Dogfish Head’s Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits is Back

From Dogfish Head:

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s Annual Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits is Back and Sporting a Brand-New, More ‘Spirited’ Name

Milton, DE , March 2, 2020 – Formerly known as Weekend of Compelling Ales & Whatnot, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s annual, weekend-long celebration of off-centered eats, luscious libations and awesome live music is back, and this year’s lineup of fun-filled events is more compelling than ever. Sporting a brand-new, more ‘spirited’ name, the brewery’s Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits is slated for Friday, March 20 through Sunday, March 22, and will feature an array of happenings at each of Dogfish Head’s coastal Delaware properties – the Dogfish Head Tasting Room & Kitchen in Milton, Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats and Dogfish Head’s Chesapeake & Maine in Rehoboth, and the Dogfish Inn in Lewes.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

6 Cannery Village Center, Milton, DE 19963

The brewery-based party starts on Friday at 4 p.m. with the release of Shadow & Substance. The newest beer out of Dogfish Head’s ‘Wooden … it be nice!’ wild beer program, it was brewed as a dark sour ale base, fermented with Brettanomyces Drei and Brettanomyces Brux, and aged for 18 months in used red wine barrels. After being finished with cherries, figs and cascara, Shadow & Substance was bottle conditioned for a bright and effervescent carbonation. Priced at just $10 per 375ml bottle, this uniquely crafted beer is bursting with tart flavors of cherries, dark fruits and cocoa.

Once folks grab their bottles of Shadow & Substance, they can head over to the bar area, where DJ 45 will be spinning a collection of classic vinyl tunes. His groovy set is best enjoyed alongside a pint or keg-conditioned cocktail from the Dogfish Head Tasting Room & Kitchen’s everchanging list of off-centered offerings.

Saturday welcomes the weekend’s main event, the Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits festival. Happening from 3-7 p.m., it will feature 3oz samples of 16 limited-edition beers, cocktails and spirits, each paired with a delicious bite prepared by the culinary teams from Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, Dogfish Head’s Chesapeake & Maine and the Dogfish Head Tasting Room & Kitchen.

Beers from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

• All the Oats (6.3% ABV) – an oat-centric IPA brewed with malted oats, heirloom oat groats, naked oats and flaked oats mashed in oat milk and generously hopped with CITRA®*, Mosaic, Bru-1, HBC-472 and Amarillo hops
  • Food Pairing – marinated olives with pickled onion
• Vibrant P’Ocean (4.7% ABV) – a kettle sour ale brewed with elderflower, elderberry, lemon slices and Belgian fleur-de-sel blended with a two-year, foeder-aged beer from Brouwerij RODENBACH in Rosealare, Belgium
  • Food Pairing – short rib and brisket burger with pear jam, asiago cheese and bib lettuce
• Macaron Rose Framboise (8.0% ABV) – a sour ale brewed with pureed raspberries, toasted almonds, lemon zest, rosewater, milk sugar and Madagascar vanilla beans
  • Food Pairing – strawberry, no-bake cheesecake with almond crumble
• World Wide Stout Aged in Utopias Barrels (18.0% ABV) – Dogfish Head’s bold Imperial stout aged in freshly emptied Utopias barrels from Sam Adams in Boston, Massachusetts
  • Food Pairing – barbacoa taco with braised beef, Cotija cheese, Pico De Gallo and cilantro
• Cupricious & Cantankardous (7.0% ABV) – a Moscow mule-inspired sour ale brewed with ginger juice, lime juice, lactose, lime peel and kaffir lime leaves
  • Food Pairing – citrus Mojo shrimp ceviche
• Beer For Breakfast: Farmer’s Platter (13.0% ABV) – an Imperial stout brewed with scrapple, maple syrup, oatmeal, milk sugar, brown sugar, applewood smoked malt and cold-press coffee from Rise Up Coffee Roasters, and aged in maple bourbon and rye whiskey barrels
  • Food Pairing – Belgian pearl waffle with crispy scrapple, maple syrup and scrambled eggs
• Honey Dip Trip (10.0% ABV) – an open-fermented Belgian-style Trippel brewed with Anson Mills Abruzzi rye, Himalayan peppercorns, orange peel, coriander and organic African forest honey, and aged in barrels that previously held Dogfish Head Distilling Co. Barrel Honey Rum
  • Food Pairing – curry bowl with garbanzo beans, zucchini, carrot, pepper, onion, garlic, ginger and jasmine rice
• Showy Prose (7.0% ABV) – a cocktail-inspired sour ale brewed with citrus juices and milk sugars, blended with an Amaro-esque infusion of citrus peels, botanicals, herbs and spices, and aged in freshly emptied Dogfish Head Distilling Co. Alternate Takes Whiskey barrels
  • Food Pairing – mini citrus cupcake
• Knuckles, Bats & Homemade Tats (6.0% ABV) – a mixed culture sour brewed in collaboration with The Veil in Richmond, Virginia, and aged on hibiscus and red, white and black currants
  • Food Pairing – dry-rubbed wings with blue cheese dressing
• Rye Barrel-Aged 120 Minute IPA (18.0% ABV) – Dogfish Head’s Imperial IPA aged in Sagamore Spirits Rye Whiskey barrels and assertively dry hopped with a blend of Pacific northwest hops
  • Food Pairing – mini beef on weck sandwich with au jus, horseradish and a salt and carraway bun
• Shadow & Substance (7.0% ABV) – a barrel-aged dark sour ale with cherries, Mission figs and Costa Rican cascara for notes of dark fruit, tobacco and coffee
  • Food Pairing – grilled street corn, Cotija cheese and cilantro
• Much Malarky (5.5% ABV) – a dry rye Irish-ish stout brewed with coriander, mustard seed and black pepper
  • Food Pairing – smoked Maine trout dip with crisp lavash
• The Final Date (4.7% ABV) – a northern European rye pilsner brewed with floor malted pilsner malt and malted rye, and hopped with German Noble hops
  • Food Pairing – slow-roasted garden herb pork belly with chopped coleslaw

