Must-have for the summer season: Avy Dog, an ever-expanding line of collectible (and drinkable) merchandise honoring Henry, Vail Ski Patrol’s (VSP’s)first avalanche rescue dog, a photogenic golden retriever with a 24-karat heart. 

It all started in 2017, when Henry’s handler, Vail Ski Patrol Director Chris “Mongo” Reeder, decided to retire his four-legged partner after 11 years of service. To commemorate the occasion—and raise money for VSP’s nonprofit avy dog training program—Reeder and lifelong friend Mikey Kang hired a Michigan winery to produce a limited-edition bottling of Henry’s Red Table Wine, a cab/Syrah/tempranillo blend, which quickly sold out. 

“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 years later 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 (a statewide organization that trains and certifies ski patrollers and their dogs to find people buried in snow), Thompson decided it 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 pawed at the first, which they inked with his print. He died that October, at age 15, two weeks before lifts started spinning on Vail Mountain.

Since then, Avy Dog Bourbon (available in 80- and 100-proof batches) has become a best seller at regional and local liquor outlets (including West Vail City Market’s Alpine Wine & Spirits, West Vail Liquor Mart, and Beaver Liquors in Avon) and a dozen area restaurants and bars (from Sweet Basil in Vail Village to Aspen’s Woody Creek Tavern). Over the winter, Kang and Reeder launched an online store hawking an eclectic line of Avy Dog merch, including more than a dozen varieties of T-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with illustrated photos of Henry and his pals on deployment, as well as trucker hats, beanies, stickers, coffee mugs, dog bowls, tumblers, shot glasses, and pocket flasks bearing the Avy Dog logo (branded with Henry’s pawprint).

“The last two months have been like a whirlwind,” says Kang sitting at a picnic table outside Buffalo’s atop Vail Mountain on a bluebird day in February after spending the morning hiding in snow caves for patrol dogs and their handlers. “Our ultimate goal is to grow beyond the mountain market and take this to the national stage so we can give back to service dog organizations in a much bigger way.”

Which is exactly how Henry would have wanted it.