Craft Brewery Kickstarter Aims To Serve Pints And Help Pups

Maggie Marton
by Maggie Marton
Saving animals and craft beer – now there’s an idea we can raise a glass to! Sanctuary Brewing Company’s crafty Kickstarter campaign combines their love of beer with their love of rescues.


Sanctuary Brewing Company, located in Hendersonville, N.C., combines small batch brewing with animal advocacy. Three flagship beers and a rotating tap of 10 seasonal brews provide plenty of options, but they also feature guest brewers from the region, including an entire tap dedicated to cider beers.


Combining their love for craft beer and their passion for animal advocacy, co-owners Joe Dinan and Lisa McDonald partnered with local organizations: Asheville Humane Society, Blue Ridge Humane Society, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue and Full Circle Farm Sanctuary. They’ll be coordinating volunteer groups to help out and selling merchandise on their behalf. The pet-friendly brewery welcomes leashed, friendly pets, too, and they plan to host adoption nights, events and promotional beers. In their own home, Dinan and McDonald are pet parents to 15 animals and have fostered nearly 30 more in the last year and a half.


Related: This Brew’s For Bowser: Beer For Dogs Is A Cool, Refreshing Trend


As if that’s not enough to encourage you and your pup to pull up a barstool and enjoy a beer, they also operate with community- and environmental-consciousness. The food is sourced locally from cruelty-free producers, No Evil Foods and Roots Hummus. Plus, they plan to hire locally and pay a living wage.


Earlier in the summer, Dinan and McDonald launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $10,000 to cover unexpected costs arising from opening the brewery and tap room this summer. The original business plan didn’t anticipate some expenses, like preserving the building’s historic exterior. They’re seeking crowdfunding to cover the unanticipated costs rather than finding investors who would take equity in the brewery—resulting in less money to help animals.


Related: New York Senate Votes For Bill Allowing Dogs In Outdoor Dining Areas


Though they’ve hosted previews, they plan to open officially toward the end of the month. Follow along on their building progress on the brewery’s Facebook page.


There’s not much time left to fund this campaign – check out the project on Kickstarter or visit official Sanctuary Brewing Company’s website to learn more.

Maggie Marton
Maggie Marton

More by Maggie Marton

Next