Daydream Playbook Entry #21

The human body is mostly water. The Earth itself is mostly water. Beer is mostly water ... coincidence? I don't think so. 

Hello, my name is Sam and I'm an aquatic mammal. I probably should explain that a little further. I don't identify as a land mammal, even though I'm forced by civilization to spend the majority of time on land. I’m truly happiest when I'm on the water. My favorite hour of every day is when I paddle board, kayak or row for 60 minutes in the morning to earn my 60 Minute IPA calories later in the day. During that hour, I listen to music, and think about off-centered recipes, events, or collaborations that could be a lot of fun for Dogfish out on the horizon.

Dogfish Head's obviously a nautical brand, with a dogfish as the bullseye in our Shark & Shield logo, and our origin story combines our two favorite geographies. My wife, Mariah, grew up in the Chesapeake region of coastal Delaware, and I grew up spending the summers on the coast of Maine, on a jut of land named Dogfish Head. That area is the namesake and spiritual home of our brand, while our physical restaurant, brewery, distillery, and hotel locations in coastal Delaware are the physical home of our brand. 

These regions and the beautiful northeast coastal towns between them are further tied together by having awesome saltwater fishing grounds, from flounder to bluefish to stripers to tuna and beyond. I'm not alone in my love of fishing at Dogfish Head. My most tenured fishing pal at the company is also Dogfish's most tenured brewer, Bryan Selders, who runs R&D.

Here you see him off the coast of Dogfish Head, Maine, proudly holding his catch front and center and rocking a sweet sweatshirt from our pals at Orono Brewing Company, who we recently did a collaboration with. And here's a photo of me holding a big old striper that I caught a few coves away from where Bryan caught his.

This photo is a great transition to illustrate the kismet nature of our namesake geography. As you can see from the satellite photo below, the jut of land named Dogfish Head near Boothbay Harbor is actually in the shape of a fish. You can't make this shit up, people.

So, considering all these fishy coincidences and occurrences, we thought it'd be a lot of fun to create a capsule collection of cool stuff designed to be worn on the coast, while embodied in the beauty of Mother Nature. While this stuff was specifically designed for fishing, it could be used for any super fun outdoorsy activities that allow you to burn off calories at some point in your day so that you can guiltlessly enjoy Dogfish Head beers and canned cocktails at another point in that day.

The lineup of Fishin' is Bitchin' items we created from scratch are all focused around the beautiful artwork of Maine artist, Taryn Johnson. The lineup includes custom-built co-branded sunglasses we created with our pals at Knockaround. The color and material of the glasses were designed for fishing and seeing deep beneath the water, where all of our aquatic pals are doing what they do best. The branded sunglass strap was even designed to keep the glasses floating if they were to fall off your head and into the water.

We also designed a super cool lightweight SPF hoodie featuring Taryn's artwork that offers UV protection out on the water. And lastly, a fully custom hat with adjustable ear flaps that are designed to keep your earlobes warm when you're pounding through the surf in an open fishing boat on a cool morning somewhere along the Atlantic coastline. That’s not all though – these flaps tied beneath the chin also help the hat stay on your head in windy conditions as you power through the water on a boat or a kayak or a paddle board. The flaps can also be tied over the top of the hat on warmer and less windy moments. 

This Daydream Playbook segment is a little shorter than ones I've done in the past, because I'm actually heading out fishing this morning with my son, Sammy, after checking the fermentation temperatures on the test batches Bryan and I brewed up here with our Dogfish coworkers at our little R&D brewery in Dogfish Head, Maine. Oh, Fishin' is Bitchin', but catching fish is the best, whether that be a 40-inch striper or a 12-ounce SeaQuench Ale. 🙂

Cheers,
Sam