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The founder and managing director of West has brought German-style beer to Glasgow and is opening her second brewery in the city

She’s a German with a Glaswegian accent working in the brewing industry. It’s a strange mix, admits Petra Wetzel, but it works. The £1m brewery, bar and restaurant has been so successful since opening in 2006 that another brewery “20 times the size of the current one” is opening in Glasgow later this year. “I’m not a beer anorak, I’m a trained lawyer,” says Wetzel. “But if you give it enough razzmatazz you can make almost anything work.

So what makes West different to other microbreweries in Scotland? Apart from “never cutting corners” and keeping the message to customers simple, Wetzel says her heritage has been influential. With a blend of passion, ingenuity and innovative engineering, she describes the company as having a Glaswegian heart and a German head.

West is the first UK brewery to produce its lagers and wheat beers in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, or German Purity Law. This means it uses only water, malt, hops and yeast to brew beer. “We have brewing equipment here that is different to anything else in the UK,” Wetzel says. “We’re modelling this on what the Germans do. I’m very efficient—that’s a German thing. My team sometimes call me the Kaiser.”

The current brewery makes 250,000 litres of beer a year. With the new brewery capacity, output and turnover will jump “dramatically”, says Wetzel. And West could start exporting to the US. “Mark Calcavecchia [US golfer] said he’d like to import our house lager,” she adds.

Article taken from www.director.co.uk

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Medal-haul adds to Swannay Brewery’s success

The Highland Brewing Company’s Swannay Brewery has taken home another seven medals, this time at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers Association) regional competition. With 98 beers entered from all over Scotland, the judging took place at the Scottish Real Ale Festival (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh) on Friday 25 June. The judging panel consisted of individuals selected by SIBA and was separate to that of the CAMRA Champion Beer of Scotland award, which the Swannay Brewery had won overall the day before.

Of the seven awards, four were gold, two were silver and one was bronze - including silver and bronze overall. Orkney Blast (6.0% ABV*), recently crowned ‘Champion Beer of Scotland 2010’, won its category of ‘Strong Ales’ and also placed third overall. At the other end of the alcohol-strength spectrum, Orkney Best (3.6% ABV) won its category of ‘Bitters and Pale Ales’ and placed second overall. Dark Munro won its category ‘Milds’, and Orkney IPA won its category of Premium Bitters. The brewery said: “It is notable that such varying styles of beer have all done so well, especially against such testing, generally well-established, competition.”

Full breakdown of results [see link below for other beers that placed]:

Rob Hill, owner and head brewer at the Highland Brewing Company, was at the festival making an emergency top up delivery of Orkney Blast, which was evidently selling well due to its aforementioned success, when the competition results started being announced. “I couldn’t quite believe it”, he said after hearing the brewery name being read out no less than seven times, and subsequently being called to the stage four times to receive the gold awards. “It’s fantastic! It’s the third year in a row the Orkney Blast has placed first in it’s category at the SIBA competition – we’ve got the hat trick! We feel that this, coupled with the fact that we’ve taken the Champion Beer of Scotland title for the third time in four years, highlights our ultimate commitment to the consistent quality of our beers. We’re immensely proud.”

 Swannay Brewery won four awards in both the 2009 and 2008 competitions.

 All the beers are available in cask and 500ml bottles. All the beers are brewed at the Swannay Brewery, by Evie, Orkney.

Links

http://www.siba.co.uk/events/?page_id=775

http://www.scottishbeerfestival.org.uk/

http://www.highlandbrewingcompany.co.uk/

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Consistency, Consistency, Consistency!

We have gone and got the hat trick!

Orkney Blast has been voted Champion Beer of Scotland 2010 - the third time in four years the brewery has won the title. Judged at the Scottish Real Ale Festival (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh) on Thursday June 24, the judging panel consisted of CAMRA (campaign for real ale) members along with selected brewers and beer writers from around the UK. The brewery also won the award in 2007 with Dark Munro and in 2008 with Scapa Special. Orkney Blast itself is already decorated with many awards.

