dabbling in adventures of dogfish head craft brewery

As a fanatic of sipping smooth sour ales throughout the dog days of summer, it is appropriate that I visit the headquarters of one of the best one of them all, Dogfish Head Brewery, during the current steamy months. 

An adoring lover of the off-centered brewery's Festina Peche, their Berliner Weisse-styled beer fermented with fresh peaches, I always feel the need to stock up on the tart seasonal brew, hoping it will last me well into the inappropriate months. However, title me an addict, but my fruity and tart pints flooded with this light concoction are already bone-dry, and by the likes of local distributors, others have the same idea.

But, as you may have noticed in previous posts, B and I enjoy journeying to the homes of our favorite beers, so it was about due-time to dabble around Dogfish Head. Since we are lucky enough to have relations with a summer home near the Milton-based headquarters, just one visit this summer was obviously not enough, as we already clocked two curious adventurous throughout the well-liked craft brewery. 

Tiptoeing around the fairly large establishment of Sam Calagione does seem like the thing to do for Rehoboth Beach visitors, so keep in mind, if you plan to hop by for a visit, you must reserve a spot on their arranged brewery tours. Yes, they are for free, although they fill up in a timely fashion.

The most exhilarating investigation I encountered behind closed doors were the massive exotic Paraguayan Palo Santo wood tanks used to age the incredible 12-percent brown ale that's on the tips of many's tongues as of late. (Watch the video below, DFH's John seems to be quite a fan, too.)

Dogfish Head Brewery Visit from amy strauss on Vimeo.

All tours conclude with four free tastings from their quirky taps, and lucky for me, one of the offerings on each of our recent visits was my peachy pleasure. However, one may argue that I should expand my tasting palate, but that's what having a boyfriend is for (i.e. stealing slurps of all the beers I haven't nabbed on my own).

Visiting twice in a span of three weeks allowed us to become chums with the tasting room's mainstay, John, who serves all of the brewing company's visitors their free beer (how could you not love that job). Clever and quick to nickname, he's a source for speedily spewing what makes the samples you will soon be slurping, and kind enough to agree to star in a quick clip from this blogging fish.

During our summery stops, I must reveal that we also became fans of DFH's Theobroma (brewed with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs), Namaste (made with dried organic orange slices, fresh cut lemongrass and a bit of coriander) and Sah'tea (Chai tea-inspired). And, I have to greedily admit, we will probably be back again soon, before this sultry summer concludes.

this little piggy went to the beach

There's no denying it.

Any vacation when you're a food fiend, no matter where the locale, becomes a hungry search of the next best thing to shove in your hungry mouth. My stomach grumbles more, even craves more, when I'm away, and of course, I excuse myself from all of the unhealthy eating by saying, "I'm on vacation."

Okay, let me digress. The more I eat, the more I exercise, 'cept we are talking about food here, people--not exercising!

And, it's summer, which means the best trip of all is one bumming on the beach. However, something special 'bout this seashore (coming from two beerheads, B & myself) is that it is the birthplace of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Verbally spewing about their mead Midas Touch to their fruity Festina Peche and new conditioned ale, the Johnny Cask, DFH's always-rising hype is completely justified and a must-try for anyone who's teetering.

If you are curious, but not whole-pint curious, swing by their brewpub in their shore town for a flight of their best-sellers. (They also do flights of their distilled spirits, but being how I'm not a spirit kind-of girl, the talk ends here.)

Always a fan of craft alehouse fare, this quirky brewery makes enjoyable dinner must-haves that may not be incredibly interesting, but do successfully hit "the spot" on a steamy day.

Enter the Dogpile appetizer: an intense piling of crispy pita chips plopped with tasty artichoke spinach dip, melted mozzarella, cubed tomatoes and chopped green onions. Too gigantic for two, our pre-dinner dent didn't compare to nearby parties of four or five tearing up their table-top platter.
At any pub, my staple is a nice beef burger. Something I've realized and always get giddy over is the fact that if beer is your forerunner, your burger is usually a second-in-command monster, such as their Indulgence Burger. Definitely too large to fit in my mouth, this big boy is nicely stacked with beer-battered onion rings, melted cheddar, and bacon crumbles.

B always eyes the specialties of any eatery, including DFH's Land and Sea Gumbo. Spiced to the brims, the mixture of Tasso ham, chicken, Andouille sausage, crawfish and Gulf shrimp absolutely made for an intense, yet yummy bite that went swimmingly when paired with an ice-cold pint of the pub's Raison D'Etre.

Obviously, after chowing on the alehouse's massive grub, a walk to the boardwalk was what we both needed. After a powerwalking a decent number of boardwalk blocks for our post-dinner workout, we both found we could squeeze a cone of summer's best from The Ice Cream Store. Offering over 70 flavors, including wild options like spinach, sweet corn, chicken, cherry coke, and my double-scoop decision of bacon and Mayan chocolate cinnamon. With the spicy cocoa balanced by the sweetly creamed bacon, the combo made for an ideal icy pairing.

With tons of DFH beers left to try and over 66 ice cream flavors to lick (also sampled B's cherry coke and regular chocolate), a trip back to the beach better occur before this summer says, "sayonara!"