Dogfish Head and Flaming Lips set beer and music release April 21

In celebration of Record Store Day, Dogfish Head is bringing independent beer and independent music together as they announce the release of a first-of-its-kind beer and vinyl collaboration with American rock icons, The Flaming Lips. Dropping Saturday, April 21, The Flaming Lips will release a limited-edition 7-inch called "The Story of Yum Yum and Dragon," featuring two original songs inspired by the new Dogfish beer, Dragons & YumYums, a lip-smackingly tart pale ale. Composed by Wayne Coyne, frontman for The Flaming Lips, the lyrics pay tribute to the colorful array of off-centered ingredients in the beer.

"Wayne and I, and our Dogfish and Lips co-conspirators, shared a goal of making this collaboration an epic, sensory enveloping experience at the intersection of creative beer paired with creative music," said Sam Calagione, CEO and founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. "There've been tons of iconic collaborations over the years, but we believe this is the first time a band has been so pivotal and deeply involved in the creation of the beer, the ingredients that were chosen, as well as authoring a song made specifically in tribute of the beer."

The energy of the union inspired Coyne to use ingredients from the beer – dragonfruit and yumberries – as characters in the two songs on the record, "The Story of Yum Yum and Dragon" and "Pouring Beer in Your Ear." Coyne used the dragonfruit and yumberry elements and transformed them into storyful lyrics in the song, for example, "Yum Yum and Dragon went out for a drive, but Yum Yum doesn't have any eyes ... Yum Yum and Dragon, they're happy they're friends..."

Along with the limited-edition 7-inch release, Dogfish and The Flaming Lips will also unleash 100 translucent records filled with the actual Dragons & YumYums beer just before Record Store Day. The super collectible beer-filled vinyl will be available at special events nationwide leading up to and on April 21. Calagione said, "As a raging beer geek with a music problem, I'm especially excited to enjoy a pint of Dragons & YumYums while spinning a beer-filled record from the Lips."

Coyne said, "Working with Dogfish Head has been a meeting of two seemingly opposite product makers. We, as The Flaming Lips (being completely unaware of our branding and marketing potential), and them, Dogfish Head, (being sooo well branded I thought they made dog food, fish sauce, bongs and beer) ... turns out they, the Dogfish Head, thought we, The Flaming Lips, were a well-branded and marketed entity ... they thought we were perhaps a cult, a cartoon, a religion, a candy company and an art rock group ... ha ... so ... Us coming together to make what might be the world's first vinyl record filled with pink-colored beer is somehow perfect!"

Hitting retail shelves and taps from late March through August and packing an explosion of fruit in every sip, Dragons & YumYums is an intensely tropical, yet subtly bitter ale brewed with a combination of dragonfruit, yumberry, passionfruit, pear juice and black carrot juice. Clocking in at 6.5 percent ABV, this light-bodied pale ale has a balanced sweetness, yet a slightly resinous flavor, with piney aromas and a pink, blush-wine hue.

The psychedelic influence of the label artwork, designed by Marq Spusta as part of Dogfish Head's Off-Centered Art Series, was influenced by the legacy of The Flaming Lips and the culinary components in Dragons & YumYums shown through radiating lines, movement of fire, dancing lips, rainbows and bold pink colors.

For more information, go to www.dogfish.com/rsd.