West End Beer Festival makes a return

Image from 2018 festival

Before the pandemic, Glasgow’s West End Beer Festival had been making a bit of an impact.

Now that the days of pasta rationing, sea shanties and watching too much YouTube seem very far away, the festival is returning tomorrow and Saturday to its original home at Hillhead Sports Club in leafy Hyndland.

Original organiser Conor McGeady is a much busier man these days than he was back then, so Up Front Brewing boss Jake Griffin has stepped in to take on some of the weight of organising the festival.

Up Front beers will be at the festival, of course, as they have been at every one since the beginning. Quite probably the notorious Das Ist Techno Sex will be there, as it was back before lockdown, which in these days of constant novelty, sorry, innovation, shows reassuring stability. This is a beer which I shouldn’t like in principle: it is a Gose, but kettle-soured, and fruited (passion fruit and key lime, if you must know), with a silly name. But it is rather nice and has displayed an impressive capability to reach beyond the beer-bro bubble. Griffin can’t make enough of it.

Fashions in music, clothes, beer and the acceptable quality of video footage may have changed in six short years since these pictures of happy punters at the 2018 event. 

A coup for the organisers is convincing cult Yoker-based brewers Overtone to produce some cask ale for the festival. Overtone have made their reputation on murky IPAs and pastry sours and have never produced cask beer before – although if you want some you’ll have to be quick, as there is only a pin (36 pints) each of two beers: Weekend People, a Citra pale, and the Mosaic-hopped Weegie IPA.

Pre-covid, the festival featured breweries which have now gone, such as Out of Town, Fallen, Tryst, Lawman and Gallus. But since then new local producers have sprung up: Simple Things, Dookit, Two Towns Down and Spectra will all be there.

As well as the local brewers, big names from elsewhere are on board: Tempest, Holy Goat and Vault City. This could be a intriguing opportunity to compare Vault City brews with the beers of the more purist Holy Goat, set up by one of Vault City’s founders. There are names you might not have heard of too (I hadn‘t): Sinnister Brew from Dalkeith, Dog Falls from Inverness, and Emperor’s Brewery, who apparently specialise in Star Wars-themed pastry stouts.

10% of profits will be donated to Drumchapel Food Bank and visitors are invited to bring food donations and loose change to the festival for collection.