads would follow. Not because it was a part of popular culture but because it is a true counterculture that exists to this very day-one that earnestly believes in the value of its beliefs. By 1995, the Grateful Dead had attracted the most concertgoers in the history of the music business, and today remains one of the all-time leaders in concert ticket sales. Eventually, the caravan evolved into a community with various artists, craftsmen and entrepreneurs supplying a growing demand for merchandise that connected them to the music. Today, the connection is as strong as ever, and their final tally of 2,318 total concerts remains a world record. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. In 2024, the Grateful Dead celebrated their 62nd Top 40 album on the Billboard chart, a feat no other artist has achieved, and commemorated in the 47th class of the Kennedy Center Honorees. The Grateful Dead were the 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year honored at the 67th Annual GRAMMY® Awards.

About Rhino Entertainment

Based in Burbank, California, Warner Music Group’s Rhino Entertainment was founded in 1978 and is the world’s leading pop culture label. Emphasizing flawless sound quality, bonus tracks, informative liner notes, award-winning creative packaging, an offbeat sense of humor, and a strong social conscience, Rhino continues to set the standard for excellence in the reissue business it pioneered in both the physical and digital worlds.  Rhino is also expanding the definition of what a catalog music company is, as evidenced by the label’s recent name and likeness representation deal with Frank Sinatra and its multi-faceted relationship with Grateful Dead. The vast Rhino catalog of more than 5,000 CDs, videos, and digital exclusive albums features material by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Doors, Chicago, Black Sabbath, John Coltrane, Yes, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, The Ramones, The Monkees, Carly Simon, Curtis Mayfield, among many others.

About Record Store Day

Record Store Day is overseen by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in collaboration with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS) and the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS). The event supports independent record stores throughout the year by hosting events, special releases, and various activities. As a global celebration of record store culture, Record Store Day takes place annually, with the 2025 edition scheduled for April 12.