Dogfish Head and Boston Beer are merging. So what exactly is Boston Beer?

The Boston Beer Company and Dogfish Head Brewery have a merger agreement in place that will bring together two of the country's most prominent craft breweries. 

Here's more about the company that is combining with Delaware's crown jewel. 

The Boston Beer Company 

As one of America’s leading independent craft breweries, the Boston Beer Company put the Samuel Adams brand at the forefront of the microbrewery boom when it began brewing in 1984. Legend has it owner Jim Koch used the recipe of his great-great-grandfather, St. Louis brewer Louis Koch, when he first went into business after leaving a consulting job.

That beer and its simple four ingredients – hops, malt, yeast and water – became the company's flagship beer, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, a “perfectly balanced and complex original brew,” as described by the company’s website. Koch still tastes every batch of Boston Lager, which is made in Samuel Adams’ brewery in Boston.

The brand shares the name of the colonial rebel Samuel Adams, who played a prominent role in the Boston Tea Party and signed the Declaration of Independence. Early marketing efforts framed Samuel Adams as an American-made alternative to increasingly expensive imported beers.

The company quickly grew, earning a presence in the 48 contiguous states by 1992, seven years after Samuel Adams Boston Lager came to market. Boston Beer went public in 1995.

Today under the Samuel Adams moniker, Boston Beer offers three yearlong staples – the Boston Lager, Sam 76 and New England IPA – and a variety of seasonal and specialty beers. Sam 76 is a light, citrus beer billed as a lager/ale hybrid. The New England IPA is “hazy and juicy” providing orange and pineapple flavors and a smooth finish.

Seasonal beers like the Summer Ale, which is offered from April to August run counter to options such as the popular Winter Lager, available from November to January.

Boston Beer also operates other national brands such as Angry Orchard hard cider, Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea. Boston Beer is the second-largest producer of craft beer in the United States, according to the Brewers Association. It falls behind only D.G. Yuengling & Son, the company behind the Yuengling brand based in Pottsville, Pa.

Despite that, most of the company's recent growth has come from outside of its beer production. In 2016 it launched Truly, which is the second largest brand of hard seltzer behind White Claw. The two brands combine for a market share of around 80 percent. 

Angry Orchard launched a popular rose cider in 2018 and Twisted Tea has earned a permanent spot among the top alcoholic iced teas. So even as the craft brewery industry becomes increasingly more crowded — the number of new breweries grew by 13 percent in 2018 — in Boston Beer's last quarter the company's net revenue surged by 32 percent. 

Dogfish Head Brewery 

Dogfish Head Brewery, Delaware’s most popular independent craft brewery, opened in 1995 as the smallest American craft brewery. It grew rapidly through the 2000s as the craft brewery movement took off nationwide. It’s on pace to sell nearly 300,000 barrels in 2019 doing business in more than 40 states. Most of its beer is still produced in Milton.

Dogfish Head offers 21 craft beers, according to its website, including a lineup of continually-hopped 60, 75, 90 and 120 Minute IPAs and sours, led by the SeaQuench Ale.

The company runs two restaurants in Rehoboth Beach, Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats and Chesapeake & Maine. Chesapeake & Maine, a seafood restaurant, serves the company's scratch-made spirits from its growing distillery program. Dogfish Head also operates the Dogfish Inn, located in Lewes.

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com or at (302) 324-2267. Follow on Twitter @holveck_brandon.