Seth Jordan is no ordinary brewer. A veteran of multiple combat tours with the U.S. Marine Corps, Jordan is the founder of Dog Tag Brewing Co., a non-profit run by veterans that, in a drive to expand awareness of those who lost their lives defending this country, displays the story of a fallen warrior on every beer can. All the proceeds are donated to remembrance organizations chosen by the families of the servicemen and women featured on the cans.
"It's to make sure that the folks we lost are never forgotten," Jordan told USA Today. "And it's about celebrating their lives rather than focusing on their death."
Since it first launched, Dog Tag has expanded from featuring only a few families on its cans to more than 600. Jordan insists on speaking with every family that requests their loved one's story be told so as to truly understand what they were like not only as warriors, but as people.
So far the brewing company has proved a major success. Dog Tag's first runs of its India pale ale and pilsner are already depleted. Jordan said that he is in the process of talking with a major distributor to extend Dog Tag's reach nationwide. "Random Americans will be in a position to learn about people's loved ones," he told the paper. "And the families enjoy that."
Dog Tag isn't the only veteran-run brewery achieving success. Veteran Beer Co., which started up in Cold Spring, Minnesota two years ago, is a brewery run by Paul Jenkins, a disabled Navy veteran. Jenkins doesn't drink, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but he wanted to create jobs for veterans and thought crafting beer was an excellent way to do it.
Jenkins hopes to employ 3,500 veterans in regional breweries by 2017. For men and women who love beer and are looking for unique work in their life after service, veteran breweries are worth a toast or two.