The story of Dogfish Head began in June of 1995 when we opened
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, the first state's first brewpub opened
in the resort beach community of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The plan was
to bring original beer, original food, and original music to the area.
Not only was Dogfish Head Delaware’s first brewpub, it was the smallest commercial brewery in America. Our very first batch, Shelter Pale Ale, was brewed on a system which essentially was three little kegs with propane burners underneath. Brewing 12–gallon batches of beer for a whole restaurant proved to be more than a full time job. When the doors to the pub first opened, we brewed three times a day, five days a week! The one benefit to brewing on such a small system was the ability to try out a myriad of different recipes. We quickly got bored brewing the same things over and over – that’s when we started adding all sorts of weird ingredients and getting kind of crazy with the beers!
Recent Reviews
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Nancy : 5 on 5/8/2026 10:35 pm
Best brewery tour! The 60 minute tour with Brian was informative and fun! I don't drink but I planned it for friends who were in town visiting and I had a great time learning the history of the brewery and seeing how beer is brewed. We even got to go into the tree house. Great time! Samples were a plus.
Nancy
1778279735
5
5
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Mandy Rousselle : 4 on 5/6/2026 11:54 pm
Flights are a good price, especially compared to lots of other breweries.
Nice outside area to enjoy a beer.
Staff is not rude but not friendly either, maybe it was just the day.
Nice outside area to enjoy a beer.
Staff is not rude but not friendly either, maybe it was just the day.
Mandy Rousselle
1778111653
4
5
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Karl Justice : 5 on 1/18/2026 3:26 pm
My wife and I got the 60-minute Tour from Tara and it was the best hour of the vacation! Full of funny anecdotes, multiple tastings, history, and just delightful banter. I'm almost upset over the number of unique beers that are only avaliable there and never make it to stores. Both my wife and I loved the black lager with smoked black cardamom and chili!
Tara was also our "flight attendant" at the bar afterwards. Cannot overstate how much we adored both Tara and the entire vibe start to finish.
Tara was also our "flight attendant" at the bar afterwards. Cannot overstate how much we adored both Tara and the entire vibe start to finish.
Karl Justice
1768750018
5
5
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Modal title