Flying Dog Brewery

Status: Operational

Established: 1990

Visitor Policy: Not generally accessible

Tel: +1 301 694 7899

Website: http://www.flyingdogales.com

In 1983, George Stranahan, the driving force behind Flying Dog, successfully climbed K2 and ended his amateur mountaineering expedition by drinking beer in a Pakistani hotel bar. A few beers later he noticed a painting on the wall depicting a dog with wings – a Pakistani artist’s interpretation of an English Bird Dog. Years later, in 1990 when he started brewing beer at his pub in Aspen, Colorado it seemed only natural to name it Flying Dog.

In 2000 demand led production to first move to Denver before finally settling in a state-of-the-art brewery in Frederick, Maryland in 2007. George, who is heir to a family automobile industry fortune, is a rebellious philanthropist and entrepreneur whose now dearly departed friend and writer, Hunter S. Thomson, introduced him to the artist Ralph Steadman. Consequently Flying Dog label artwork is by Steadman.