How four iconic beer brands have stood the test of time – and prepared themselves for a bright future.
By: Kate Bernot
Dog years have nothing on brewery years. In craft beer, where companies are considered firmly established at the 10-year mark, reaching a three-decade milestone puts them in rarefied air. This is particularly true for four breweries celebrating 30th anniversaries this year: Sly Fox, Heavy Seas, Blue Moon, and Dogfish Head. They were all founded in 1995, in the midst of the mid-’90s craft beer boom. That explosion of what were then called microbreweries swiftly fizzled, shuttering many among these breweries’ cohort. Yet these four persisted and continue to win new fans in today’s even more competitive landscape.
While all four breweries are different, there are common threads to explain their longevity: They’ve successfully balanced innovation with staying true to their core identities. They’ve invested in people, both their employees and communities. They’ve diversified their operations, making sometimes difficult decisions to right-size their businesses to meet the current moment. And most of all, they continue to create beers – and other beverages – that are meaningful to drinkers. What is starkly different today than it was in 1995, though, is the number of other breweries trying to make their own mark. Thirty years ago, just 858 breweries operated in the U.S. (though that was still the highest number of breweries that had been operating since the early 20th century). Today, that number is close to 9,700. It’s a remarkable proliferation, and a testament to the trail blazed by the industry’s early leaders.
Heavy Seas Beer
Halethorpe, MD
Co-founder Hugh Sisson started his beer career at the first brewpub in the state of Maryland – his family’s restaurant, Sisson’s – which he left to start Clipper City Brewing in 1995. Clipper City began brewing a line of bolder, high ABV beers called Heavy Seas in 2003, and eventually rebranded to Heavy Seas Beer, retiring the Clipper City name in 2010. Today, Hugh’s daughter, Caroline Sisson, is the brewery’s Director of Marketing and Hospitality.
Anniversary Plans: Heavy Seas released a 30th Anniversary Variety Pack that nods to the evolution of the brewery. It features four beers: flagship and best-seller Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA (celebrating its 20th anniversary this year), as well as three retired beers from previous decades: Clipper City Pale Ale, Red Sky at Night Saison and Small Craft Warning Über Pils. The brewery also has plans for an anniversary party and a beer release for December.
Key Changes: Heavy Seas doesn’t chase trends, but it tries to stay nimble. Hugh says that while brewing trends have come and gone, the company has focused on enduring brands, like Loose Cannon, that drinkers can return to again and again. “We all need to find new ways of reducing SKUs and staying focused,” he says. “That doesn’t mean you can afford to stop innovating.”
Why They Succeeded: Hugh and Caroline both credit tenacity and a “failure is not an option” mindset for keeping Heavy Seas in the game through numerous beer business cycles and recessions. The brewery remains focused on its core business – selling flagship beers primarily in distribution – while expanding into new categories like non-alcoholic sodas, including a new ginger beer.
Looking Ahead: Heavy Seas is keeping an eye on new beverage categories such as cannabis while not straying far from its core business. “I do not believe that the non-alcoholic trend that we’re seeing right now is going to have super really long legs,” Hugh says. “I think the bigger trend is going to be continued SKU and brand rationalization, with companies reinforcing the foundations of what created the industry in the first place.”
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Milton, DE
Founder Sam Calagione had a vision for Dogfish Head to introduce culinary ingredients to the brewing world – a principle that still holds true. Today, despite changes external and internal to the company, the majority of tanks at the brewery’s production facility are still filled with beers containing culinary ingredients like sea salt, granola, and peaches.
Anniversary Plans: The brewery turns 30 in June and is celebrating all year long with a series of events, monthly clothing and merchandise releases, and beer collaborations like one to be brewed with San-Diego based North Park that will drop in June, complete with a party featuring a tattoo booth at the Delaware brewery. (Calagione will pay for the ink for any Dogfish Head employee who wants a brewery tattoo.)
Key Changes: Calagione and his wife Mariah have co-led the brewery for its entire history, but much else has changed. The company officially launched a spirits line in 2015 after tinkering with small-scale distilling at its brewpub since 2002. Today, Dogfish Head canned cocktails are growing faster than its beer portfolio. The brewery grew its sales to near-national distribution before a 2019 merger with Boston Beer Company.
