Glasgow's West End Beer Festival returns in August with the best of Scottish brewers

After a four year hiatus, Glasgow’s West End Beer Festival is back on 2nd and 3rd August. The venue will be Hillhead Sports Club in Hyndland, a short stroll from Hillhead Subway station.

There are 11 breweries from across Scotland represented along with one from England: “Expect great beer, live music, food trucks and good times” they say. 10% of profits will go to the Drumchapel Foodbank, and they will be accepting donations for the foodbank at the door. Breweries attending include Up Front, Tempest, Spectra, Vault City, Sinister Brew and Overtone.

Organiser Conor McGeady is part of Fallachan Kitchen Chef’s Table Restaurant and regularly puts together cocktail events as Pancha Pop Up. He told me: “I have teamed up with local brewer Jake Griffin of Up Front Brewery to bring the festival back this summer. After much deliberation we decided to return the the home of West End Beer Festival at Hillhead Sports Club on Hughenden Road in Hyndland.

“The space is just perfect for us and has one of the best kept secrets in the West End, their 150+ cover south facing beer garden. We have a great relationship with Cafe Source at the venue as well as the sports club and their various sections, all of whom have always been very supportive of the event. 

Conor introduced some of the highlights from the brewer roster: “We will be showcasing the very best in Scottish independent breweries and this year we have also managed to secure the extremely talented Emperor’s Brewery from south of the border, who are famous for their Star Wars themed imperial stouts.

“We also have some firm favourites returning such as Up Front Brewery, Two Towns Down, Tempest and of course Glasgow’s own Overtone.”

The full lineup is: Sinister Brew, Tempest Brewing Co, Emperors Brewery, Spectra, Overtone, Holy Goat, Dookit, Simple Things Fermentation, Vault City, Up Front, Two Towns Down, Dog Falls. 

For the first time, the festival have added two food vendors to the line-up: “We are pleased to announce, as of today, that we will see two Glasgow outfits take to the beer garden. Beirm, ran by talented local chef Alex Brady are known for their diverse pop ups. Alex has worked for top Glasgow kitchens such as Fallachan Dining, Brett and West Side Tavern. We also have on board The Shuckle Brothers, their fresh shucked oyster pop ups that explore some amazing flavour combinations have also taken the Glasgow popup scene by storm lately.”

There will be music from festival DJ Let’s Get Electric and acoustic sets from musician Ross Kendal Clark across the weekend.

Tickets for Glasgow West End Beer Fest can be found here.