Orono Brewing and Dogfish Head Team Up for Brew Notes IPA Release

Orono Brewing Company and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery kicked off their limited Brew Notes IPA release last week, with the West Coast-style IPA hitting the scene on March 6 alongside a pair of celebratory events in Maine featuring Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione and R&D Brewing Manager Bryan Selders.

The beer itself is a snapshot of intentional sourcing: brewed with 100% Maine-grown grains, whole leaf hops, and advanced hop products, Brew Notes lands as "bright, expressive, and built to showcase collaboration at its best," according to Dogfish Head. The brewery describes it as "a West Coast style IPA born from decades of shared stories, ideas, and a mutual love for pushing beer forward" — framing the release less as a one-off marketing move and more as the natural output of a long creative relationship between the two breweries.

The collaboration extended beyond the kettle. Label art for Brew Notes was hand-drawn by Charlie Selders, a Maine College of Art & Design student who also happens to be Bryan Selders' son. Dogfish Head tied the artistic angle directly to a donation toward the MECA&D scholarship fund, folding community investment into the release in a way that goes a few layers deeper than a standard collab drop.

Release events ran March 6 at the Great Lost Bear from 4 to 9pm, then continued March 7 with a midday appearance at The Bag from noon to 2pm and a late-night set at The Rack from 9pm to 1am. Calagione and Bryan Selders attended the parties, though specific details about whether they appeared at all three venues or participated in tastings and signings were not confirmed at press time.

Brew Notes remains a limited release. Packaging format, ABV, IBU, and broader distribution details beyond the three launch venues have not been publicly confirmed. Dogfish Head is based at 6 Cannery Village Center in Milton, Delaware.