One of our favorite things to do on our 50 state road trip is to check out breweries, wineries, distilleries, etc. in places we visit. One of the benefits of these locations is that they’re often pet-friendly in one way or another, whether that’s an outdoor patio where pups are allowed or even inside sometimes at places that don’t serve food.
Something we’ve found on our domestic travels is that in places where there isn’t much to do, places to drink abound. I don’t just mean bars, but there’s usually a disproportionately high number of craft breweries, distilleries, etc. and Delaware was no exception.
We stayed in the Lewes/Rehoboth Beach area of Delaware at the new Hyatt House. I’d used Groupon to look for local things to do at a discount and came across a meadery whose website said they were pet-friendly. I then noticed Dogfish Head – a brewery whose beers I’d often seen but never tried – was based nearby and was also pet-friendly.
Upon further investigation, it seemed like many places were pup-friendly, so we decided to try and visit as many as we could. So here’s a list of the 5 pet-friendly places to drink that we visited while in Lewes/Rehoboth Beach, DE.
1) Brimming Horn Meadery
Our first stop was the Viking-themed Brimming Horn Meadery in nearby Milton, DE. In case you’re not familiar with mead, it’s a honey-based alcoholic drink.
This was the meadery I’d found on Groupon; you can find the deal here (our affiliate link). We weren’t sure how many meads they’d have, so I bought the Groupon for two flights of four samples of mead for two people which cost $12.
It turns out that they have a dozen different meads on tap, with something like 2-3 other meads available too. If there are two of you and you’d like to try all of them, it might be worth going for the other Groupon option which is $21 for four flights of four samples of mead for four people; that way you can try some of each others.
The meads I chose were:
- 4 – Drengr: Off dry traditional, wildflower honey, lightly carbonated
- 6 – Freya’s Kiss: Mesquite honey, semi-sweet
- 8 – Vingthor: Honey, red currants, sweet
- 11 – Of Earth & Oak: Dark caramelized honey & white grapes, amphora fermented, oak aged, sweet
From what I can remember, my favorite of these was Vingthor as it was both sweet and a little tart due to the red currants.
The meads that Shae chose were:
- 1 – African Sunset: Honey, rooibos tea, peach rooibos tea, lightly carbonated
- 6 – Freya’s Kiss: Mesquite honey, semi-sweet
- 9 – Blackberry Elderberry Wine: Elderberry & blackberry fruit wine, semi-sweet
- 10 – Öndurdis: Buckwheat honey, wildflower honey & lingonberries, semi-sweet
Brimming Horn Meadery has both indoor and outdoor seating. It was chilly the day we visited, so we were pleased that Truffles got to come along and join us inside because they don’t have a kitchen serving food. Truffles sought out – and got – all kinds of attention from Brimming Horn’s employees and some fellow drinkers, so the photo below was a rare moment she was resting. We’d gone for a walk and play on Rehoboth Beach earlier that afternoon, so she was pretty tired by this point.
Despite not having a kitchen at the meadery itself, Brimming Horn does have the Hammer & Horns food truck on-site serving some tasty-sounding dishes. You can bring food from the food truck into the meadery, but the fact that meals aren’t prepared inside is the reason pups are allowed in too.
If you’re planning a visit, something worth noting is that at the time of our visit in November 2022 they didn’t offer tastings or full pours on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday as they don’t have any bar staff on site.
Brimming Horn Meadery Address
28615 Lewes Georgetown Hwy, Milton, DE 19968
2) Dewey Beer Co
A couple of days later we returned to Rehoboth Beach. After going for a walk along the beach, we drove a couple of miles south to Dewey Beach in order to visit Dewey Beer Co.
It was a much warmer day that day, so we were happy to sit outside at Dewey Beer Co as dogs are only allowed on their patio rather than inside too.
I normally go for darker beers like stouts and porters and Dewey Beer Co had a number of those available. However, they had a wider-ranging selection of beers available, some of which were fruit beers. While I’m not a big fan of sours, some of the descriptions of the fruit beers were intriguing and so I ordered their Berry Rocky Road beer, while Shae had a glass of white wine.
Oh my word, the Berry Rocky Road beer was incredible! It was a beer, but it wasn’t. It was almost like drinking a fruit smoothie and was so good that Shae loved it too when she tried it and she doesn’t like beer. Its description is:
Strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, chocolate-based ice cream thrills. Soft fluffy marshmallow confection & chopped walnuts
Now, that might sound weird, but it was delicious. It was like a chocolate-raspberry delight and I could’ve happily had many of those to drink.
