7th Settlement pays homage to beer and Dover

A community supported brewery

From left: 7th Settlement founders David Boynton and Josh Henry Photo by Larry Bean

The name of Dover’s first community-funded and -supported brewpub, which opened in November in the Cocheco Millworks, comes from the host city being the seventh settlement in the New World and co-owner/co-brewmaster Josh Henry and his partners paying homage to the area’s captivating history.

7th Settlement’s Gerrish India Pale Ale is named as tribute to Captain Richard Gerrish, who built and sailed trading ships from Dover to the sub-continent in the late 1600s. The Black Day Porter reintroduced this fall reminds that there was a flood that swept through the city in 1896, destroying the mills and silting the Cocheco River. The 1623 Brown Ale, made from a complex recipe resulting in a bold beverage, marks the year Dover was established.

Still, there is plenty new brewing here, where the award-winning kitchen creates everything, right down to the condiments, from scratch, using farm-to-table products from about 50 local vendors. Even the wet and dry hops for the Black IPA come from the newly established Isinglass River Hops Exchange in nearby Strafford. The seasonal Peter Peter Pumpkin Beer, named not for the fairytale pumpkin eater but for Henry’s father and brother, tastes like autumn with freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg added to the mash to complement the sweetness of the brown ale without masking its flavor. The Harvest Oktoberfest remains true to the classic German style with specific yeast and malt but at the same time has a decidedly American flair.

But the best time to come by may be the first and third Fridays of every month when a traditional 10.8-gallon cask containing a one-time firkin beer, inspired by whatever struck the fancy of the brewmasters at the moment it was created, is tapped right on top of the bar so the beer can flow freely into many of the 300 mugs purchased individually by community supporters.