Going to the dogs

Sea Dog Brewing Co.’s Bluepaw Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale is definitely not just a Maine thing anymore. So far this year, the fruity, refreshing brew has received two awards in competitions held in California, including a gold medal awarded just last week at the San Diego County Fair’s Commercial Beer Competition. Sea Dog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter took home a bronze, and both beers won silver medals in last year’s competition. The blueberry beverage secured another accolade in May, when the Bluepaw beer took home second place in the Fruit Beer category at the prestigious West Coast Brew Fest’s Commercial Craft Competition in Sacramento, Calif. Sea Dog beers are now available in 35 states across the country – though they’re still brewed right here in the Pine Tree State. For more information, visit www.seadogbrewing.com.

C is for cookie

Marnee’s Cookies, the Bath-based baked-goods business, will be featured on an episode of Rachael Ray. The “30-Minute Meals” queen turned talk-show host chose Marnee’s “Euphoria” cookie – a delicacy that contains cranberries, white chocolate chips and pecans – to be featured as Snack of the Day on this Thursday’s show. To celebrate the honor, Marnee’s will hold a party at 6 p.m. Thursday at Marnee’s Cookies Bistro on 23 Elm St. in Bath. Bath’s Heritage Days festivities coincide with the cookie party and the Fourth of July, so Marnee’s also will be featured in the Independence Day parade, with cookie-lovers decked out in cookie costumes; the parade starts at 10 a.m. and heads down Main Street. There are “Hoity-Toity Teas” set for 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, a kids’ cookie-making party from noon to 2 p.m. and cookie bingo from 4 to 7 p.m., both on Saturday, and an ice cream social all day Sunday, July 5. In short: It’s cookie-tastic. For more information, call 371-8017, or visit www.marnees.com. Rachael Ray airs at 11 a.m. weekdays on WLBZ-2 in Bangor.

Veg out

It’s common knowledge that adopting a vegetarian lifestyle is good not only for your health; it’s good for the environment as well. It’s estimated that up to 20 percent of the world’s carbon emissions are created by the livestock industry. In June, the Union of No Meat, No Heat, a Taiwanese anti-global warming, pro-vegetarian organization, announced that more than 1 million people in Taiwan had pledged to become vegetarians in order to cut carbon emissions. According to the group, one person who abstains from eating meat for a year can lower the amount of carbon emissions produced by up to 1.5 metric tons. Multiply that by a million, and you have 1.5 million tons less of the carbon that’s contributing to global warming. It’s something to think about, if you’re environmentally minded, as well as health-conscious.