Laughing Dog Brewing wins label honors

PONDERAY — Dogzilla Black IPA is one of the winners of the category in the USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest. The Laughing Dog Brewing label finished seventh in the contest.

In announcing the winners, the contest said “first impressions of a new beer, chosen out of the myriad options now available at just about any grocer or bottle shop, come from the branding. A good beer label stands out from the crowd, piques our curiosity and represents the beer contained behind the label.”

A panel of beer experts were asked to nominate 20 of their favorite labels, which were then turned it over to readers to vote for their favorites.

The 10Best Readers’ Choice Award contest launches new categories every other Monday at noon, revealing each category’s 20 nominees. After four weeks of voting, the contest closes and the winner is announced on the Friday after voting ends. Rules allow the public the right to vote online for one nominee per category, per day.

Nominees for all categories are chosen by a panel of relevant experts which include a combination of editors from USA Today, editors from 10Best.com, relevant expert contributors, and sources for both these media and other Gannett properties. The nomination panel for each award category is displayed on its associated contest page. All voting is digital and the 10Best Readers’ Choice Award contest is accessible on the 10Best.com website.

10Best.com provides users with original, unbiased, and experiential travel content of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world. The core of the site’s uniqueness is its team of local travel experts: a well-traveled and well-educated group who are not only experts in their fields — and their cities — but discriminating in their tastes. These local experts live in the city they write about so the content is constantly updated.

10Best.com averages 5 million visitors per month. It was acquired by USA Today in January 2013.

Founded in 1982, USA Today has a print circulation with an average of more than 1.6 million daily, and usatoday.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reaches a combined 6.6 million readers daily. USA Today is owned by Gannett Co., Inc.

Owned by Fred and Michelle Golby, Laughing Dog Brewing began in 2005 with a dream for brews with more hops. And, according to their Facebook page, that dream “has turned into an insatiable desire to craft beers of all flavors, with a focus on quality, purity, and fun.”

Today, Laughing Dog Brewing has brewed over 15 distinct beers, including seasonals like its Huckleberry Ale and Winter Ale, and its award-winning IPAs and stouts.

Its motto — and goal — have been and will remain creating “fetchingly good beer.”