Maryland Distillery is Winning Awards Inside and Out
As Song Dog Farm Distillery approaches its first anniversary at its Boyds, Maryland farm, recognition is arriving for nearly every part of the experience—from the whiskey in the bottle to the bottle itself and even the building where it is made.
There is a temptation to call Song Dog Farm Distillery one of Maryland’s newest distilleries. Technically, its striking farm distillery in Boyds is new. But Song Dog’s story is not.
Husband-and-wife founders David Harris and Megan Draheim established Song Dog Spirits in 2015, beginning a journey that would ultimately lead them to a 29-acre farm in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve. They purchased the farm in 2021 and spent years navigating planning, permitting, construction and the countless details required to turn their vision of a true farm distillery into reality.
On October 12, 2025, that vision finally opened its doors.
Now, as Song Dog prepares to celebrate its first full year at the Boyds farm this October, the awards are beginning to accumulate—and they are coming from remarkably different directions.
Gold for Maryland Rye
For Barrel Proof Notes readers, the recognition that immediately gets our attention is the whiskey.
Song Dog’s Straight Rye Whiskey earned a Gold Medal at the 2026 American Craft Spirits Competition, presented by the American Craft Spirits Association. It was one of the gold medalists in a national competition in which hundreds of spirits were evaluated by expert judges.
That medal carries particular meaning in Maryland.
Song Dog makes its rye from locally grown grain and deliberately places the whiskey within Maryland’s long rye tradition. In an era when “local” can sometimes become more marketing language than production philosophy, Song Dog has built its identity around Maryland agriculture and a sense of place.
The rye wasn’t the only spirit the judges noticed.
At the same 2026 ACSA competition, Song Dog also received a Silver Medal for its vodka, Silver for its coffee liqueur, Bronze for its gin and Bronze for its Rock & Rye.
The bourbon had already earned recognition the previous year. Song Dog’s Straight Bourbon Whiskey received a Silver Medal at the 2025 Heartland Whiskey Competition, another ACSA-administered blind judging competition. Song Dog’s current bourbon is made with locally grown Bloody Butcher heirloom red corn and aged at least four years.
For a small producer, that breadth is notable. This isn’t one bottle collecting a medal while the rest of the portfolio waits for its turn. Judges have recognized spirits across several categories.
The Bottle Gets Its Own Recognition
Then there are the actual bottles themselves.
If you’ve seen Song Dog’s spirits on a shelf, this one probably isn’t surprising. The bottles are distinctive without being loud—illustrated, elegant and immediately identifiable as part of the same family. The artwork reinforces the agricultural identity behind the spirits rather than trying to disguise it beneath another layer of whiskey mythology.
The judges noticed that, too.
At the 2026 Craft Spirits Packaging Awards, presented by the American Craft Spirits Association and CRAFT SPIRITS magazine, the Song Dog Spirits Portfolio earned a Silver Medal for packaging, with the design credited to Dando Projects.
Individual Song Dog products received additional packaging recognition: the gin earned Silver, while the vodka and Rock & Rye received Bronze medals in their respective categories.
That makes the packaging part of a larger pattern developing around Song Dog.
The liquid matters. But so does how the story is presented.
“We Don’t Want a Red Barn”
And then there is the distillery itself.
Drive onto the farm in Boyds and you quickly understand that David and Megan were not simply looking for a building large enough to hold a still and some barrels. The architecture is part of Song Dog.
Megan summed up the original design conversation particularly well when she said, “We don’t want a red barn.”
Working with architect Peter Noonan of McInturff Architects, the founders wanted a building that belonged in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve without simply imitating the traditional agricultural buildings surrounding it.
Noonan reportedly spent considerable time researching the project, including visits to more than a dozen Kentucky distilleries. David, Megan and Noonan then spent nearly six years developing the concept. The finished building uses a relatively simple form and material palette, but adds details such as a fir ceiling over the tasting porch and charred Japanese timber inside the tasting room—a material with an almost unavoidable connection to toasted and charred wood used in whiskey production.
The result recently received significant professional recognition at the 2026 AIA Maryland Excellence in Design Awards. There Song Dog Distillery received an Honor Award for Commercial Architecture, recognizing Noonan and McInturff Architects’ work on the project. More than 100 designers competed for 22 awards in the program.
So within the span of a year, Song Dog has been recognized for what is inside the bottle, what surrounds the bottle, and what surrounds the people drinking from it.
That is a powerful, synergistic combination.
One Year on the Farm. Eleven Years Getting There.
This October, visitors will see a distillery celebrating its first anniversary. David and Megan have seen considerably more.
Song Dog began in 2015. The farm came later. Then came the planning, architecture, permitting, construction and years of work required to create the Boyds location. David described it earlier this year as an eleven-year path to opening.
Song Dog isn’t celebrating one year in business. It is celebrating one year of finally being home.
And after that first year, the early results are difficult to miss: a gold-medal Maryland rye, award-winning bourbon and spirits, nationally recognized packaging, and an award-winning distillery sitting on a farm in the Maryland countryside.
Not bad for Year One.
Coming Soon: Behind the Bottle at Song Dog
The awards tell part of the Song Dog story. But they don’t tell you how David Harris and Megan Draheim spent more than a decade getting here, why they chose a farm in Boyds, or what they wanted Song Dog to become long before the first bottle left the distillery.
Barrel Proof Notes recently sat down with David and Megan for an extended conversation about that journey, the farm, the whiskey, the challenges along the way, and the vision behind the distillery they finally call home.
Look for our upcoming Behind the Bottle feature on Song Dog Farm Distillery, coming soon to Barrel Proof Notes.
