by The Dogfish Head Brewery was founded in 1995 by Sam Calagione, and quickly became known for its unique beers. The company has grown to include brewpubs and restaurants as well as a small hotel in Lewes, Del., The Dogfish Inn, that has become a popular destination for craft beer explorers.
On our visit to Delaware, we spent two nights at the Dogfish Inn taking in the full Dogfish Head experience. The rooms at the Inn have been renovated and modernized, and include conveniences such as beach chairs, umbrellas, and bicycles for guests. There is no beer available on the premises, but guests do receive a glass growler that they can fill at any local Dogfish Head establishment.
The Inn also has a hotel library, which includes volumes in each guest room. In our room was a copy of “A Coney Island of the Mind” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Ferlinghetti was a beat poet and the founder/owner of famed bookstore/publisher City Lights Books in San Francisco. I know this volume of poetry well, as one of my high school teachers gave me a copy when I graduated.
I re-read the book while sitting at the hotel’s fire pit later in the day that we arrived, and it was as stimulating as I recalled.
Fun fact: the staff at the Inn are known as “Inn Mates.”
Jennifer booked me on the “Off-Centered Tour” the following day at the main Dogfish Head production brewery in Milton, Del.
This 75-minute tour included a tasting flight as well as samples at various stops during the tour.
Our tour guide, Tara, was excellent, and the beer was exceptional. We heard about the history of the brewery, saw the R&DFH (Research & DogFish Head) facilities, visited the newer distillery, and wrapped up with a visit to the steampunk treehouse located in the brewery’s beer garden.
This is a re-creation of the original “continual hopping machine” that Calagione developed to deliver hops for the entire 90 minutes of the boil cycle of the brewing process, thus creating Dogfish Head Brewing’s 90-Minute IPA, a revolutionary Imperial IPA. It is nothing more than a kid’s vibrating football game with a 50-gallon bucket with holes on top. The vibrating action allowed for constant delivery of hops. This invention was so significant that the originals are now in the collection of the Smithsonian!
The 40-foot tall “Steampunk Treehouse” in front of Dogfish Head’s brewery was originally built for the Burning Man Festival in Nevada.
Calagione arranged the purchase, transport, and installation of the art installation in front of the brewery.
Today, only staff and VIPs–and guests on the Off-Centered Tour, naturally–are allowed to climb to the top of the treehouse–and that’s me on the top step. What’s inside? I’m not at liberty to disclose!
To complete our experience, we had dinner at Chesapeake & Maine in Rehoboth Beach, Del., a restaurant operated by Dogfish Head. Jen had the lobster, while I had a burger with crab topping. Oh, and a Dogfish Head beer, of course!
I seem to recall wrapping up a few pub crawls at Dogfish back in the day. I’ve not gotten to the Milton brewery, the couple of times I’ve been there was on the wrong day and they were closed for whatever reason.