The old saying is that dogs are a man’s best friend. It’s also been said that a beer is a man best friend. So it’s only natural that many of today’s craft breweries have adopted their dogs as mascots and inspiration for packaging and even their next batch of beer.

A perfect case in point is the Rockville based Nano-brewery, Bay Hound Aleworks. (bayinghoundales.com). A Nano-brewery is described as a brewing operation defined by a less than 4 US beer barrel(470 Liters) brewing system. The name of the brewery doesn’t come from just one dog, but several. Owner and head hound Paul Rinehart loves to tell the story of the dogs that have inspired the brewery name Marmalade, a rescued bloodhound in 2007, Bernie (a bloodhound mix) and the real bass, and Wimsey the brewery mascot and resident blogger. In fact their Lord Wimsey Mild Place Ale is one of their flagship brews. It tied for first place in the July 2012 “Best Of” issue and is available in 22oz bottles at several local retailers .

A little further west in Fredrick, MD is one of the state’s largest breweries Flying Dog Brewery. Originally from Colorado, Flying Dog moved to Fredrick when they purchased Fredrick Brewing company in 2006. This is one of my favorite breweries because of the quality of their beers but also because they push the envelope in terms of styles.
Where does the name Flying Dog come from? Though they don’t use specific dog names on their beers, the art of Ralph Steadman enforces the dog theme. Flying Dog beers are available throughout the states at your favorite retailer.

Check out their website flyingdogales.com and Bayinghoundales.com for brewery tour times and other events.