It seems lately everyone is creating "All Natural" dog treats and marketing them as healthy and nutritious. Truth is, a lot of them contain ingredients that are not as dog healthy as they seem even though the ingredients are normally nutritious for humans, more dogs are becoming sensitive to common baking ingredients. For instance most of them include whole wheat flour, the reason for this is that whole wheat flour is easy to bake with, it contains natural gluten which gives the dough elasticity and keeps things together. It's a known fact that wheat flour can contribute to dog allergies and should be avoided if your dog is sensitive to wheat. Other known natural ingredients that cause dog allergies are corn, soy, dairy and preservatives. Other treats may contain animal flavoring from concentrated sources like bouillon or boiled stock unfortunately, these need to be heavily preserved for freshness. So we set off to bake a fun and healthy treat for our dog and yours!
In Vermont, we love our brews and we love our dogs. At Brewski Biscuits Dog Treat Company, we put a "Vermont Spin" on dog treats by bringing together the flavor and culture of our local Vermont breweries and the love for our dogs. Our unique dog treats are made from quality gluten free flours, fresh herbs, fresh fruits, Vermont honey, vitamins and other healthy power foods, because we care as much for our dogs as any of our human friends and we think their favorite snacks should be healthy and fun! We are always looking for ways to contribute to the safety and health of animals, so we donate 5% of our profits to local shelters.
Our black lab Milo was always scratching and getting ear infections, so we started to investigate why this was happening. The Vet said it could be an allergy to his food or treats, so we started eliminating certain foods from his diet. He was already on a high quality food that he really liked and we wanted to see if it was something else... Finally after a few months of testing we found it to be the treats we were buying him. This was the catalyst to a project that was originally started as a supplement to Milo's treats, but became much bigger. We researched everything about canine nutrition and learned that so many foods were either not nutritious for dogs or comprised of too many unnecessary fillers and byproducts. We baked all kinds of different treats, experimenting on each batch learning as we go. We wanted to use only quality ingredients, but keep the treat fun. How the treat smelled was probably one of the most important revelations we had. We found that every time we made something that had a strong yummy smell, Milo would go crazy for it. From there we removed all the ingredients that were in most dog treats like wheat, soy and dairy and replaced them with gluten free alternatives and mixing that with healthy additions like flax, fruits, herbs and honey. The outcome was exactly what we wanted to achieve, a treat that Milo could eat without him having a allergic response to. After about 4 months with no reactions, we knew we found the perfect combination of ingredients. Now that we had a perfected recipe, we wanted to expand on it by adding a fun and unique ingredient. We love flavorful craft brews and Vermont has some of the best in the world! I had heard of people using spent brewer grains for making everything from breads and pizza dough to waffles and pancakes. So we set off to learn more about brewer grain, we found that dogs absolutely loved the smell of the grains and so the Brewski Biscuits idea was born. After months of tweaking the recipe to include the new ingredient, we found success. We gave out samples to all the dog owners we knew, the response was amazing! Everyone loved the idea and most importantly their dogs loved the biscuits.
The “mashing” process during beer making, starts by adding hot water to malted barley grains. “Mashing” allows the enzymes in the malt to break down and converts the complex starches into simple sugars which produces the soluble goodness used to create beer. This virtually sugar free, broken down barley grain or “spent grain” still retained valuable nutrients and needed a new purpose ... and so the Brewski Biscuit idea was born, infuse these yummy grains into a tasty treat! This is where the Brewski Biscuit idea was born. We use this recyclable by-product from the brewing process, as a unique key ingredient in our biscuits. The “mash” produces a hardy nutrient rich and easily digestible grain that retains the base flavor properties of beer without the hops or alcohol. We then infuse the “spent grain” with wheat free flours, oats, fruit and other healthy ingredients to create a new and unique all natural and tasty dog treat. “just ask Milo, our official Brewski Biscuit quality control officer” But in order to really explain the whole Brewski Biscuits story we have to start with a little education in the beer making process, so you can understand how this unique dog treat came to be and why it is so unique.
1. MILLING THE MALTED BARLEY
Whole malted barley is portioned and then milled to the proper granular consistency. The barley malt is added to a large kettle in preparation for mashing.
2. BREWING WATER PREPARATION
Large tanks are utilized to properly prepare spring water that will is used in the mashing phase. The water is added to the "mash tun" and the mashing process starts.
3. MASHING
A combination mash/lauter tun is used to steep the barley grain and extract the sugars, creating the soluble goodness used to create beer. The result is what’s called the "wort". The wort is drained off the grain, and the grain – now spent – is discarded. Normally the broken down grain is sent to the compost. This is where the Brewski Biscuit idea was born, we infuse the grains in our dog biscuits bringing a new use for spent brewer grains.
Why do we use the spent grain for our dog treats? After the brewing process, most of the starch in the original malted grains is broken down into sugars or "wort" this is the liquid that is actually used to create beer. However, the used flavor rich, alcohol free spent grains retain valuable protein and fiber, making them a useful addition to any baked good. People for years have been using "spent grain" from breweries for all kinds of yummy baked goods like breads, pizza dough and yes, even pancakes and waffles. The spent grain gives baked goods a flavor profile that is very unique and similar to the beer that came from, but without any of the bitter hops or alcohol. Some will make bread from the many different kinds of spent grains and accompany it with a beer that has a similar flavor. So, why do we use it as a key ingredient in our dog treats? Well, we started to hear stories of local brewers that had dogs and they always seemed to be getting into trouble by eating out of the spent grain bins, they just loved the way the grains smelled and tasted. Dogs can identify smells somewhere between 1,000 to 10,000 times better than humans can, and often choose what they will eat based on how it smells. This is why we decided to use it to create our unique dog treats... because who knows better than our dogs right? :).
Here are a few dangerous foods for dogs. Apricot pits, Avocados, Cherry pits, Chocolate, Coffee, Garlic, Grapes, Gum, Macadamia and Walnuts, Mushroom plants, Mustard seeds, Onions and onion powder, Peach pits, Potato leaves and stems (green parts), Raisins, Rhubarb leaves, Caffeine, Tomato leaves and stems (green parts)
Use treats to reinforce a calm, submissive state. Never use dog treats to reward an excited, over-stimulated state of mind. Always let the dog smell the treat first, but hold it up away from them and wait. Remember dogs can smell from over 25 feet away so you don’t have to put the treat under their nose.
We are very excited to announce our dog treats are now available at both pet Food warehouse locations (Williston Road and Shelburne Road). Stop in to PFW and grab some "brewski's" for best Buddy!
Pet Food Warehouse website
"Olivia was so excited to get more... The cats tried to steal them, I said NO WAY! Oh, and Olivia was licking the package too."
Diane - Ludlow, VT
"They smell like homemade apple pie! My three Goldens love them!"
Sean - White River Junction, VT
