Steam punk treehouse looms over the tanks at the Dogfish Brewery in Milton
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Over the holidays I grabbed a couple of like-minded beer appreciators and cruised down to Rehoboth Delaware to visit Dogfish’s wonderful brew pub, and then drop by the brewery in Milton.
I have been to both places many times, but not since the brewery expansion was complete, or the addition of the “Steam punk tree house” now made famous from Sam’s “Brewmaster” show on the Discovery Channel. Going to visit Dogfish is a semi-religious experience for me every time, but I confess, during the summer the drive is usually too nasty for me to deal with, so winter (“Ice DogFishing”?) works just fine.
In this case, the drive was a breeze and the brew pub didn’t disappoint. Started out with a snappy “Johnny Rawton” pilsner as a warm up, then got right into the heavier stuff. The aptly named “Snow Blower” (only a couple of days removed from our 10” December snow storm) is one of those cool hoppy Belgian cross over beers that you are starting to see here and there. At 6.5 abv it’s sort of a light beer from the Dogfish portfolio. From there things went down the slippery slope to the opaque and roasty “Bitches Brew” (featured on one of the “Brewmaster” episodes) (9%) and then the hop-fabulous “DFH Ale” (9.5%) which is self described as having the “body of 60 Minute IPA, the alcohol of 90 Minute IPA, and the hops of 120 Minute IPA”. That’s what I’m TALKING about! My friends found the milkshake-like “Palo Santo” imperial brown ale to their liking as well, rolling in at a healthy 12%.
After a hearty meal, we took the short drive to the brewery in Milton – too late for the tour, we sampled the oak aged “Burton Baton” 10% (how can you NOT love that beer!) in the tasting room and loaded up on Dogfish beer swag. OK, I admit I bought a case of Baton, but I did split it with one of my cohorts. Was gone before the snow.
If you have a day to spare this winter, it’s worth the trip, but consider a dedicated driver for those DFH’s…
Specials on the board at the Dogfish Head Brewpub in Rehoboth
