Crooked Hammock celebrates Sussex' charm

At the Crooked Hammock in Lewes, it's all about the experience.

When people stop into the new brewpub on Kings Highway just off Route 1, owner Rich Garrahan wants them to feel like they're visiting a friend's house for a barbecue – great food, great beer and great friends hanging out having a fun time.

“The whole spirit of this place is just embracing the idea of a back yard cookout,” Garrahan said.

The nearly 7,000-square-foot brewpub is designed to enhance that feeling. In warmer months, large garage doors will open the bar area to a back yard deck. The back yard features a fire pit, games like cornhole, a children's playground and, of course, hammocks.

“We built the entire building around the idea of the back yard,” Garrahan said. “The kitchen, the brewery and the dining room all surround the back yard.”

The bar area has room for 60 people, while the main dining room accommodates 84 people, 85 people outside and 40 people on the porch. Those sitting at the bar have a view directly into the Crooked Hammock's seven-barrel brewing operation.

With four staple beers and a seasonal, beer lovers will always have a selection of original brews. Head brewer Chris Wright crafts both Belgian and English-style beers for the brewpub, including Hammock Saison, Shoobie Blonde Ale, Mootzy's Treasure IPA and Wright's favorite Backyard Brown Ale.

Originally from upstate New York, Wright earned a master's degree in fermentation from Oregon State University and has worked at Terrapin Beer Company in Georgia and Heavy Seas in Baltimore.

Wright's first beer brewed in Crooked Hammock's brewery was the Wilbon Inaugural Ale, a Belgian tripel that was the winner of an online beer-naming competition earlier this year. Named after one of the hosts of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, the brew will be available for only a short while.

All Crooked Hammock originals are available to go in growlers and crowlers – a 32-ounce can version of a growler that is poured and sealed right on the spot.

For folks looking for something more familiar, local craft brews from breweries like Dogfish Head and 16 Mile are also on tap at all times.

The back yard barbecue feel is also evident on the restaurant side of the brewpub, Garrahan said. The menu features a few entrées, salads, sandwiches and even kabobs, but the heart of the menu is the sides.

“It's reminiscent of the experience so many people have had, being at a back yard cookout and just loading all these great sides onto your plate,” he said.

Every meal starts with a wooden bowl of house-made chips and sour cream and onion dip. Then every menu item comes with something, but an eclectic selection of sides allows folks to crowd their plate with even more, just like they would at a barbecue.

“We want it to be really an about-you option when it comes to pricing,” Garrahan said.

The Crooked Hammock very much wants to be a place for families. In addition to the playground out back, Garrahan said, he's designed a children's menu that should make most parents happy. With nothing more than $2 on the menu, he said, parents can pick and choose how little or how much to order for their kids.

Garrahan came up with the idea for the Crooked Hammock about 10 years ago. After moving to the Cape Region to get more of the beach lifestyle, he realized he was always too busy to actually go to the beach. The closest he would come to that feeling was every night after work.

“I felt like the only time I was getting that escape I moved here for was at the end of the night when I would crack open a beer and lay in a crooked old hammock I had on my back deck,” he said. “To me, it wasn't about the beach, but that emotion.”

He said when he partnered with Josh Grapski of Nage, they were not looking to build a beachy, tropical-themed restaurant, but something that represents the real Sussex County, a rural and laid back area with a unique and special beach.

The restaurant was designed by architect Rich Stokes, who also designed Garrahan's favorite Philadelphia beer garden, Frankford Hall.

When it came to execution of the design, Garrahan said, all craftsmen stepped up. Carpenter Robert Hermanson tipped him off to a man named Richard Mootz. Mootzy made a name for himself as one of the Monument Men who searched for and recovered artifacts stolen by the Nazis during World War II. After returning, Mootzy became notorious for salvaging any usable materials from buildings being demolished across Sussex County. He saved and meticulously stored the materials at his home and has accumulated a number of materials throughout the years.

Hermanson took Garrahan to Mootzy's home and they ended up using materials from his collection for nearly all of the furniture in the restaurant, including the bar and dining tables.

“When we were designing this place, we didn't want to buy shiny new furniture,” Garrahan said. “It was about finding the beauty in the imperfections. Perfectly crooked is a slogan we use a lot for who we are.”

Hermanson was just one of many craftsmen who made the Hammock what it is. To honor everyone who had a hand in building what Garrahan hopes will be a new social hub, their names were painted onto three old hand saws that are on display above the bar.

The Crooked Hammock is open 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day at 36707 Crooked Hammock Way in Lewes. Garrahan says he does not plan to scale back hours in the off season. For more information, go to www.crookedhammockbrewery.com or call 302-644-7837.

“I wanted to build a place I would like to go,” he said.