The coyote is an animal that thrives almost anywhere, which is one reason Megan Draheim spent years studying it. It is clever, adaptable, and famously hard to pin down. It is also, in the old folk phrasing, a song dog — the creature whose yipping chorus carries across a field at dusk. When Draheim and her husband, David Harris, needed a name for the distillery they had been dreaming about since 2015, they reached for the nickname. "She hopes that the distillery will live up to its namesake," the couple later explained of Draheim's choice.
On the weekend of October 10 and 11, Song Dog Farm Distillery will throw open the gates of its 29-acre property at 18100 Bucklodge Road in Boyds to celebrate the first anniversary of its tasting room and the release of its first annual single-barrel release. Admission is free both days, with hours running noon to 8 p.m. The weekend promises live music, barbecue from Gino's Smokehouse Craft BBQ, Song Dog's own food, a photo booth with custom photo magnets, kids' activities, tours, cocktails, and bespoke tastings of the full lineup. Guests who want more can buy a $25 VIP ticket — ahead of time or on-site as available — which includes a tasting card, a custom cookie, an anniversary-edition tasting glass, raffle tickets for prizes, and the chance to pre-purchase a bottle of the new release.
The single-barrel bottling at the center of the party is offered at cask proof, available only at the tasting room starting October 10. It is a milestone for a distillery that has been laying down spirits since long before it had a place to sell them.
The story starts, as these things often do, with a vacation. Draheim and Harris visited a Michigan distillery in 2014, looked at each other, and decided they could do it themselves. They founded Song Dog Spirits the following year. But the couple's day jobs were not in the beverage business. Harris spent two decades in Washington-based Jewish nonprofit management and advocacy, including a stint as CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council, which he left in 2013. Draheim is a conservation ecologist by training, formerly a professor of practice at Virginia Tech's Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability, where she focused on human-wildlife interactions. The two live in Washington, D.C., with their daughter and two dogs.
For years the distillery existed more as a plan than a place. Then, in 2021, the couple bought a farm in Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve and began building. The Ag Reserve is a 93,000-acre expanse — roughly a third of the county — established in 1980 to protect farmland by capping residential development at one dwelling per 25 acres and permitting only businesses that promote agriculture and agritourism. It is home to more than 550 farms. Song Dog's 5,500-square-foot distillery and tasting room opened to the public on Sunday, October 12, 2025, debuting with bourbon, rye, gin, vodka, and seasonal liqueurs.
What distinguishes the operation is its insistence on place. Draheim and Harris describe themselves as "terroir evangelists," borrowing a wine-world term for the flavors that a specific landscape imparts. "We believe deeply, in a sense, in the flavor of place," Harris told Washingtonian magazine ahead of the opening. "We think the flavors of Montgomery County in our backyard — the heirloom corn and the special rye varieties that we're using already — that these flavors just help us make innovative, outstanding, world-class spirits." The flagship bourbon is made from locally grown Bloody Butcher heirloom red corn, blended from four to eight custom barrels at a time using a solera-inspired method that marries one small batch to the next. The grain comes from the farm itself and from a nearby farm partner.
Sustainability runs through the operation, guided by Draheim's ecological background. "Our water comes from the ground and as much water as possible is returned there, with dried spent grains being shared with neighboring farmers for feed," she said. The distillery is also working to restore sections of the farm to native meadow and wildlife habitat.
The tasting room was designed to make the production visible: a glass wall looks out over the distillery floor, where a custom-made copper still stands among oak barrels, with farmland beyond. "We want people to see the beauty of agriculture right outside the window and see the magic of the equipment," Harris said. The cocktail program was developed with Danny Childs, author of Slow Drinks, drawing on seasonal and local ingredients, and includes low-alcohol and non-alcoholic options — Harris was adamant that there would be "no ginger ale with the cherry floating on top." The distillery sells local cheeses and hosts food trucks on busy days, and guests are welcome to bring picnics, children, and well-behaved dogs.
Song Dog is also, notably, a fully kosher-certified distillery, a rarity in the craft spirits world and one of few in the D.C. region. At the inaugural Kosher Spirits Awards this summer, four of its bottlings — the gin, Amaro #4, elderflower liqueur, and orange liqueur — took silver medals.
That commitment to community is what the anniversary weekend is meant to showcase. "One of the things we're most excited about doing is being able to build community," Draheim said before the doors first opened. A year later, the farm has a birthday party to prove it — and a bottle of cask-proof bourbon to mark the occasion. For anyone who wants to bottle their own, the production floor will be open during the celebration, with the chance to fill and take home a special bottle.
The distillery sits at the intersection of Routes 28 and 117, about 30 miles northwest of the U.S. Capitol, in the middle of working farmland. Admission is free; the bourbon is not, and the first barrels of the reserve are unlikely to last the weekend.