A brewery making inroads into North Carolina is using its product to honor fallen troops, including several Fort Bragg soldiers.
Each can of Dog Tag Brewing beer features the name, hometown and life span of a fallen soldier or Marine, officials with the brewery said.
The company donates 5 percent of its sales to charities chosen by the families of those honored on the cans.
Of a dozen troops featured on Dog Tag's camouflage cans, five were based at Fort Bragg when they were killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Four of the five served with the 82nd Airborne Division. The other soldier was part of the 3rd Special Forces Group.
According to the brewery, Dog Tag's beer - the company brews a lager and an India pale ale - is now available in North Carolina after the Montana-based brewery signed a deal with Raleigh-based Mutual Distributing.
According to the brewery, Dog Tag beer is currently being sold at several local businesses, including the Wine Cafe locations in Fayetteville and Hope Mills, Grapes and Hops locations in Fayetteville and Cameron, Mac's Speed Shop in Fayetteville and Triangle Wine Co. in Southern Pines. More locations should be added soon, a company spokeswoman said.
The five local soldiers honored on the cans are Sgt. Andrew J. Baddick, Spc. Thomas J. Barbieri, Staff Sgt. Chris M. Falkel, Sgt. Matthew J. Sandri and Lt. Col. Mark D. Taylor.
Four of the soldiers were killed in Iraq, including Baddick in 2003, Barbieri in 2006 and Taylor and Sandri, who were killed in the same attack, in 2004.
Falkel, the Special Forces soldier, was killed in Afghanistan in 2005.
Those cans support charities that include Warriors and Quiet Waters, Achilles International, Fallen Heroes Project, the Sgt. Matthew J. Sandri Scholarship Fund and Quilts of Honor, officials said.
Brief biographies of the soldiers are found at dogtagbrewing.com.
Dog Tag Brewing was founded by Seth Jordan, who flew UH-1 "Huey" helicopters for the Marine Corps for nearly 10 years, the company said.
"Our fallen warriors who have paid the ultimate sacrifice are not just nameless and faceless statistics but great Americans with stories of courage and inspiration," Jordan said in a news release. "We wanted to create a product that would convey gratitude to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and to the families they have left behind."
In addition to North Carolina, Dog Tag beer is available in five other states, and the company has plans to expand nationwide, a company spokeswoman said.
It is available in Montana, Wyoming, Virginia, South Dakota and Pennsylvania.
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