K-Dub & DFH

So this weekend (09.05/06.08) I got to go see Keller Williams at the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach and visit Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton Delaware.Todd and I went down to the Bottle & Cork to catch Keller for a 9PM show. We knew Tropical Storm Hanna was coming, but that only made it more interesting. We made it down with plenty of time to pick up our will call tickets and grab a bite to eat at a place called Gary’s Surf Shop (I think). We went it into the show about 8PM and Keller came out just after 9PM.

Keller WilliamsI have never been to the Bottle & Cork before and it is kind of a weird laid out venue. It is a typical open bar band kind of venue with little beer kiosks strewn throughout, but half of the venue was covered and half wasn’t. I’m not sure if this is a beach/temperature thing or if came about because of the smoking ban in Delaware a few years back and that way it was legal to smoke in there, dunno. Anyway, the place was way undersold, maybe 200 people in there, so there was more than enough room for everyone to be covered as the different belt of rain came through. Oh, as you probably would assume, the beer selection sucked – I was drinking $5 Coors Lights out of a can.

I poked around on line for a copy of the set list to post but couldn’t find anything. There was only one taper there and I didn’t talk to him so I probably won’t wind up with a copy of the show though I will still check http://www.archive.org/ to see if anyone posts it. It was a fun set in typical Keller fashion. He opened with “Come As You Are” by Nirvana and played “All Apologies” by them later. He also played a few older Keller tunes that I can’t think of off the top of my head, but I was impressed, pre-Breath stuff. Todd had never seen Keller before and totally had a good time and dug the KW-style, pretty cool. After the show, which was a little over 4 hours, we just hit the pike and went to the beach house.

On Saturday when we woke up we expected it to be a stormy hot mess, but instead it wasn’t even raining yet just very humid. We had 1PM DFH tour tickets, so we just kind of chilled out and ate some breakfast before then. Previous to this summer you did not need tickets (free) to the DFH tour, but they’ve switched up quite a few things. Now they have about five different tour times everyday with each tour being reserved for groups of 35 or less and requiring advanced sign-up via a free ticket system. I have taken the DFH tour maybe 10 times and every time it is different, which is great.

Dogfish HeadThis time when we walked in the new “Tasting Room” was now set-up, which basically was the open bar area they used to have kind of walled-off and pimped-out with DFH gear. They also had a couple small seating areas so you could chill-out. Now they have it set-up so after you check-in you get four tasting “chips” to “cash-in” at the end of the tour for tastes. The tour itself lasted almost an hour which is probably one of the longest tours I’ve ever had there, and out tour guide, Luke, was very good, probably the best tour I’ve had. We got to see all the original equipment, the 100 barrel brew house, the new fermentation vessels including the humongous oak and palo santo wood casks, the largest in the country since pre-prohibition. They were working on the bottling line and the warehouse was basically empty so that was essentially the end of the tour.

After the tour they had Punkin Ale, Raison D’Etre , 60 Minute IPA, and Indian Brown Ale available to taste, and if you asked nicely you could also taste the 90 Minute IPA and the Palo Santo Marron. It was a good time to say the least. Todd picked up two shirts and we were on our way. Todd had never taken the DFH tour before either, but I know he’ll be back.

After the tour, around 2PM, we took the long way home now that the storm had hit so that we could kind of watch it roll in. We went up Route 9 along the Delaware Bay and stopped at a bunch of fishing spots Todd knew to watch the water and the storm. The best stop was probably where the road was basically washed out by crazy black vegetable matter infused water, pretty neat. Around 6PM we made it back to Newark and I drove home to Wilmington. It was a great music/beer/weather weekend.

2 Responses to “K-Dub & DFH”

  1. Jim L Says:

    How’s the chocolate porter that you brewed earlier this year been?

  2. Brian Says:

    I have not gotten to it yet, should be within the next month or so. I will post a review after I have tapped it. Thanks for asking – B

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