Weekend filled with interesting beers and spirits
icked off on Friday afternoon with a fireside chat featuring Dogfish Head Founder Sam Calagione at the Dogfish Inn. After talking shop and celebrating the craft, the party moved over to Brewing & Eats, Dogfish’s Rehoboth Beach brewpub, for an old-fashioned beer dinner. Four courses later, fans enjoyed some local live music.
After resting and digesting, participants awoke on Saturday ready for the weekend’s pièce de résistance. The gathering took to the Milton Brewery for a guided tasting experience among packaging equipment, fermenters, and other ale-centric apparatuses. Guests enjoyed 12 beer and food pairing experiences along the way.
The highlight pairings included Salsa Shrapnel Lager brewed with lime, sea salt, cobanero chili, black pepper, cilantro, and tomato juice served with green chili and pepper jack tamales. Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale was paired with a classic grilled cheese. Ideophone, an extra pale dry-hopped lager, was lined up next to a Maine lobster roll. Myka’s Freekeh Deekeh Wheat Ale brewed with freekeh, black lime, raisins, coriander, cumin, and cinnamon bark. This one was served with a braised lamb & freekeh salad. Dākumōdo, a black lager brewed with black rice, kokuto black sugar, and wakoucha tea, was paired alongside a squid ink clam chowder with sugar-fried leeks.
To finish the weekend, Dogfish held a lobster brunch at their seafood-inspired restaurant, Chesapeake & Maine, on Sunday. Specialty drinks, courtesy of Lead Mixologist Ryan Warwick, were served up alongside a plethora of fun plates, making it a perfect way to start the day after a long weekend. Two thumbs up for this weekend’s beer and food bonanza; next year can’t come soon enough.