“It’s absolutely fantastic for a beer of this strength to win a major CAMRA award – it really is quite something” said Rob Hill, owner and head brewer of the Highland Brewing Company, Swannay Brewery, Orkney Islands. “We’re absolutely delighted to receive the recognition – we feel it is well deserved.”

Orkney Blast is a 6% ABV (alcohol by volume) strong ale which really has all you could ask for in a glass of beer - full in flavour whilst not overpowering; it achieves a clean maltiness with a luscious, spicy hop middle that builds to a refreshing hoppy finish - leaving you wanting more!

The pump clip for the beer is the masthead from the original ‘Orkney Blast’ newspaper. The paper was published in Orkney for the Forces during World War 2.

The beer is available in cask and 500ml bottles. It is brewed at the Swannay Brewery, by Evie, Orkney.

Life’s A Blast

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We all love football here at WEST (to various degrees!) but we love WEST beer even more, so what better way to watch some footie action than on the BIG SCREEN in the brewery’s Hop Room with a cool & crisp pint of WEST St. Mungo lager and a soft pretzel (or make that a few pints and a yummy Schnitzel!).

As of Monday 14 June 2010, we will show most of the World Cup football games (there are some days on which we are unable to show games as we will be closed to the public for weddings – details of which are listed on our website at www.westbeer.com or simply call us on 0141 550 0135) on the BIG SCREEN.

So come one down to WEST and support your team (or whatever team you like better that day!) and enjoy the best Glasgow beer garden, finest lagers and wheat beers … and of course some hearty German cuisine.
All the best from the Wild WEST!
Templeton Building, Glasgow Green, Glasgow, G40 1AW

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A distinctive copper-clad “pagoda” is to be installed on the roof of the Orkney Brewery this week as the initial phase of a major £1.2 million redevelopment of the Sandwick site nears completion.

The hand-crafted pagoda, made in the traditional way to provide ventilation to the building’s malting floor, is thought to be the first fitted to a brewery in Scotland for several decades.

Work on the expansion and modernisation of the Orkney Brewery – being carried out by local contractors Casey Construction Ltd - is continuing on schedule, with the first phase due to be completed this August.

Norman Sinclair, managing director of Sinclair Breweries Ltd, said: “The pagoda is a very distinctive, attractive and functional addition to the new Orkney Brewery building and we’re delighted to see it installed. The craftsmanship that has gone into the pagoda, and indeed the entire redevelopment, reflects the quality of all our beers and the care we put into their production. The new building and pagoda turns an already wonderful location into a real Orkney landmark.”

Paddy Casey, director of Casey Construction Ltd, said: “The pagoda is the signature mark of the building and a real testament to the skills of our craftsmen, who built it from scratch in our joinery shop in Kirkwall. It’s great to see it finally in place on the brewery roof, making all their hard work worthwhile.”

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A Highlands brewery that bottles its real ale in England has secured funding to help it build its own plant.

Aviemore-based Cairngorm Brewery has been awarded a £250,000 grant from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) towards the £1.5m cost.

To view the full article go to: BBC News

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The Inveralmond Brewery’s special edition Homecoming Beer proved a hit when it was the guest ale in the House of Commons.

Strangers Bar in the UK Parliament picks different ales from around Britain to be featured in the bar.

Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, said: “It was great to get a taste of Perthshire in the House of Commons.

“Inveralmond’s Homecoming proved to be extremely popular and all the kegs were finished by Wednesday.

“Hopefully we’ll get other opportunities for Inveralmond to be enjoyed later in the Parliamentary term.” Fergus Clark, managing director of the brewery, said: “Homecoming Beer has been very successful for us throughout 2009, and it was wonderful to hear that our MPs enjoyed the beer so much when it made a guest appearance in the Strangers Bar.”

Taken from:  Business7

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