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Sam CalagioneSam Calagione

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Founder and President
Dogfish Head

When Sam Calagione opened Dogfish Head in 1995 it was the smallest commercial brewery in America making 10 gallons of beer at a time. Today Dogfish Head is among the fastest growing breweries in the country. Dogfish Head has focused on brewing stronger, more exotic beers since the day it opened as the motto "Off-centered ales for off-centered people" attests to. Dogfish Head has grown into a 94 person company with a restaurant/brewery/distillery at the original site in Rehoboth and a 103,000 sq foot, 180,000 bbl capacity regional brewery in Milton Delaware.

The company has averaged 55% revenue growth over the last three years on beers that average 9% alcohol and feature an average of two non-traditional ingredients. Dogfish Head has recently entered into a licensing agreement and the second of six DC-area Dogfish Head Alehouse's opens in 2007 as a result of this partnership. Sam's book, Brewing Up a Business, published by Wiley, goes into paperback in September.

Sam has two additional books, "Extreme Brewing" (Nov. 06) and "He said beer, She Said wine" (Nov. 07) scheduled to come out in the next 14 months. Sam has been named Small Business Man of the Year by the SBA and was recently named Entrepreneur of the Year by Delaware Today Magazine and The State Chamber of Commerce.

He sits on the Board of Directors for The Brewer's Association and the Delaware Restaurant Association. In 2005 and 2006 Dogfish Head was the only brewery in America (out of 1400) to be named to the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. Sam runs the company with his wife Mariah and 110 amazing co-workers.