Dogfish Head gearing up for new Rehoboth restaurant
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats is saying goodbye to its original building with a May 7 "last call" party and will offer limited tours of its new multi-million dollar Rehoboth Beach brewpub expected to open by mid May.
The flagship Dogfish Head site at 320 Rehoboth Ave., which has helped make Delaware a tourist destination, has been a part of the landscape for 22 years.
Since last year, owners Mariah and Sam Calagione have been building a larger brewpub next door to the successful, yet aging, location in what had been the site's parking lot.
A grand opening party for the modern brewpub that the Calagiones have said carries a $4 million price tag is set for June 2 with the Richard Lloyd band.
The new restaurant will have updated equipment, a state-of-the-art brewing system and improved layout for live music. The May 7 party from 7 to 10 p.m. will give visitors a "sneak peek tour" of the 9,400-square-foot building. It will be the last day of food service at the pub until the other building is scheduled to open around mid May.
The original pub will remain open throughout the summer for guests to purchase merchandise and to fill growlers and crowlers to-go. The old building eventually will be razed and replaced with a beer patio that will connect the site to the Calagiones' seafood restaurant Chesapeake & Maine at 316 Rehoboth Ave., which they opened in March 2016.
It's a heady time for Dogfish Head, the smallest American brewery when it opened in 1995. The company, based in Milton, has grown into a top-20 craft brewery and currently sells beer in 35 states and Washington, D.C. It plans to expand sales into more states this year.
Sam Calagione, founder of the Milton craft brewery, has received his seventh consecutive James Beard Award finalist nomination in the category of most outstanding Wine, Beer, or Spirits Professional. The prestigious award, considered one of the highest U.S. honors for food and beverage professionals, is given to a beer, wine, or spirits professional who has made a significant national impact on the restaurant industry.
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Calagione will be competing on May 1 in Chicago against fellow Beard nominees Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Cider in Dugspur, Virginia; Miljenko Grgich of Grgich Hills Estate in Rutherford, California; Aldo Sohm of New York City's Zalto Glass; and Rob Tod of Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine.
Calagione is the lone beverage and culinary professional representing Delaware at the Beard Awards this year. Chesapeake & Maine was named earlier this year by the James Beard Foundation as having one of the best bar programs in the United States. The Rehoboth restaurant focuses on seafood from the Chesapeake region and from Maine, and it serves creative cocktails using Dogfish Head's own line of distilled spirits.
Dogfish Head founder and CEO Sam Calagione also is planning to release a new book in August titled, "Project Extreme Brewing: An Enthusiast's Guide to Extreme Brewing at Home."
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats serves wood-grilled pizzas, steaks, seafood and sandwiches and customers know they can find in-house-only experimental brews and small-batch spirits at the restaurant. For more than 20 years, residents and tourists have been making year-round pilgrimages to Rehoboth to sample its latest "off-centered," award-winning beer creations. In 2015, Wine Enthusiast named Dogfish Head its Brewery of the Year.
Yet, the quest to build a new Dogfish Head brewpub in Rehoboth initially had a rocky start.
The Rehoboth Avenue building that now houses the restaurant had once been home to a crab house, and later became "a succession of failed restaurants," Sam Calagione has said. The Calagiones wanted to create a better atmosphere for customers and improve the aging restaurant's look with a new structure that's about 1,500 square feet larger than the original site.
But in April 2015, when the couple initially asked the city's Board of Adjustment for permission to expand and create a modern building, they were turned down. One board member even suggested they move the business out of downtown Rehoboth.
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Many in the Rehoboth business community were stunned and angry by the board's decision, citing that the year-round restaurant and distillery is not only a tourist destination with a well-regarded national reputation, but its popularity helps other businesses, especially during winter months.
Dogfish Head eventually received city approval to tear down the brewpub and create a new building that will feature an outdoor courtyard and a stage area for concerts. Co-owner Mariah Calagione has said the renovations will take place in two stages and the brewpub will remain open during construction.
The new Dogfish Head brewpub will likely be the last restaurant of its scale in Rehoboth. In November 2016, Rehoboth Beach commissioners voted on restaurant size limits. Eateries that serve alcohol within the city will now be allowed 2,500 square feet of seated dining area and 500 square feet of bar area, with no limits on storage or kitchen space.
This is a change from the previously allowed 5,000-square-foot total — an area regulation that had been in effect for two decades. The ordinance also regulates brewpubs, dining establishments which make, bottle and sell alcohol on site. Such establishments will only be allowed to produce up to 4,000 barrels of beer per year.
Dogfish Head's original brewpub, which clocks in at 8,280 square feet, has always been grandfathered in past that rule.
Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico