Dogfish Head Brewery

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
6 Cannery Village Center
Milton, DE 19968

As much as I have great respect for the off-centered, hop-driven ales that Dogfish Head produces, I have a little more respect for Sam Calagione, founder and head of the 11th largest craft brewer in the United States.

Sam Calagione’s ascent to Brew Master was more fortuitous than engineered. After being inspired by the craft beer selection at the now-defunct Mexican restaurant he used to waiter at near Columbia University, he started a brewpub/restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, DE without knowing that it was illegal to start a distillery under Delaware State law. At the last minute, he single-handedly got legislation changed before it opened.

Dogfish Head’s reputation has always been driven by using innovative ingredients in their beer, but unfortunately, the selections on tap on my brewery tour did not reflect this. After the didactic and somewhat stultifying half-hour brewery tour, the bar only offered samples of four beers -- Shelter Pale Ale, 60 Minute, 90 Minute, and 120 Minute IPA – as refreshment for enduring a dull lecture. This was even more disappointing given the fact that these beers are readily available year-round at most East Coast bars.

Nevertheless, it was fascinating to see a horizontal flight of their hopped-beers. While the Shelter Pale Ale and 60 Minute IPA were good session beers, and 90 Minute a robust, but quaffable IPA, the 120 Minute IPA was in the infamous words of Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver “unbalanced and shrieking.”

If you want greater exposure to their more limited-edition beers, you need to travel to their brewpub/restaurant in Reboboth Beach. There you can get customizable samplers of their regular and limited edition beers such as Festina Peche (peach-flavored Berliner Weisse) and Namaste (lemon-grass flavored witbier). No Dogfish Head experience is complete without a hit from Randall the Enamel Animal, a stainless steel water filter that adds an extra dose of hoppiness to an already hoppy 90 Minute IPA, which strangely enough is absent from the brewery tour.