Congratulations to Petra Wetzel and her team at WEST who on the 10th March will be celebrating their 15th birthday.
The Glasgow Green venue conceived as a nod to an authentic Bavarian beerhall with its own microbrewery is now home to two production breweries as well as a unique and airy dog and child-friendly restaurant and bar a great beer garden.
The WEST team racked their brains on how to safely celebrate a big milestone birthday with an appropriate celebration during a pandemic lockdown so executive chef Joanne Munro and head brewer, Simon Roberts put their heads together and came up with The WEST Brewery Birthday Box Beerhall Experience for two – – a beerhall dining and beer experience. They are also running a Facebook Live, beer tasting event on 10th March to mark the celebrations.
WEST Brewery founder Petra Wetzel explains, “The Beerhall Birthday Box is an authentic Bavarian beerhall dining experience with four classic German dishes – available as meat, a vegetarian and a vegan option, all accompanied with six of WEST’s top vegan beers. And what makes it special is that £5 from every box go to our local food bank.
“1 in 4 children in Glasgow go to bed hungry and 1 in 5 households are living below the poverty line. Our beloved Hospitality industry has been decimated during the lockdown which has put many businesses on the brink of collapse, however, we are well aware that many families do not even qualify for the government’s furlough scheme and are struggling on Universal Credit. We, therefore, wanted to make sure that our Birthday Box celebrations also provide food for many in our immediate neighbourhood. That is why £5 from the price of every Birthday Box will go to the Glasgow North East Food Bank in the Calton.”
She reflects “In all my years, I never envisaged celebrating a milestone birthday in a pandemic and I know that we will bounce back once the lockdown restrictions allow us to. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to welcoming our customers back and that’s why we thought of another birthday celebration – The Golden Ticket! As a special surprise, one of our Birthday Boxes will have a Golden Ticket which is a brewery tour and dinner for four!”
John McCusker, a volunteer driver for the Glasgow North East Food Bank which opened in 2013 in The Calton and which delivers food parcels in the North East area, was keen to explain “This is very generous and it will certainly help many in need. Last year we fed 5,000 families and this year, even more. It might sound a wee bit cheeky, but if WEST customers who are coming to collect their Birthday Boxes, could maybe bring down a food bank food donation and leave it with WEST… that would be really magic!”
Executive chef, Joanne Munro said, “ It was quite a challenge to pair four great German dishes with our award-winning beers and ensure the beer suits a meat however I am really delighted with the results. I wanted to make sure that everyone could manage the easy to follow instructions for each of the four delicious dishes at home and enjoy the online Beer Tasting with Simon’s chosen beers. Our founder Petra, who is not renowned for her cooking skills, trialled the Vegetarian box for us last week and if she can follow my instructions, anyone can!”
WEST has been brewing in accordance with the German Purity Law (the Reinheitsgebot which dates from 1516) since its inception and in 2016 added a dedicated events space “the Courtyard”, an internal events area which has seen WEST play host to many memorable events. The same year it also opened its second production brewery which increased brewing capacity tenfold and has allowed the brewery to supply over a thousand pubs, bars and restaurant UK wide with draught lagers, ales and wheat beers.
Head brewer, Simon Roberts chose six beers to make sure that there was a diverse range to enjoy. He explains “This line up illustrates the story of WEST. Over these six beers we demonstrate malt, hops and yeast influences. We have beers from our core, discovery and experimental ranges. We have the beer that has been here since day one, the first release in our WESTwerk range and our most recent release. In short we have six beers that we are proud of, that offer discussion points and obvious sensory differences for the tasting itself and with this line up we can show how proud we are and really celebrate our development!”
If you would like to join WEST Brewery’s birthday celebration and purchase The West Brewery Birthday Box Beerhall Experience for two just click here or go to https://www.westbeer.com/clickdeliver/ and then click “Collection” or “Delivery” (Delivery is within a 7 mile radius of WEST Brewery).The Birthday Box is priced at £65 with the option to add on extra beers and a wee dram. The vegetarian and vegan boxes start at £60.
You can order from today and last orders will be @ 15.00 hrs on Wednesday, 10th of March! Delivery & collections from WEST on the Green are available on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th March.
Photo: Elaine Livingstone