My First Dogfish Visit

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RoaringBrewer

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So, this past weekend I paid my first visit to DFH Brewing and Eats in Rehobeth; the original brewpub. I wasn't down on Friday or I would have paid the Brewery in Milton a visit. Ah well, I plan to head back down in July for 4-5 days and will make a brewery tour visit at that time.

Overall, very impressed with the beers and foods I got to try. I've had the 60 Minute IPA and Aprihop prior (carried at my local distributor), but nothing else. I tried the sampler of 5 beers offered and got to taste the Raison D'Etre, Shelter Pale, and India Brown that I hadn't tried before. Then I had a 90 Minute. Then finished the evening with a Chicory Stout draft. For food I had the Crab Bisque, Crab Cakes, and the Apple Crumbler or something for dessert. All dishes were great although the crab cakes were a little on the spicier side than I prefer. In any case, I would definitely pay this place a visit again. Best part about it was the AHA discount I received. Almost paid for my membership in this visit (as I got some things to go; see below) with the $12 I saved on the meal/beers and the other $10 I saved at the "Giftshop".

Anyway, I hit the road with Extreme Brewing book (which looks awesome so far), a DFH Cap, Keychain, T-Shirts/Keychain for the little lady, and some beers to go. I felt a little awkward dropping about $55 on 5 bottles of beer, but I think it may be worth it for the experience alone. I picked up two 25oz. bottles of the Limited Red and White b/c it sounds like something the little lady will enjoy. Also picked up the Black and Blue Limited release. Then to top it off I picked up a 120 Minute IPA (20%ABV, 120IBU) and a 3-Year Vintage (2004) WW Stout (18-22% ABV). The latter two set me back $25 total, but after reading reviews on beeradvocate, etc. I think it may be worth it to just try some really, truly EXTREME beers. I'm saving these for a special occasion. May drink one or the other for my 25th birthday in a month. The other I'm saving for New Years 08, my engagement, or something else big that will happen in the next year. I would age them longer, but I plan to pick up some more when I'm down in July if they have any. Apparently I got the last bottle of WW Stout 2004 that they had left... w00t!

Anyway, here is a couple shots of the bottles (only one Red/White pictured) and a pic of me with the Vintage WW Stout:

DogfishCollection.jpg


DogfishwithWorldwideStout.jpg


Overall, I was very impressed by the beers offered (although I've had some 'better', many 'on par', etc. beers at other great micros also) and look forward to trying these extreme 20% and Limited Offerings. Food and menu was excellent. Weather was perfect for my weekend, which made the atmosphere better than it actually is in the small, cramped brewpub (with no brewery on site; i.e. i prefer brewpubs where I can see the brewery-works). Overall, an A experience though...
 
Great write-up!

I had the chance to go to the Gaithersburg restaurant last year--it was a great experience. Food was SO awesome!

I picked up the Extreme Brewign book at B&N the other day...some of the recipes look cool (food and beer). Kind of scratching my head why they are all extract recipes though.
 
Meal - 2 Cups Soup, Salad with Salmon for SWMBO, Crab Cake Entree for myself, Beer Sampler, 1 Pint of Stout, 1 Snifter of 90 Minute, 2 Mixed Drinks w/ their "home-brewed" Spirits, and Dessert came out to about $70 before my AHA discount. So, about $60 afterwards plus a 18% tip (our waitress was pretty below par if I must admit one bad part of the experience; I basically had to ask her for beers/drinks b/c she wouldn't check back often; but I normally do 18% min. tip just because I would hate to be working in food service myself)...

Merhcandise and the to-go beers seen above came to ~$100; Book was $25 w/ a free pint glass, beers were around $55, T-shirt/Keychain/Hat around $40. And then they gave me 15% off for the AHA card.

Worth it to me considering I got a great meal, a lot of cool merchandise, a great book, and some really extreme, rare beers to try later. :)
 
So it looks like about $170?

Believe me...I am not making a value judgement...just curious because I find that when I am confronted by similar temptations and fun I get pretty spendy myself :)
 
No problem man; was worth every penny to me and that's all that matters. I'm sure when I go back again I'll drop at least > $100 again. Can never have enough brew related T-Shirts or limited release beers sitting around. :)
 
Yeah, DFH gets a bad rap around here, unfortunately. I like most of their stuff, personally. The 750's get pricey, but so what? The Indian Brown is great. The 60 minute is pretty good. The 90 minute is excellent. The 120 minute is transcendent. The WWS is unreal. The Raison D'etre is not very good, my least favorite. Chicory stout is really nice. Midas Touch should have been a one-time experiment, because it tastes nasty. Jaihu is just too weird. Fort is brilliant. Aprihop is great, but could use more apricot flavor. Shelter is so-so. Red and White and Black and Blue are both okay, but they taste too much like the Raison. Pangea is cool, because I have a place in my heart for ginger brews. And last but not least, the Punkin is my favorite pumpkin beer along with Smutty. If only it weren't so expensive!

