Nearly three weeks ago, Ray and I had the opportunity to tour Dogfish Head’s brewery in Milton, DE, following an entertaining morning and early afternoon of tailgaiting Punkin’ Chunkin’ with Steph, Tim, and other members of their UD crew.

The first thing we saw when pulling into the parking lot was Sam’s famed truck, parked out front on its own grassy throne. Not too far from it were the bocce ball courts, as well as the best porta-potties I have ever experienced in my life. No joke — they had toilet paper, didn’t smell god-awful, and nestled between the two was a nifty sink that allowed me to pump water over my hands via a foot pedal, and I think I remember seeing soap.

Walking into the brewery, we were greeted by a friendly fellow that took our name and explained the sampling system in which they hand out four small cardboard dogfish to everyone to redeem at the end of the tour for samples.

We were early, so we checked out all of the merch, making mental notes of what we’d like to purchase after the tour. T-shirts, glasses, hell if we could have purchased some of the mammoth wall art, we would have. I still have a few walls in the condo unadorned … I think.

Before long, the tour began, and we were lucky enough to have John, a knowledgeable tour guide and home brewer to boot! We got to see the first bottling line that Sam ever worked with, as well as some of the original equipment like Sir Hops A Lot, the original continuous hopping machine. John knew a lot about Dogfish’s history, and used the perfect blend of curmudgeonly humor with a true understanding of how brewery equipment works. There was no reference to “thingamagiggies” or “whatchamacallits.” John knew his stuff and kept us moving along quickly, all the while encouraging folks to ask questions.

Ray and I learned some really fantastic things about Dogfish head, like how the brewery works with the local farms by providing the spent grains for cattle feed, and then later purchasing those cattle to make steaks and burgers at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth Beach — hey, it’s the circle of life baby.

We got to see the famous 10,000 gallon Palo Santo fermenters, which house the lusciously decadent Palo Santo Marron, as well as the other stainless steel fermenters throughout. In the photo to the right, you can see I got John mid-sentence, which was pretty common since he had a lot to say!

John was even kind enough to tell us about the gaffe in which one of the DFH brewfolks (I can’t remember the guy’s title) made the same mistake twice … he kept forgeting to clean the o-ring at the bottom of one of the conical fermenters, which kept infecting the beer. He got to make that mistake twice, and then he was walked through his process, in which the discovery of the unclean o-ring came about.

Walking past the huge bags of hops was tempting, and the brewery smelled heavenly, despite all the stainless steel keeping our germs away from the beer. We finished our tour at the bottling line, which to me, sounded like an engineering geek’s dream with lasers and all sorts of intricate moving parts. I think John mentioned that any bottles that are not properly filled get shifted off the bottling line, but not dumped. Instead, Dogfish Head employees can take them home, but mind you, the bottles are not labled — DFH doesn’t need anyone trying to make a quick buck, but then again, I don’t think the brewery employs that kind of people.

On our way back to the sample bar, I got to snap a quick photo of “Me So Hoppy,” kin to Sir Hops A Lot and Sofa King Hoppy (say it out loud a few times and you’ll get the joke).

At the sample bar we were able to try 60 Minute IPA, Midas Touch Golden Elixir, Raison D’Etre and Indian Brown Ale. We siddled up to the bar and ended up spending most of the time talking to the amicable bartender Jameson. Jameson was amused by our tales of homebrewing and even told Ray that he wished he could find a “sweetheart” like me who would bake, brew and read to him while driving (I had told him about reading parts of Brewing Up a Business to Ray while driving back from vacation). Who knew I was such a catch?

Meanwhile, Tour Guide John decided that since we had been a good tour group and we were the last one for the day, he would crack open a 4-pack of Palo Santo Marron, which was quite generous.

Before leaving we selected a couple t-shirts, 2 glasses, a bottle opener key chain for me and a 4-pack of Palo Santo Marron. We even made sure to get a quick photo with Jameson, who seemed honored.

Leaving the brewery, we headed to Rehoboth Beach, where we had dinner at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats after playing a giant game of chess — if you’re curious, we called the game a draw because no one had enough pieces left to win. I ordered the fish and chips, while Ray had a salmon entree. I enjoyed the well-spiced Panagea, while Ray got to try one of the small batch beers called Piston Honda, a fresh-hopped ale. We finished the night with a slice of Chocolate Chicory Stout Cheesecake, made with blue cheese, and paired with a pint of Chicory Stout.

Luckily for us, we were staying at a quaint motel less than 50 feet away from the pub, so we were able to collapse into a fabulous beer and food coma quickly without hurting ourselves. What a fantastic trip!

Breweries, Brewpubs, Craft Beer 1 Comment »