Tuesday 24th of June 2014 07:41:17 PM

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I made a special trip from NY just to visit Dogfish Head - it's clearly one of the must stop breweries for all brewery enthusiasts and I wasn't disappointed.

When you walk in, you can sign up for a free tour (the wait was about 90 minutes and we were done sampling after about 30, so we didn't stick around for it). Since the tours are free, a lot of people sign up and leave ahead of time so it becomes a bit of a crap shoot as to when you will actually get to tour. They also give you a card that allows you 4 free tastings. The beers were all really good, inventive, and worth the trip. My favorite was Etruscu, a beer made using an ancient Roman recipe.

My only gripe with the place was a matter of logistics. As I said, since the tours are free a lot of people (like me) signed up and then didn't stick around, causing others to get bumped up. I'd prefer they charged a couple bucks so only serious people would sign up. The other thing that sort of bothered me was that they only served 1 sample at a time. As a result, everyone just hung out by the bar and it got really crowded since no one wanted to lose their position. If they served all 4 together, people could step back and make room for others.

Sunday 13th of November 2011 08:27:39 PM

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I can't say enough good things about Dogfish Head. Even before moving to DE in 2008, I concluded that DFH was the best brewery in the US, so I was thrilled to have easy access to their brews. Their creativity and fearless recipes were unmatched when DFH exploded in popularity. There was a short season television show on Discovery called Brew Masters that featured DFH and its founder Sam Calagione as he travelled the world in search of unique ingredients. DFH has created many beers that I would rate as extraordinary, or perfect. The continuously-hopped 90-Minute IPA is excellent, and its big brother 120-Minute IPA boasts an incredible 18% abv! World Wide Stout in another at 18% - delicious! Specials such as Punkin Ale, Palo Santo, Burton Baton, Aprihop, Raison D'Etre and Chicory Stout showcase wonderful flavors. DFH has researched ancient beer recipes and recreated them impressively - Midas Touch, Chateau Jiahu, and Theobroma are intriguing! Lately they have offered a series a beer celebrating musicians - Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (my 3000th beer!) and Robert Johnson's Hellhound Ale with lemons. Anyone who enjoys hunting craft beers must visit DFH at some point. The main brewery is now in Milton (register online for tours), and the old brewpub in Rehoboth Beach still crafts small batches of experimental recipes. I highly recommend the brewpub for a delicious meal and sampler flight of their beers.

Monday 12th of October 2009 10:32:52 PM

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I've toured the brewery 2 times. The first time was when they had moved to the Milton location but were still running the old brewery. I was lucky to have the owner of DFH, Sam Calagione, lead the tour. The second time the tour was less interesting but still informative. The smell of the Palo Santo wood barrels alone makes it worth a trip. One of my favorite breweries. You get 4 samples of draft brews at the tour finish and a trip to the brewpub is almost mandatory, it's only 15 minutes away.

Saturday 15th of August 2009 04:24:55 PM

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I drove from DC for a tour of the DFH brewery on July 24th and have to say I loved almost everything about this place. I got into home brewing because of their crazy beers, and this was a great treat.

They were undergoing an expansion at the time, so you had to enter by walking through the warehouse section where they store ingredients and their beer...which was cool to see as it wasn't a part of the tour.

The staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful, John the tour guide particularly. Since my first ever brewery tour was of Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, the scale of smaller breweries aren't nearly as impressive, but the quality of their beer is far superior.

The tour was short and sweet, and you can't really hear well in the final section (where they have all the aging tanks) due to loud noise, but they gave a great overview of the brewing process.

The four tastings at the end were good and very diverse (certainly though, I would have loved more of them or more beer!), but I was surprised that they didn't have a really wide range of their beers for sale (only about 10 or so I think). Also, they have you reuse the same small plastic tasting cup...but I guess that's more environmentally friendly than using multiple cups...still though, reusable glass tasters for each sample would be better.

We had a large tour group size, but the sampling process went quickly and smoothly. I bought a few of the rarer beers, and the extremely friendly cashier told me that all employees get a free case of beer with each paycheck...now that's AWESOME!

Friday 4th of July 2008 05:38:17 PM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

I just finished with the tour and headed out to the brewpub which I reviewed too. This was a good tour. Our guide (I think Luke or something) was very knowlegdeable and friendly. the tour was an "extra" tour they made to accomodate people being late due to 4th of July traffic - very nice that they did that as I was one of the late ones too. Again the guide was very knowlegdeable but also enthusiastic. Seeming some of the original equipment was a bonus. I read Sam's book and so it was cool to see some of the stuff, though I would've love to have seen the "vibrating football field/continual hopper".

At the end of the tour we ended up in the merchadise/tasting room. Reading the other reviews, they must have changed their policy on how many tastings you can have. They handed out 4 little cardboard dogfish's - one for each beer on tap. So no drink as much as you want - rats!

The staff answered all the questions and were very accommodating, fun and seemingly proud to be a part of the brewery staff.

Overall, a good tour with some fun employee's. My only suggestion, either go back to the unlimited tasting or give out at least one more dogfish token so you can have one more of your favorite after tasting them all.

Monday 21st of April 2008 12:42:35 AM

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This is definitely a great place to visit. I unfortunately missed the beginning of the brewery tour but made it just in time for the end where they started sampling some of the various beers they have available. The staff there was really nice and the atmosphere was friendly and very reminiscent of a nice small town. They have such a interesting variety of ales but unfortunately, the only ones they had available for sampling were their 60 and 90 Minute IPAs, and their Indian Brown Ale. Of course you can consume as much as you want and this aids in purchasing all sorts of "off centered" merchandise.
I would definitely recommend visiting the brewery if you're a fan of hoppy beers and just interesting flavours. IPAs (India Pale Ales) and other hoppy beers aren't really my type but I still enjoyed their selection, I just wish they had more varieties available for sampling. My friends aren't into hoppy beers either and so the lack of a variety of samples didn't help change their minds.

Sunday 2nd of March 2008 03:18:33 PM

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I actually can't believe noone has reviewed the Dogfish Head brewery.
This place is amazing. I literally plan my vacation around when they have tours which is often, so that's good.
This place has grown each time I've been (4 years in a row). The tour is great, they take you through each step, and at the end they provide as much beer as you can handle, which of course aids in your purchase in cases of beer as well as gear (t-shirts, hats, signs, etc).
I highly recommend visiting the Dogfish Head brewery for a tour. And, it's less than 15-20 minutes from the BrewPub in Rehoboth Beach, DE.