Cocktails & Spirits from Dogfish Head Distilling Co.

• Strawberry Honeyberry Vodka Lemonade (7.0% ABV) – Analog Vodka distilled with honeyberries and strawberries, and blended with a house-made lemonade
  • Food Pairing – lettuce wrap with water chestnut, bean sprouts, cabbage, green onion butter, miso and soy sauce
• Kumquat Whiskey Sour Kakutera (7.0% ABV) – Straight Whiskey blended with kumquat juice, lemon juice, simple syrup and a dash of hopped grapefruit bitters
  • Food Pairing – dark chocolate mousse with candied kumquat and vanilla bean creme
• Alternate Takes, Volume 2: Whiskey Finish in Palo Santo Marron Ale Barrels (40% ABV) – a savory, batch-distilled whiskey with a grain bill of malted barley, applewood smoked malt, coffee kilned malt and crystal malt, aged in casks that previously held Dogfish Head’s Palo Santo Marron
  • Food Pairing – beer-braised chicken and dirty rice with Pico De Gallo, guacamole and Cotija cheese

**Offerings are subject to change based on availability and awesomeness.**

But that’s not all, folks! Festival goers will each receive a complimentary tap handle. They will also have the chance to tour Dogfish Head’s production facility and Steampunk Treehouse. Tours are included in the price of admission and fill up fast. To ensure a spot on a tour, it is best to sign up upon arrival.

VIP ticketholders will have access to two, carefully curated sessions that dive deep into the innerworkings of Dogfish Head’s brewery and distillery. One session, ‘Let’s Get Wild!,’ will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the brewery’s funky, ‘Wooden … it be nice!’ wild ale program. The other, a ‘Dogfish Head Distilling Co. R&D Tasting,’ will allow guests to sample a selection of Dogfish Head Distilling Co.’s unique, unreleased whiskeys and Booze for Breakfast, a coffee liqueur created in collaboration with Rise Up Coffee Roasters.

Tickets are available at www.dogfish.com/wocaas/buy-tickets.

• General Admission – $65 per person ($75 per person day of event, if available) – Ticket price includes an event tasting glass, 16 3oz samples, 16 food pairings, and tours of the brewery and Steampunk Treehouse.
• Designated Driver – $35 per person – Ticket price includes 16 food samples, tours of the brewery and Steampunk Treehouse, and sodas.
• **SOLD OUT** – VIP Admission – $100 per person – Ticket price includes all the perks of general admission, as well as early (2 p.m.) entry to the event, access to two VIP sessions and 15% off at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats and Dogfish Head’s Chesapeake & Maine all weekend (must show ticket to receive discount).