But yeah, DFH gets a bad rap round these parts. I guess that says alot about the standards here, but...then again, there are people here who hate on Belgian beers as a whole, which is a crime punishable by death in some parts of the world.

Anyway, I'm heading up to Brooklyn to visit friends this weekend, and I'm making it my mission to get a Brooklyn tour. Giddyup!
 
Interesting, my impression is the opposite Evan. I see plenty of props for most of full time DFH brews like 60, 90, 120, India Brown (all tasty IMHO). It's the more outside the box beers that seem to get the negative reaction.

There are a few take out places around me that stock a good selection of DFH and its a safe bet that when I walk out, there will be at the least a 60 minute in my hands :)

Enjoy Brooklyn...I look forward to your impression of Local 1.
 
I thought the India Brown was excellent; as well as the Chicory Stout... Probably my two favorites of DFH. The 60 Minute is OK, but I've drank better IPAs IMO. The 90 Minute was solid. Aprihop, totally agree on the "more apricot flavor". Raison was just meh.

Not tried any of the limited/extreme stuff yet, but I have a bottle of Black and Blue cooling and can't wait to try the 20%s. I've drank some 10% plus Belgians and Barleywines before, but I'm kind of fearing the 20%s. Looking forward to Red/White also, as I recently sampled a Belgian Wit w/ Orange/Corriander at the local brewpub (Selins Grove Brewing) brewed to "Tripel" strength (8.5-9%) and it was darn good and smooth for such high ABV.
 
Yeah, btw, last summer I was in Cape Cod and I found, at the liquor store, a DFH-Branded bottle "Wit Spiced Rhum". Basically it was rum made with coriander and orange peel. It's hazy yellow color, and tastes like candy corn...seriously. I couldn't pass it up---it was the last bottle they had. Wacky shyte.
 
Yeah, the one thing I kind of forgot was to take a bottle or two of their distilled on-site spirits home...

They had about 10+ flavors of Vodka, 4+ flavors of Rum, and some Jin too I believe. I'm not a big liqour fan, but tasted good in the mixed drinks that the SWMBO had. She also shared my sampler, so yes, she likes beer too. :)
 
They do have a brewery there, nothing fancy though. Mike does all the special small batches and brewpub exclusives there. It's kind of hidden in the back though, but normally they will show you around.

Next time your there, I suggest the wood grilled rockfish with carmelized sundried tomatoes. My fav there by far!! I've had some vintage 2003 WWS, and let me tell you it's amazing!! I have a few bottles of it in my celar too. Don't let the ABV scare you, you'll hardly know it's there.

Evan! - I'll be up there this weekend too visiting my SIL. Pretty crazy. I'm not sure a brewery tour is in the schedule, but I'm planning on picking up a good bit of Local #1. It's getting such great reviews.
 
I contemplated the Rockfish. Definitely on it next time now that I got a recommendation. :)

Can't wait to try the WW Stout... Will do so on May 26th, 2007 i believe - got to kill the quarter life crisis somehow (turning 25, boo!)...
 
SilkkyBrew said:
I contemplated the Rockfish. Definitely on it next time now that I got a recommendation. :)

Can't wait to try the WW Stout... Will do so on May 26th, 2007 i believe - got to kill the quarter life crisis somehow (turning 25, boo!)...


Just saw a bottle of the current release @ $8 in my local take out.....hmmmm
 
brewtool - buy, age 3-5 years, enjoy. no question about it from the reviews I've read... Get it before its 3 years old and sets you back $15-20 for the bottle. Haha. :)
 
Sounds like a great trip SilkkyBrew! All this talk about DFH has got me very excited; I'm planning on visiting my brother in Ocean City this summer and he's promised to take me if I bring him a case of Bell's Oberon :D We can actually get most of their beers here in MI, but I'm looking forward to trying their beers at the source and getting my hands on a bottle of their Jin. That Rockfish is sounding pretty good too!
 
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