Doggie beer? Pet shop owner sees a niche

Dutch brew is nonalcoholic and made with beef extract and malt

Albert Seghers / AP

Benito, a 5-year-old Chihuahua, drinks non-alcoholic beer made of beef extract and malt.

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updated 1:30 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2007

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - After a long day hunting, there's nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer. So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the southern Dutch town of Zelhem, created a beer for her Weimaraners made from beef extract and malt.

"Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the verandah and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it," she said.

Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded as Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised it as "a beer for your best friend."

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"Kwispel" is the Dutch word for wagging a tail.

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Live Vote: Would you buy this for your dog?

The beer is fit for human consumption, Berenden said. But at $2 a bottle, it's about four times more expensive than a Heineken.