Hooch For Your Pooch: A Seattle Lady Sells Beer For Dogs

By Rachel Belle

Listen to Hooch For Your Pooch: A Seattleite Sells Beer For Dogs

You hear it in country songs and you see it happening at backyard BBQs and at campgrounds across America: People like to drink beer with their dogs. Literally. I’m sure you’ve seen some guy pour half his beer into his dog’s bowl. But the problem is, beer is not healthy for man’s best friend.

“The hops in beer are very toxic to dogs,” says Jenny Brown, creator of Bowser Beer, a non-alcoholic beer for dogs. “People know about chocolate and grapes, and things like that, but hops are really toxic. The alcohol and carbonation are really not good for their stomachs.”

Bowser Beer has the look and feel of a beer, but without all the things that make dogs sick.

“Instead of the hops we use either beef or chicken, those are our two flavors. Then we add the malt barley, like you have in beer, which is really good for their coats because it has vitamin B and amino acids. Then we add some glucosamine for the joints.”

It comes in two flavors, Beefy Brown Ale or Cock-a-Doodle Brew, and for an extra $10 you can customize your six pack with a picture of your pup.

“People send in pictures of their dog and we put them on the label and then you get to name your own brew on the bottle. Normally we just have the name of our Beefy Brown Ale or Cock-a-Doodle Brew, but we get to put your brew name so people can be really creative. My favorite all time one is ‘I Don’t Give a Shih Tzu Brew’ for a little shih tzu.”

Jenny has been living in Arizona, but she just moved Bowser Beer to Seattle, a smart move since Seattleites are famous for treating their dogs like children.

“It’s the heart of microbrew country and it’s a great dog friendly place. More and more bars and pubs and restaurants are adding dog menus to their listings and some of the patios are dog friendly.”

A handful of Seattle bars are selling Bowser Beer, so you can share a pint with your pooch, but because pets aren’t exactly legal in bars, they don’t necessarily like to advertise this fact. Jenny also came up with a bar snack for dogs, because everyone loves pretzels and beer.

“These are actually Snyder’s pretzel nuggets but we take them and bake peanut butter and molasses on the outside; it just adds a little flavor. I’m really calorie conscious for our dogs, so I didn’t want to pack them with peanut butter. A lot of treats are really rich for dogs. The customers would eat them along with their dogs, it’s all human grade stuff. They’re just munchie treats that they can eat with the beer. Beer and pretzels, why not?”