VIP tickets may be sold out, but there is still one last opportunity for Dogfish Head fans to enjoy all the weekend’s VIP perks and more – the Dogfish Inn’s SuperSWEET VIP INN-clusive experience. This package includes two nights in the Dogfish Inn’s canal-front SuperSWEET rental property, two VIP tickets to the Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits festival, a pre-festival breakfast with Dogfish Head Founder, Sam Calagione, and transportation to and from the event’s off-centered happenings. More information is available at www.dogfish.com/wocaas/buy-tickets.

Other Important Information

Dogfish Head and Jolly Trolley are teaming up to offer guests transportation to and from Saturday’s Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits festival. The Jolly Trolley shuttle will run from Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton and back. Tickets are $10 per person each way and must be reserved online prior to the event. Tickets are available at www.jollytrolley.com/pay-per-seat.html until Friday, March 20 at 1:15 p.m. Shuttle schedule is as follows.

• Rehoboth to Milton – 1:15 p.m. (VIP ticketholders only), 2:20 p.m. & 3:25 p.m.
• Milton to Rehoboth – 6 p.m. & 7:15 p.m.

The Dogfish Head Tasting Room & Kitchen will be closed to the public on Saturday, March 21. The Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits festival is a 21+ event and dogs are not permitted. Close-toed shoes are required for those touring Dogfish Head’s production facility.

The fun does not have to end once the festival is over. On Sunday, the Dogfish Head Tasting Room & Kitchen will host an All-Day Can Happy Hour featuring $1 off canned beers from open to close.

Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

320 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth, DE 19971

Throughout the weekend, Dogfish Head’s Rehoboth brewpub will host a plethora of original music on its world-class stage. On Friday at 10 p.m., Braxton Hicks steals the spotlight. An indie-rock band from Dover, Delaware, Braxton Hicks commands the stage, playing upbeat, buzzy, guitar-driven songs with strong pop hooks and a solid new wave influence. No cover.

Saturday’s featured performers make up the Cliff Hillis Duo. Starting at 10 p.m., they will be entertaining with a mix of catchy music that evokes the sunny pop aesthetic of the 60s and 70s. No cover.

On Sunday, the brewpub will offer a post-WOCAAS brunch, complete with a mouth-watering menu of offbeat eats and drinks. Brunch will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reservations not accepted.

Dogfish Head’s Chesapeake & Maine

316 Rehoboth Ave, Rehoboth, DE 19971

Chesapeake & Maine is kicking off the weekend with an All-Night Happy Hour on Friday featuring half-priced draft beers, half-priced keg-conditioned cocktails, ‘buck a shuck’ oysters and a selection of food specials. To accompany diners’ meals, Bruce Anthony will be in the house from 5-7 p.m., playing a lively set of smooth jazz songs.

On Saturday, guests can stop by from 6-9 p.m. to enjoy the sounds of the George & Pat Bilenki Duo. This twosome has been making music together since the day they fell in love. Their tight vocal harmonies and soulful renditions of covers, along with a couple of originals sprinkled throughout, make George & Pat Bilenki’s live performances oh-so entertaining.

Finally, what better way to close out the weekend than with a $12 lobster? Chesapeake & Maine’s Lobster Party Sunday special features 1.25lb whole Maine lobsters for just $12 each. This dine-in only offer is available from 12-9 p.m., while supplies last. Reservations are highly recommended and can be made by calling 302-644-3000.

For more information about Dogfish Head, its off-centered ales and Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits, please visit www.dogfish.com.

*CITRA® is a registered trademark of Hop Breeding Company, LLC and is used under license.

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Dogfish Head Craft Brewery:

Dogfish Head has proudly focused on brewing beers with culinary ingredients outside the Reinheitsgebot since the day it opened as the smallest American craft brewery nearly 25 years ago. Dogfish Head has grown into a top-20 craft brewery and won numerous awards throughout the years, including Wine Enthusiast’s 2015 Brewery of the Year and the James Beard Foundation Award for 2017 Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional. A Delaware-based brand with Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, an off-centered brewpub and distillery, Chesapeake & Maine, a geographically-enamored seafood restaurant, Dogfish Inn, a beer-themed inn on the harbor, and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, a production brewery and distillery featuring the Tasting Room & Kitchen and Dogfish Head Distilling Co., Dogfish Head is a supporter of the Independent Craft Brewing Seal, the definitive icon for American craft breweries to identify themselves to be independently-owned and carry the torch of transparency, brewing innovation and the freedom of choice originally forged by brewing community pioneers. Dogfish Head currently sells beer in 49 states and Washington D.C. For more information, visit www.dogfish.com, Facebook: @dogfishheadbeer, Twitter: @dogfishbeer, and Instagram: @dogfishhead.