Farmhouse electricity inspection — check. New metal rail for the footing of the bar — check. Liquid base for vodka — gurgling nicely in a massive open-air barrel.

Megan Draheim and David Harris, the owners of Song Dog Farm Distillery in Boyds, were crossing items off their to-do list with less than two weeks before they opened. But many more tasks awaited.

“It’s 17 to 20 million,” Harris said. “It’s hard to quantify.”

The couple has 29 acres of sprawling farmland to concoct spirits ranging from bourbons, ryes and vodkas — and they’re experimenting with herbal liqueurs. The distillery is scheduled to open on Oct. 12. Customers can expect a cocktail menu and will be able to bring home bottles that feature ingredients grown on the farm — or another farm not too far off in Montgomery County.

‘This is home’

Even accounting for expected obstacles when starting a business like a distillery, it’s been a long time coming for Draheim, 48, and Harris, 56.

They began planning Song Dog more than a decade ago. Harris was sick of working in nonprofit management, where he focused on voter education. Draheim was working as a conservation ecologist and teaching at Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia campus. The name of the distillery comes from Draheim’s résumé. She’s the cofounder of the District Coyote Project, which studies local populations of the animal, and coyotes have been called song dogs by some enthusiasts and Native Americans.

They at first had a much less scenic warehouse location in Rockville that fit their needs, and all the permits and plans to begin constructing that facility around March 2020. Then, after the pandemic hit, they had to press pause and reset. They purchased the farm in 2021.

“The first time we saw it, we thought, ‘This is home,’” Harris said. “It seemed immediately obvious.”

Their location in Boyds had always been used as a farm and never had a building or toilet onsite, they said. Each of those construction projects has had its hurdles. But they reassured themselves that they weren’t the first people to set up a distillery on farmland. George Washington, they noted, made his own spirits at his residence in Virginia’s Mount Vernon.

Bloody Butcher red corn

Local agriculture was essential to their plan.

Draheim said she was most excited about the heirloom variety of Bloody Butcher red corn that they’re growing for their bourbon and vodka base. The couple is excited about testing out more crops on the land they commute through from their home in Washington, D.C.

“It’s hard to wrap my brain around sometimes that we’re coming out here every day and working here and seeing everything,” Draheim said. “There’s so many people who’ve helped us in this journey, it just feels a little unbelievable.”

In the days before opening, they still had to iron out plans and finish construction projects first conceptualized so many years ago. But it was all coming together.

“It feels a little bit surreal,” Harris said. “To see these things be suddenly warm to the touch and in three dimensions is just crazy.”