Sip and Sustain With This New Dogfish Head Pilsner

Courtesy of Dogfish Head Brewery

Dogfish Head’s Kernza Pils is brewed with earth-friendly grain in a German style as part of a collaboration with Patagonia Provisions.

Since its founding in 1995, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has created beers with organic and regenerative ingredients that support sustainable farming. The new Kernza Pils is a prime example.

The crisp, German-style pilsner is a collaboration between the Milton-based brewery and Patagonia Provisions, which sells responsibly sourced food and beverage products. Patagonia has long worked with The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, which developed Kernza, the trademark for a perennial grain.

Kernza resembles annual wheat and barley. However, the difference is underground. “Because of its perennial growth, Kernza can have roots up to 12 feet long,” explains Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head’s founder.

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Kernza doesn’t require pesticides and uses water and nutrients more efficiently than annual grains, he adds. Kernza also helps reduce soil erosion and removes more carbon from the air.

“And it just so happens to make a tasty beer,” he notes. Customers agree. Two weeks after hitting the shelves, the beer made the Wall Street Journal.

Dogfish head
Courtesy of Dogfish Head Brewery

Locals had the chance to taste the difference on Friday, April 8, when Dogfish Head Brewing & Eats in Rehoboth held a Patagonia Provisions three-course beer dinner to benefit the Land Institute. The menu also featured pasta made with Kernza.

You can purchase Kernza Pils to try in the comfort of your home. Either way, Kernza has an “earthy, peppery sensory characteristic,” Calagione maintains. The flavor complements the pear and green tea notes in the Contessa hops, a newly certified organic hop variety.

“Bursting with floral notes, it is bright and snappy with a subtle spiciness from the Kernza,” the brewer says.

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He is “beyond excited” about the release. “We plan to take this beer one step at a time, evaluating its performance and drinkers’ interest in it over time. If folks dig it, we’ll keep making it. Drink up to draw down — carbon!”

The dinner was $75 per person and included a $10 donation to The Land Institute.

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