Why They Succeeded: “We’ve always thought of Dogfish Head as a lifestyle brand, not just a beer brand,” Calagione says. What it stands for – flavorful beverages, coastal living, and a love for nature – has helped it maintain relevance despite consumer changes and category headwinds. Calagione also credits Mariah’s brand-building acumen, Boston Beer and Dogfish Head’s combined 2,800 employees, as well as the brewery’s distributor partners for its longevity.
Looking Ahead: Calagione believes that despite top-line headwinds, craft beverages are still highly desirable to consumers. “Younger drinkers, while they’re not drinking the volume, their curiosity is there,” he says. The challenge, and opportunity, for the industry is to meet those consumers with a range of beverages – maybe not just beer – that showcase broad creativity and excitement.
Sly Fox Brewing
Pottstown, PA
Peter Giannopoulos founded Sly Fox in December of 1995 in his hometown of Phoenixville, PA. He envisioned it as a humble brewpub, serving food, pints, and growlers of beer to go. Over the years, it expanded into a full production brewery in its new headquarters in Pottstown, with five additional pubs and sales throughout the Northeast. Today, the company is led by Giannopoulos’ son, also named Peter.
Anniversary Plans: The brewery is still finalizing plans for its anniversary in December, but part of the plan is to release a series of special beers throughout the year to celebrate. In addition to a 30th anniversary beer, Sly Fox will resurrect several fan favorites that were brewed at the pub throughout the years.
Key Changes: The brewery’s hiring of Brian O’Reilly as a brewer in the early 2000s set it on a course to wider recognition. It began distributing beers to Philadelphia and opened its first production facility in the middle of that decade. Sly Fox was also the first craft brewery in the mid-Atlantic to can its beers; today, about 75% of craft beer nationally is packaged in cans.
Why They Succeeded: Giannopoulos attributes Sly Fox’s longevity to three pillars: people, quality, and community. The brewery has many long-tenured employees, including the brewpub’s first general manager, who still manages the Pottstown facility today.
Looking Ahead: Giannapoulos can’t predict the future, but he can set the brewery up to be prepared for it. “One thing we’ve always been is diversified. We’ve been contract brewing for over 20 years,” he says. “I don’t believe that good beer is ever going away.”
Blue Moon Brewing Co.
Denver, CO
Blue Moon is one of modern America’s foundational craft beers. Created in 1995 by Brewmaster Keith Villa, this Belgian-style wheat beer helped bring approachable and flavorful craft beer to the mainstream. Drinkers instantly recognize its signature orange slice garnish that accents the beer’s citrus aroma and flavor, a product of the Valencia orange peel used in its recipe.
Anniversary Plans: Blue Moon has launched a major national program called the “Orange Standard,” celebrating its unique serving ritual. Early parts of this program are already in market, and it is further supported by a TV spot that launched in mid-March during the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament.
Key Changes: Villa created Blue Moon when he was a brewer at the Sandlot Brewery at Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team. It’s been a part of the Molson Coors portfolio since its birth, and has since spurred numerous sibling beers including Blue Moon Light, Mango Wheat, and Blue Moon Non-Alcoholic. Some seasonals such as Harvest Pumpkin and Summer Honey Wheat, have been retired to make way for new flavors.
Why They Succeeded: Chris Steele, Senior Director of Marketing for Blue Moon, says the brand’s success lies in its ability to balance consistency with innovation. “Together with our distributor partners, we have established a strong, recognizable brand with Blue Moon Belgian White, while always looking for new ways to engage consumers with other new, high-quality offerings,” Steele says. Today, Blue Moon brews more than 1 million barrels per year.
Looking Ahead: The number of U.S. breweries has grown 9x since Blue Moon launched in 1995, yet the beer remains a stalwart of bars and beer stores nationwide. Steele says the brand will continue to be flexible and adaptive to consumer trends, while also staying true to what drinkers expect from Blue Moon. In particular, the brand is tracking and responding to drinkers’ demand for non-alcoholic but highly flavorful beers.
About the Author: You may know her as the director of the North American Guild of Beer Writers, but Kate Bernot wears many hats. The work of this celebrated journalist and BJCP Certified Beer Judge routinely appears in The New York Times, Washington Post and the online publication Good Beer Hunting – to name a few. Ms. Bernot resides in Missoula, Montana where she enjoys the great outdoors and a good pint of beer made by the area’s skilled local brewers.