A while ago, I was having a conversation with my friend Jesse. Like most of our conversations, the topic turned to beer. I think I was talking about Laughing Dog’s Dogzilla Black IPA. Jesse said that it was funny how many breweries had either the word “dog” or “river” in their name. He said that if he started a brewery, it would be called River Dog Brewing. This got me thinking about just how prevalent these two themes are in craft brewing.
Since everyone loves lists, here are some breweries that bear a dog or river name. I’m sure there are many others, but I’m too lazy to open up Google in another tab.
- Big Dog’s
- Brew Dog
- Flying Dog
- Hair of the Dog
- Laughing Dog
- Sea Dog
- Thirsty Dog
- Bent River
- Eel River
- Mad River
- New River
- River Horse
- Rush River
- Russian River
- Six Rivers
- Trout River
Besides brewery names, these themes are also common in beer names and imagery. Lagunitas uses a dog for it’s logo. Another can be found on Widmer’s Drop Top amber. Bridgeport and Full Sail are both references to Columbia River. New Belgium scores a mark in both categories with Mighty Arrow and Skinny Dip. Mighty Arrow was named after CEO Kim Jordan’s dog, Arrow. Skinny Dip features a river in it’s logo.
3 Busy Dogs has taken the combination of beer and dogs a step further. No, they are not brewing beer from dogs. They are making non-alchoholic beers for dogs. They currently offer their Bowser Beer in two varieties; Beefy Brown Ale and Cock-a-Doodle Brew.
Rivers are also helping to shape a current trend in craft brewing; can bottling. Cans are better suited for river activities like rafting and tubing. Fat Tire, Boont Amber, Moose Drool and Trout Slayer are all now available in cans. Caldera, Oskar Blues and 21st Amendment are breweries that bottle exclusively in cans.
So, I think Jesse was onto something with River Dog Brewing. If I stopped at a market on the way to the river, dogs loaded in the car; I could see myself reaching for a 6 pack of River Dog beer. Well, that is assuming my dogs didn’t loathe the river. Oh well, I think I can get away with using fictitious situation to determine my likeliness of purchasing a fictitious beer. In any case, a prost to beer, dogs and rivers.
Cheers!
Kevin