This is the exhilarating success story of a man who really likes beer—so much so that he decided to make a business of it. Starting with nothing but a home brewing kit, Sam Calagione turned his entrepreneurial dream into a foamy reality and built the country's fastest growing brewery—Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Brewing Up a Business is the enlightening and entertaining story of Dogfish and Calagione, of the power of unconventional thinking, and of the hard lessons every entrepreneur learns along the way.

In just a few years, Calagione grew Dogfish from a tiny Delaware-based operation into one of the country's most popular independent brews, distributed in twenty-nine states. Along with creating the fastest growing independent brewery, he has established a successful restaurant featuring wood-grilled food, and expanded his brand to include a line of spirits made at his distillery. Even without the benefit of an advertising and marketing budget, Dogfish's revenues have soared—increasing by more than 100% in 2003 alone. That kind of success might not be normal for most small businesses, but then again, there's nothing normal about Calagione and Dogfish.

From his attention-grabbing publicity stunts, as when he crossed the Delaware River in a homemade boat to introduce his beer to New Jersey, to the creation of such questionable concoctions as peppercorn and lavender flavored beer, doing things differently has been the key to Calagione's success. It hasn't always worked—few people really wanted peppercorn and lavender flavored beer after all—but this fearless entrepreneur learned quickly that you can't reap big rewards without taking big risks.

Straight from Calagione's mouth, Brewing Up a Business offers a real-world look at what entrepreneurship is really like. It's hard work and frustrating to be sure—from exploding fermentation tanks to selling t-shirts at truck stops for gas money, Calagione encountered all the trials and tribulations of starting and running a business—but it's been worth it. With business booming, Calagione could probably stay the course, play it safe, and focus on doing what he's doing. But why would he? As you'll learn in Brewing Up a Business, being an entrepreneur is much more than just a lot of hard work—it's a lot of fun too. There are new beers to brew, restaurants to open, and beer movies to make.

Dogfish is proof that entrepreneurial dreams do come true. And Calagione is proof that you don't need a million dollars in seed money or a Harvard MBA to make your business a reality. For anyone who has a dream, this is all the inspiration and motivation you need to get started brewing up your own business.

Founder and owner of the Delaware brewery, Calagione recounts his struggles and successes, and offers advice to others thinking of starting a small business. Among his topics are keeping your balance, marketing on a small-business budget, effectively managing employees, and working toward irrelevance.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Founder and owner of the Delaware brewery, Calagione recounts his struggles and successes, and offers advice to others thinking of starting a small business. Among his topics are keeping your balance, marketing on a small-business budget, effectively managing employees, and working toward irrelevance. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

For those who like their business advice mixed with tales of the trials and tribulations of starting a new business, this book will go down as smoothly as a pint of Immort Ale, one of Dogfish Head's signature brews. While chapters cover much tried-and-true territory, including entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, leadership, and employee relations, Calagione manages to keep the advice he dispenses fresh by relating it to his own often humorous experiences in starting what is now one of the fastest-growing breweries in the country. Stories of hand-delivering beer from a U-haul in dicey neighborhoods and securing labels with rubber bands after running out of glue attest to both the author's determination and his anything-goes entrepreneurial spirit. Solid writing and a no-nonsense style coupled with a welcome avoidance of business jargon make this an enjoyable and practical read for anyone either interested in the brewery business or thinking of creating his or her own start-up. Recommended for public libraries and large business/entrepreneurship collections.—Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. of Ohio, Oxford (Library Journal, May 1, 2005)

-Joe Calloway author of Becoming a Category of One and Indispensable

Brewing Up a Business is an entertaining, enlightening first-person account of author Sam Calagione's nontraditional success as an entrepreneur. Starting out with a home brewing kit cobbled together from used kegs, Calagione turned his entrepreneurial dream into a reality. Relying on unique brews, lots of loving technique, and hard work, Calagione built Dogfish Head Craft Beer into America's fastest growing brewery. Without the benefit of an advertising budget, Dogfish went from a tiny operation in Delaware to one of the country's most popular craft breweries, distributed in 29 states and four countries. As revenues grow at lightning speed-an increase of 105 percent in 2003-Dogfish's success is the result of dreaming big, working hard, and thinking unconventionally. With real lessons on entrepreneurship and success from a real entrepreneur, as well as practical ideas on nontraditional marketing, this is a business story that will open readers' eyes to the unquantifiable benefits of thinking differently.

SAM CALAGIONE is the founder and owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware, the nation's fastest growing independent brewery, and Dogfish Head Brewings &Eats in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. His innovative style has earned him a reputation as one of America's most adventurous entrepreneurs and brewers. The Small Business Association has named him Businessman of the Year. He lives in Lewes, Delaware.

Foreword by Michael Jackson.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Chapter 1. THE UNCONVENTIONAL BEGINNINGS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR.

Chapter 2. BUSINESS FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

Chapter 3. KEEPING YOUR BALANCE.

Chapter 4. CREATING A BUSINESS OFFERING.

Chapter 5. CRAFTING A BRAND IN A COOKIECUTTER WORLD.

Chapter 6. MARKETING ON A SMALL-BUSINESS BUDGET.

Chapter 7. PUBLICITY STUNTS (ARE POORLY NAMED).

Chapter 8. STALKING THE KILLER APP.

Chapter 9. SELLING DISTINCTION, SPECIALIZATION, AND VARIETY.

Chapter 10. CASH IS KING (WELL, SORT OF).

Chapter 11. LEADERSHIP.

Chapter 12. EFFECTIVELY MANAGING EMPLOYEES.

Chapter 13. WORKING TOWARD IRRELEVANCE.

Chapter 14. TO SMALL-BUSINESS SUCCESS.

Index.