Bushwick’s Dead Welcome Cotter Ellis at Dogfish Head x Grateful Dead Launch Event (A Gallery + Recap)
Photo Credit: Taylor Weinberg
Last night, March 12, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery took over Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Brooklyn Bowl to present a launch event for their new Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale. To ring in the heady brew, the company staged a concert from Brooklyn’s resident Dead experts Bushwick’s Dead, who have long found a home at the Bowl for their innovative and reverent takes on the Good Ol’ Grateful Dead’s storied songbook. For this special set, the jam collective took their performance to dizzying heights with a sit-in from Goose’s Cotter Ellis.
Dogfish Head’s partnership event began with an exclusive panel for press and representatives from the music and beverage industries. The experts assembled to discuss the Grateful Dead’s memory included Brooklyn Bowl founder and storied concert promoter Peter Shapiro, the Dead’s audiovisual archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux, Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton and Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione.
“As a beer geek with a music problem, few things in life are as sensorially sensational as enjoying a great beer while simultaneously listening to some great music,” Calagione shared in a release. “In 2025, Dogfish Head is turning 30, and my favorite band of all time, Grateful Dead, is celebrating its 60th anniversary. I’m so proud of the broad appeal of this lovely new beer that’s now making its way to Dead Heads and hop heads of all shapes and sizes.”
Following the spirited discussion, Bushwick’s Dead stormed the stage to serve up the music that inspired the new beer. The hometown heroes kicked off their performance with “St. Stephen,” then tore through a first set with “Greatest Story Ever Told,” “Jack Straw,” and a combination of “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” and “The Music Never Stopped,” joined by a jam on Phish’s “Funky Bitch,” before breezing into the set-break with “Terrapin Station.”
For set two, the group set their sights higher, segueing masterfully through “Estimated Prophet,” “Eyes of the World” and “Cassidy.” At the midpoint, Ellis sauntered onstage to add depth on the kit. The expert percussionist was in town for Goose’s Everything Must Go Experience at Luna Luna and added to a far-out medley of “Feel Like a Stranger,” “The Other One” and “Drums,” which spotlighted his commanding style. After closing out the set with a cover of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” and “Cumberland Blues,” Bushwick’s Dead topped off the launch event with a rich and funky take on “Shakedown Street.”
Get an inside look at the show in the gallery below, courtesy of photographer Taylor Weinberg. Learn more about Dogfish Head’s Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale at dogfish.com.
