Visiting Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

There’s an interesting West Virginia connection at Dogfish Head Craft Brewery that you probably don’t know about. While visiting there this summer, I met up with three folks, who earlier in their careers all spent time in Morgantown. Today, they’re an integral part of creating the unique Dogfish Head experience — that off-centered one you’ll get to know when you visit the Delaware brewery’s facilities at Milton and Rehoboth Beach.

Let’s start with Matt Fetherston, who serves as Dogfish Head’s Off-Centered Tour and Tasting Room Manager.  I first met Matt while he was helping out with Dogfish Head’s West Virginia market launch last summer. From 2003 to 2007, Matt was director of food and beverage at Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown. “I really love the people there,” he said. “I made some good friends when I lived in West Virginia that I’m still in contact with today.”

“Now, I’m responsible for hospitality at the Milton, Delaware campus,” Matt explains. At the Milton brewery he oversees all public and private tours, the tasting room, merchandise store, and the new tasting room kitchen that cooks up pizza, salads, calzones, sandwiches, and desserts, many of which are beer infused.

Tours and Tastings

The tour at Dogfish Head has to be among the best in the business. To say that every aspect of the brewery has an interesting story, is an understatement. Many of them are related to things brewery founder Sam Calagione either did or wanted to do. You’ll learn so many cool anecdotes, it’s hard to keep track of them all.

You will have your pick of several super tour options, depending on your level of interest and the time you have. Some tours do not require advance reservations, while other do. Since some tour options may sell out in advance, buying tour tickets ahead of time is a smart idea.

“Every beer we produce has a story,” Matt says. “Everything we do has a story.” He explains that Calagione was an English major in college, so he’s very passionate about the story. “Everything he’s done, from the development of our brewpub, to developing our food inspired beers, everything has a story.”

The stories will have you laughing; they’ll have you amazed. Some you may find some hard to believe, but they are all part of the lore that elevates a visit to Dogfish Head from the ordinary.

Before and after your tour, you’ll definitely have fun in the tasting room. Goodness gracious, there’s 27 taps including many experimental and barrel-aged specialties. Where else can you play bocce ball while drinking an ultra fresh beer. The kitchen menu will make you happy too.

Story tellers are social too

If you follow Dogfish Head on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you’ll see another West Virginia connection at work. As the social media specialist for Dogfish Head Companies, Janelle Mazur supports everything from the brewery to the hospitality operations, and also produces website content.

In the summer of 2011, Janelle did an internship at Dogfish Head while she was a student at West Virginia University. After finishing her degree that December, she came back to work for the brewery and has never left. As much as anyone today, she helps tell that off-centered Dogfish story.

Her responsibilities keep her in close touch with all aspects of the operations, so she always knows the things not to miss during your visit to the brewery.

“You have to check out both our locations, Milton and Rehoboth,” Janelle says, “because, while they’re both Dogfish, they each have their own unique feel.”

One unique part of each location is the beer. In Milton, the R&D brewing system supplies some extra unusual beers to the tasting room, and the brewpub system keeps a different group of unique beers on tap in Rehoboth. Of course, at both you can also purchase Dogfish’s flagship brands.

Pair some food with your beer

While visiting Dogfish in Rehoboth, you will definitely want to have lunch or dinner at one of their restaurants. The food is first-rate, and that brings me to the third West Virginia connection.

Ryan Schwamberger is general manager of the two Dogfish Head restaurants in Rehoboth: Brewings & Eats and Chesapeake & Maine. He’s worked in that role for about five years and is a former WVU marketing major and was also a hospitality worker at Waterfront Place in Morgantown during the mid-2000s.

Food is his thing. The brewpub restaurant, Brewings & Eats, features wood grilled burgers, wood fired pizza, salads, sandwiches and tacos. Chesapeake & Maine is a newer venue next door focusing on fresh seafood from the Chesapeake Bay and Maine’s coastal waters. Beyond beer, it features spirits from the on-site distillery. “We have an amazing cocktail program over there,” Ryan says.

They come from all over

As tour director, Fetherston gets to meet folks from all around the world. Largely due to the highly visible profile maintained by Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione, the brewery attracts loads of tourists from everywhere, even though its location is pretty out of the way.

“This is a destination; they come here to learn,” Matt says. “It’s pretty awesome that I get to do this for a living.”

Schwamberger explains the Dogfish visitor experience another way. Before joining the Dogfish Head team, Ryan spent a few years working at Disney World. He sees some interesting parallels.

“You see the excitement on the kids faces when they come to Disney. Here, it’s like that with adults. You see how excited they are to actually to be at Dogfish. It’s pretty wild the similarities.”

Matt says one thing that often surprises beer tourists is finding out how large the brewery actually is. “They don’t realize that we are the 13th largest craft brewery in the United States out of 6,000 plus. They don’t realize we are in the top 20 of all breweries in the country.”

It’s a passionate Dogfish team

Sam Calagione has been heard to describe his brewery as off-centered goodness for off-centered people. In that, he includes all the 380 people who make. sell, and serve the beer.

Each of the three former West Virginia residents seems truly passionate about working on the Dogfish team. Matt says his favorite part of the job is the people he works with.

“The brewers make the beer; we educate; we do the tours; we serve the beer. Together we’re all just working for the greater good, spreading that goodness of Dogfish.”

Part of keeping things off-centered encompasses some unpredictability. Janelle says the favorite part of her job is that it’s ever-changing. “I never know what I’m going to get into. It’s just something exciting and different every day.”

Says Ryan, “We have such an amazing culture here at Dogfish and such a great group of people we work with. It’s really enjoyable to come to work.”

It’s that kind of enthusiasm that puts visiting this place on another level. As a visitor, you just don’t feel this kind of vibe most places. Off-centered, or whatever you want to call it, it sure is fun.

Make a Visit, Find More to do in the area

With our three brewery staffers all familiar with the drive between Dogfish Head and West Virginia, they invite Mountain State beer fans to come on over.

“We’re two hours from Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore,” Fetherston says. “It’s all back roads and farm county. It’s not a bad drive out of West Virginia.

“Eco-tourism is big here. We’re right on the water. We have the bay and the ocean. You can go boating, kayaking, deep-sea fishing, and paddle boarding. You can go trail hiking in the state parks. There’s fresh seafood everywhere.”

Ryan adds that the Delaware beaches and little beach towns are his favorite part of the area. He recommends coming in the spring and fall shoulder seasons when it’s not so crowded and prices are more moderate. “There’s so many amazing restaurants and bars and breweries in a small area. It’s a really nice getaway that’s not too far away,” he says.

If you are looking for a place to stay in the center of Dogfish world, the company also operates the Dogfish Inn. It’s located conveniently nearby the breweries in the quaint tourist town of Lewes, Delaware.

Brewery website link

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