How a simple auction item became one of BTAA’s most beloved traditions
Some of the best partnerships aren’t planned – they just happen, one small act at a time. That’s exactly how the relationship between Better Together Animal Alliance and MickDuff’s Brewing Company began, and it’s why “naming a beer” has become one of the most anticipated moments of BTAA’s annual auction.
The story starts nearly twenty years ago, when brothers Mickey and Duffy Mahoney opened MickDuff’s in Sandpoint. About six months later, Mickey and his wife adopted their first dog from what was then the Panhandle Animal Shelter, a puppy from a litter of “G” names. The shelter had called her Gemini, but Mickey and his wife had already privately chosen a different name: Ginger. When they arrived to bring her home, the front desk staffer started to say, “I’ll go grab Ginger, sorry, I mean Gemini.” Neither Mickey nor his wife had told anyone their chosen name. It just came out that way.
“It felt like it was meant to be,” Mickey says.
Ginger, part Chesapeake Bay Retriever, part everything else, became a fixture at the brewery, coming in with Mickey almost every day until they lost her in 2019. But the bond between MickDuff’s and the shelter didn’t end there. Around 2015, a feral cat colony took up residence in the brewery’s back parking lot, and MickDuff’s partnered with the shelter to trap, spay, and neuter the cats before returning them – classic TNR work that kept the colony healthy and stable. A few years later, in 2018, Mickey and his kids spent several late nights building the cats an insulated shelter out of reclaimed MickDuff’s pallets, a small project that’s stayed with him ever since.
In 2020, with in-person events off the table because of COVID, BTAA’s Development Director Paige McGowan reached out to see if MickDuff’s might donate something for an online auction. The brothers offered up something nobody had tried before: the right to name a beer. “We thought it would be something fun and different,” Mickey says. “We never expected it to become as popular as it has.”
That first year, the naming rights sold for $500. Since then, the item has grown into one of BTAA’s most popular and anticipated auction offerings. It’s also one of the most effective fundraisers resulting in $35,900 being raised for BTAA.
Each winning bidder gets to work with MickDuff’s on the beer itself, weighing in on flavor and style, and takes home the tap handle once the promotional run wraps. The beer is served as a seasonal offering at the restaurant and brew pub, and it’s exclusive to the auction; there’s no other way to get your family’s name on tap. And often, that name belongs to a beloved animal the winner wants to celebrate and remember:
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- Happy Tails N Hoppy Trails Major Hops
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- Shelby’s Loyal Lager
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- Abbigail’s Amber
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- Charlie’s Barley
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- Coco Loco
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- Crazy Mazie Hazy
- Crazy Mazie Hazy
For Mickey, what stands out most is how organic the whole thing has been. “It started with us adopting a dog almost 20 years ago, then working together to help a colony of cats that showed up behind the brewery, and eventually turned into an annual fundraiser that has raised a significant amount of money for animals in our community,” he says. “We’re proud to have played a small part in that, and we’re grateful for everything BTAA does for animals in North Idaho.”
Nearly $36,000 later, what began as one favor between neighbors has become a tradition the whole community looks forward to, proof that some of the most powerful partnerships start with something as simple as a dog, a colony of cats, and a brewery willing to say yes.
This article first appeared on BTAA’s Substack.
