Last year, John McKown and I had the pleasure of visiting and touring the Dogfish Head Brewery, located in Milton, Delaware for the first time. We even wrote a blog post about it here. I sampled just about every beer they had available for tasting and I left the facility extremely impressed with the quality of the Midas Touch brand and the story behind the recipe.
This year, I planned my trip a little better. I visited the Dogfish Head website to better educate myself about the products that Dogfish Head Brewery has and I stumbled upon a video called Take Time, you can watch it here. After watching this video, I was sold on the Palo Santo Marron (Holy Tree Brown). The beer tasted amazing, it was great. I tasted the wood, the caramel and vanilla (as promised) and it got better with each drink. I think I had 3 or 4 while I was there.
During the tour of the facility, Sam Calagione showed us the 10,000 gallon Paraguayan Palo Santo wood tank which is the largest built in North America since the prohibition and is used to make this specific beer. Sam explained the challenges of creating such a unique product which he noticed in my hand and he said “Be careful with that, it’s potent”. Boy was he right. I took my wife out for dinner after the event and ordered 2 more Palo Santo’s and the night was over pretty soon after we got home.
I should also mention the food at the event which was catered by the Dogfish Head Brew Pub and new catering venture which I am positive will be another success for Sam. I think those were the largest bay scallops I have ever seen and the shrimp, prosciutto wrapped asparagus and hors d’oeuvres were out of this world. Great Job guy’s, is it next year yet?
As usual I pick a victim for the photo opportunity and this year’s lucky winner was Chuck James from the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.
