British pub offers meat-flavoured beer to canine customers

If a dog is man's best friend, shouldn't he be able to join his owner for a pint?

The Branding Villa in South Gosforth, Newcastle, thinks so.

The pub offers non-alcoholic beer — flavoured with meat extract — designed just for canine customers, along with a just-for-dogs special menu that includes a Sunday roast served with cat-flavoured gravy.

It might sound odd, but the dog beer is already a hit. The pub sold out of the first 48 bottles of doggy beer in less than two weeks.

"We have some regulars: she'll have a Sauvignon Blanc, he has a pint of Budvar, and Charlie the dog has a dog beer. That's his regular drink. People seem to think it's a bit mental — we keep it in the fridge along with other beers and they ask what it is. People think it's just a normal beer with a ridiculous name. I scoped the internet looking for ridiculous stuff, and we became dog-friendly. There aren't many pubs you can go to with your dog. The dogs were drinking water and eating biscuits, so we also created a dog menu, designed for dogs but based on traditional English dishes," said Dave Carr, The Branding Villa's manager.

(Carr admits that his own dog, a beagle, doesn't care for the custom beer.)

Carr added, "Dog friendly is really the way it should be. Pubs should have wooden floors and dogs in front of the fire."

This isn't the first beer for dogs. Bowser Beer is made in Arizona, and is alcohol, carbonation and hops-free.