I was curious about their other beers though, so I decided to get a couple of stouts – Chocolate Bars & Mocha Stars and The Dynamite Kid (Shae was the designated driver and so she only had the one glass of wine). The Dynamite Kid was good, although of the two stouts I preferred the Chocolate Bars & Mocha Stars.
In fact, I enjoyed the Berry Rocky Road and Chocolate Bars & Mocha Stars beers so much that I grabbed a four pack of each to go. Not before Truffles had started taking a nap though.
There was a cocktail on the menu that Shae wished that she’d ordered, so we returned to Dewey Beer Co a few days later for dinner. As it was cold and in the evening, we left Truffles at the hotel so we could sit inside.
The cocktail she’d wanted was their Roundhouse Rum Punch which contained blended tropical fruit juices, and Plantation white rum. I couldn’t resist ordering their Berry Rocky Road again.
Dewey Beer Co Address
Dewey Beer Co has a couple of locations – one in Dewey Beach and one in Harbeson. We visited the Dewey Beach location both times which is at 2100 Coastal Hwy, Dewey Beach, DE 19971.
3) Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Dogfish Head is a brewery I was familiar with in terms of its name as I’d seen their beers stocked in Kroger stores. However, I don’t think I’d tried them before we visited their brewery in Milton, DE which was about 10 miles west of our hotel in Lewes.
They had a wide range of beers available on tap:
They also had a good selection of cocktails for those who don’t want a beer (like Shae):
We got there fairly late in the evening, so we only had just over an hour there. Shae was our designated driver, so she only had one drink – an Uncle Jon’s Hurricane. She’d loved the hurricanes we’d had in New Orleans at Pat O’Brien’s (where hurricane drinks originated) and she enjoyed the one at Dogfish Head too.
I wasn’t sure we’d have an opportunity to return before leaving Delaware, so I wanted to make the most of it. They had several dark beers available and I managed to try three during our visit, all of which were excellent:
- Something Atomic – Hummingbird cake-inspired pastry stout with banana, pineapple and pecans
- In The Darkness Below – Oyster stout with Arrowhead Point oysters, squid ink, purple kelp, black salt & lactose (it tasted better than it sounds!)
- Wake Up World Wide Stout – A breakfast-themed imperial stout with Rise Up cold-press coffee & maple syrup
I’m more of a whiskey drinker nowadays, so it’s rare that I’ll have three beers in quick succession. What I hadn’t taken into account was how strong those three beers were. All three were 10oz pours, but Something Atomic was 12% ABV, In The Darkness Below was 10% ABV, while Wake Up World Wide Stout was a whopping 15%-17% ABV! Having all three over the course of an hour proved to be a little (or a lot) excessive and knocked me out for the rest of the night.
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has a kitchen on site, although it’s set outside and seems to function more like a food truck without it being an actual food truck. That means they have food on site, but it also means that dogs are allowed both inside and outside.
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Address
6 Cannery Village Center, 6 Village Center Blvd, Milton, DE 19968
4) Beach Time Distilling
While at Brimming Horn Meadery, we got chatting to some of their employees and got tips for other great places to drink. One of those was Beach Time Distilling which was only a few minutes from our hotel.
Beach Time Distilling makes a variety of rums, whiskeys and gins, as well as a vodka. You can try all those different spirits neat, or get them mixed into cocktails.
We both decided to do their spirits-tasting flight as they’re served as small portions in tiny disposable plastic cups. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m more of a whiskey drinker nowadays. Their whiskey was good, but my favorite spirit of theirs was the Beach Fire Spiced Rum.
Shae and I had been taking it in turns to be designated drivers, so that evening I was the driver. She therefore treated herself to one of their cocktails – a Pirate Punch. That contains their Beach Town Silver Rum, coconut cream, pineapple and cranberry.
Beach Time Distilling is another dog-friendly drinking establishment where pups are allowed inside.
Beach Time Distilling Address
32191 Nassau Rd #5, Lewes, DE 19958
5) Big Oyster Brewery
The final place we visited was on our way out of town. We stopped by Big Oyster Brewery as we left Delaware to drive down to Virginia.
Shae ordered a glass of Prosecco and I asked for a Shuck It (Nitro). Unfortunately they were out of that beer, so I ordered a Noir et Bleu instead. That was described as a Belgian tripel brewed with blueberries and cold-steeped on black tea with notes of esters, clove, banana and blueberries. It was very good and reminded me of hefeweizens.
Although dogs aren’t allowed inside the main building, they are allowed outside. They even have a couple of pet-friendly heated tents outside, so we weren’t stuck sitting out in the cold.
Big Oyster Brewery Address
1007 Kings Hwy, Lewes, DE 19958
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