Dogfish Head’s residency at Concrete Beach’s Social Hall in Miami is becoming permanent.
Boston Beer senior director of local brands and taprooms, Rob Kreszswick, announced this week that the company would transition Concrete Beach’s Miami location into Dogfish Head Miami. As such, Concrete Beach’s Social Hall would close permanently and beer-to-go and e-commerce sales would cease on Saturday, September 5.
“We think this will be the perfect opportunity to create a physical space for Dogfish Head in Miami,” he wrote to Boston Beer co-workers.
In February, Dogfish Head began an “ongoing residency” at Concrete Beach’s taproom in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District.
“During our residency at Concrete Beach, we realized how much Dogfish Head had in common with the community of Wynwood,” Kreszswick continued. “The neighborhood’s focus on self-expression and creativity, its deep passion for art and music, and its love for community togetherness … it just clicked. Dogfish Head Miami will be an off-centered outpost featuring a collection of our favorite stuff; innovative ales, tasty eats, immersive art and collaboration with communities from all over the place.”
Although construction will begin on the location in the coming weeks, a reopening date has not been set due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kreszswick wrote.
During Thursday’s Brew Talks virtual meetup, Dogfish Head co-founder Sam Calagione noted that the company is approaching opening in the Miami outpost “very carefully.”
“My daughter just became a freshman at the University of Miami,” he said. “Man, is she pissed that mom and dad are going to be hanging out in her home city when she’s trying to assert her independence. So we’re looking forward to that, but we’re not rushing into it because we are obviously living through a very challenging moment and we want to do that right.”
Even as Concrete Beach fades and its portfolio goes “on an indefinite hiatus,” the company’s flagship Havana Lager will live on in the south Florida market and the company “will focus solely on growing” the brand in the market, Kreszswick added.
As part of the transition, Boston Beer launched Dogfish Head Miami social accounts on Instagram and Twitter.