In Honor of the United States Armed Services

[BullNBear52]

New beer honors fallen service members

THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. – A new beer aims to honor and support fallen service members.

Dog Tag Brewing’s “Legacy Lager” will be sold in the Seattle area starting September 1, according to the Columbia Distributing Company. All of the proceeds from the first 3,000 cases sold in Washington will go to foundations established by the families of 36 U.S. service members killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Each of the 16-ounce cans include a dog tag graphic with the name, hometown, date of birth, and date of death of the service members.

Thurston County native and Army Sgt. Justin Norton is the first veteran from Washington to have his name on a can.

Before deploying to Iraq in 2005, Norton told his mother if anything happened to him he wanted her to establish a scholarship in his name. In June of 2006 Norton was killed by an improvised explosive device. Soon after, the family started fundraising and in the 10 years since his death they’ve given out more than $60,000.

Norton’s stepfather Gary Warnock expects Dog Tag Brewing’s exposure to boost the scholarship fund.

“I think he’d be stoked,” said Warnock.

Warnock said he is looking forward to toasting his son with one of the beers. He hopes other beer drinkers will do the same and perhaps look up more information about Norton.

“That’s what it boils down to,” said Warnock. “That he’s not forgotten.”

“To give back to a family that is local and truly lives in the area in which we do business in really made it special,” said Columbia Distributing President Chris Steffanci.

Columbia is selling the product in Oregon and Washington. The beer is brewed by the Pabst Brewing Company.
http://www.wfaa.com/news/nation/beer-honors-supports-fallen-service-members/311334341