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Walter won’t get to mingle with customers at Rustic Reel Brewing Co. when it opens in June, but he certainly lived a long and special life.
The Bernese Mountain Dog, belonging to Rustic Reel’s founder Susi Foerg, passed away at the age of 11 on Tuesday, May 21.
According to Foerg, the talkative and popular Bernese had “a pretty damn good life” and he got to see a lot of the world.
That includes seven months in Vancouver while Foerg helped with the opening of Electric Bicycle Brewery and a lengthy stay in Europe that included six months in Germany.
“He was a very well-travelled dog, that’s for sure, basically just partaking in any adventure” Foerg told KelownaNow.
“Any road trip, any camping or fishing trip, and the fact that I got to take him over (to Germany) and he got to be my little support system over there was pretty awesome.”
He’s also been Foerg’s support system over the past three years as she’s embarked on this dream of opening her own brewery in Kelowna.
She says Walter was always part of her vision for Rustic Reel and the adventures they shared together helped her form the brewery’s “cleaned up fishing cabin” theme.
The Bernese is also the main reason why part of Rustic Reel’s patio will be dog friendly.
Foerg, who surely knows the struggle of finding a place to enjoy a pint when you have a dog, wants people to be able to hike up Knox Mountain with their pup and stop by for a beer right after.
The pet-friendly patio won’t be the only tribute to Walter once the brewery opens up in June.
“There may be a beer named after him, for sure,” teased Foerg.
“We've got his paw prints in the concrete that's right in the middle of the brewery. That was a pretty awesome thing we did when we poured the concrete for the trench drains.”
Walter also got to taste test dog treats made with spent grains from the brewing process, which will be sold in Rustic Reel’s retail area once the brewery opens.
And even though he didn’t get a chance to be Rustic Reel’s brewdog, he did get his opportunity to play that role last year.
When Foerg and Walter moved to Vancouver for seven months, he quickly became the well-known brewdog at Electric Bicycle Brewery.
“I had Walter there all the time and he was just really a part of the family in their place as well,” said Foerg. “He got to be the brewdog I was hoping that he would get to be up here in Kelowna.”
Without her best friend and trusty sidekick, Foerg will now turn all of her attention to the final push towards opening Rustic Reel in June.
She has a busy few months ahead, which will prevent her from looking into getting a new pet any time soon, but when she does, she says she’ll be adopting a senior dog from the BC SPCA.
For now, however, the house feels a bit quieter and different without Walter, but there’s no doubt that he made a big impact on everyone he met.
“I knew people would be sad for me when he passed and I knew people liked my dog, but I didn't realize just how much people actually loved him and how he really did make everybody happy,” explained Foerg.
There’s no shortage of amazing Walter-related memories for Foerg to look back on, but one thing really sticks out to her from nearly a dozen years ago.
When she called the ad regarding the Bernese Mountain Dog puppies, she was talking to the owner of the mom and the litter and this is what she was told.
“You know, he’s an aggressive explorer and he’s going to grow up to have a really nice personality.”
Looking back, it sounds like you couldn’t have given a more accurate description of the dog that Walter became.
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