MILTON, DE – Dogfish Head, the popular craft brewer who boasts “off center ales for off centered people,” reported today being up twenty-five percent over 2010 numbers for Q1.
A note on their blog from the Head of Sales, Adam Lambert details their 2011 success.
“As challenging as this year has been so far, we have been brewing and shipping more beer than in the history of Dogfish Head. We have hit our goals and objectives for the first quarter in both depletions and revenue although it still feels like its never enough. In fact our sales for the first quarter eclipsed 2010 by twenty five percent. Our national goal for 2011 is twenty percent growth, so we shipped even more beer than our goal. Our depletions from wholesalers to accounts are recording the same type of growth. Our total case equivalent sales to retail grew twenty seven percent in the first quarter.
Given the math above we have some of the freshest beer in the market. Unfortunately this makes for very limited working inventory and some small amount of out of stocks on the shelves and taps of America. All twenty seven states showed positive growth for the first quarter with exception in two states who came in close to last year. (Our fault for not getting them beer fast enough) We are doing everything in our power to make sure every state reaches their agreed to growth goal set by us and our wholesale partners. Although we cannot promise the exact growth percentage month in month out, our plan is to make sure every state reaches its anticipated results before the end of the year.”
In early March, Dogfish Head founder, Sam Calagione announced that they would be pulling distribution from Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin and Rhode Island. This move, while difficult to make, was done in an attempt to continue producing more beer and continuing to grow as a company – without sacrificing quality or taking on outside investments.
Lambert’s blog post also provided details on their recent collaboration with Sony. Labert writes:
“In the first quarter we launched seven beers to the local and general market place. This included our newest release Hellhound On My Ale (shipping to wholesalers now) in partnership with Sony celebrating the 100th birthday of legendary blues artist Robert Johnson.”
According to Lambert, Dogfish Head is brewing and selling the most amount of beer in their history as a brewery.
“We are growing and you are growing with us,” he writes. “Thank you! Please continue your support us as we invest in the brewery to get the freshest and highest quality beer to you and your friends.”