Like Madonna and Lizzo, Vail Ski Patrol’s first official—and most famous—avalanche dog went by only one name: Henry. And you’ll be hard pressed to find any 100-plus-day skier on Vail Mountain who didn’t know and love on the pup. So, when Henry retired from active duty after 11 years of service in 2017, his handler, Vail Ski Patrol Director Chris “Mongo” Reeder, along with lifelong friend and business partner Mikey Kang, honored the dog’s legacy by commissioning a Michigan winery to produce a limited-edition bottling of Henry’s Red Table Wine, a cab/syrah/tempranillo blend, which quickly sold out. 

With Henry fans begging for more, Reeder and Kang decided their next fundraiser (sales benefited patrol’s avy dog program and another local nonprofit) would revolve around a higher-octane tribute more suitable for an avalanche dog nicknamed “The Dogfather.”

“When I told Mongo I’d find us another vineyard, he turned to me and said, ‘Mikey, we’re not red wine guys,’” explains Kang, whose skiing buddies all know him as Kanger. “‘We’re bourbon guys. Do we go to Vendetta’s every day and order a tray full of red wine shots for the guys?’” 

And so, Kang began gauging the interest of Kentucky bourbon makers. Then the pandemic hit, the world shut down, and the project stalled.

The pair resurrected the idea when a mutual friend introduced them to Ryan Thompson, the founder of 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit Company, a Gypsum-based distillery with a Bridge Street tasting room that was named in honor of the division of World War II ski troopers who trained at Camp Hale. And as Kang and Reeder intended to donate a percentage of the proceeds to dog-oriented nonprofits like Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment and K9s for Warriors (a nonprofit that places service dogs with veterans suffering from PTSD), Thompson decided the partnership was a natural fit. 

In May 2022, Kang, Reeder, and Henry headed to the distillery in Gypsum, where the pair blind-tasted nine barrels of bourbon, which they narrowed down to four, and after more tasting, they got down to two. That’s when Henry joined the party, and after Reeder asked him which one he preferred, Henry placed his paw on the first barrel. Reeder asked again and Henry repeated his choice. The Dogfather had spoken, so Henry’s paw was inked and pressed to the chosen barrel. He died that October, at age 15, two weeks before lifts started spinning on Vail Mountain.

That very paw print now adorns the label of every bottle of Avy Dog Bourbon. Bottles of the 80-proof ($45) and 115-proof cask-strength barrel select bourbon ($100) are sold locally at 10th Mountain’s Bridge Street tasting room, where the Dogfather’s legacy lives, in spirit.

Un-Moored

A new Minturn distillery bucks the bourbon trend with pours of peaty local Scotch.

Minturn has always done things its own way, and residents Spence and Stefanie Neubauer are just following suit with Eagle River Whisky, a distillery and tasting room they opened in the Meadow Mountain Business Park in June. The subtle clue that Spence isn’t just going with the flow of the craft spirits craze is that he’s making “whisky” (which indicates the spirit is derived from Scottish, Canadian, or Japanese styles) rather than “whiskey” (which denotes American bourbon or rye). 

Their inspiration was simple: Spence couldn’t find an American-made Scotch that tasted like the real deal—peat-heavy and made solely from barley. Think Glenlivet or Dewar’s, but small batch. Spence was discouraged enough to do the research and begin making whisky himself. 

And now, under the label of Eagle River Whisky, the Neubauers have been pouring the delicious results in their Scottish pub tasting room. Cozy up and try the two 100 percent barley options: Dowds (aged three years in American oak, named after the confluence of Gore Creek and the Eagle River 1.4 miles north) and Gilman (single-barrel limited release, aged four years in second-fill American oak, named for the mining-era ghost town clinging to a hillside 13 miles south).