Our Hootenanny & Our Still

Saturday, January 22, 2011

We enjoyed a sweet Post-Holiday Hootenanny with all our co-workers this past weekend (apologies to any of you that tried to visit our Rehoboth Beach brewpub on Sat night - we were Hootenanny-ing)!

With guests, we had 200+ off-centered Dogfish folks descend on Stingray in downtown Rehoboth Beach for a night off. We had a slew of Dogfish beers on tap and enjoyed fine food, some dancing and bit of karaoke.

This is also the evening we get to pat each other on the back on another fine year and recognize some of our long-term co-workers (10 folks hit the 5 year mark with us in 2010!). We missed a few of our far-flung folks (don't worry, we lifted a glass to them), but had some special guests from across the globe (more on them below).

Here are a few snaps from the night...

hootenanny2011_5year

Claus was the first of our 10 co-workers recognized for 5 years at Dogfish with this superfine wall-mount bottle rack (made by our friend Darryl DuBre of DDD Woodworking).

Wes

Bartender Wes uses a glass to hide his smirk while Sam did his annual karaoke seranade to Wes (a long-time Hootenanny tradition).

cindy

You may think this is Cindy from the Tasting Room, but for the Hootenanny she performed a karaoke tribute to The Pain Relievaz. She rocked the house!

So, those are all the tame photos I can share here. Thank goodness most folks have forgotten my own lovey karaoke voice (or else they weren't in a mind-set to remember it in the first place). A great time was had by all. Thanks to the fine team at Stingray for helping make it a fantastic night!

Speaking of those international guests...

Michael & Tom are two of the super-awesome German welders in town for a 3-month stint at the Milton brewery (installing new tanks). In their downtime (their precious, little downtime), they helped out with a mini project at the distillery last week.We were sorely in need of some still improvements, and they were up to the job! Michael & Tom cut a new hole on the side of the still and welded the new door into the new hole. They also welded the old door permenently to the front. As well as shearing off the threaded bolts that held the old door. These improvements will, first off, make the process a wholle lot safer. Second, with the easier accesibilty inside the still, CIP will be more effectual.

Our distiller Alison is now able to run the still more frequently and without fail. The old door had some gasket issues (potenial vapor leakage). This new door will make her job even more fun (and lots more safe)! Thanks guys for the improvements - Alison, Frankenstill and all the rest of us are grateful!

small still

The new & improved Frankenstill!

Until next time - cheers.