Go WEST?

WEST are Scotland’s only German-themed brewhouse, and have been based in the old Templeton carpet factory on Glasgow Green for exactly five years – their anniversary falling last Thursday. By a strange co-incidence it was on that very day I paid my first visit to the extravagantly-crennellated warehouse that sits a few minutes stroll from the city centre. I’d heard the surrounding area can be a bit sketchy – so hiding my plummy east coast mannerisms we wandered along, straight into a rather amusing police chase outside the building. They should give Olympic-funding lottery money to some of those lads, judging by the raw speed that was on display.

Being a German brewery – my earlier ‘German-themed’ comment might be taken as a slight (there were no lederhosen on display during our visit) they abide by the Reinheitsgebot purity laws – nothing but the big four ingredients involved in the production process. Brewers who stick to these principles today trade on the perceived badge of integrity the laws provide – for those who have heard of the 16th Century principles, of course. I do always wonder whether such producers are painting themselves into a corner with a self-imposed lack of creative leeway – but if you can put out a range of brews that are sufficiently different and interesting from using just water, barley, hops and yeast then it shows you must be doing something right.

WEST are very much a Glasgow operation – I have occasionally found their Munich Red on tap in Edinburgh, but to get the range of their beers you need to brave the potholes and take a trip along the M8. They mostly concentrate on tap – although Lagerboy did get to grips with their flagship lager, St Mungo, a couple of years ago, just after it had first been launched. Having finally made it through to the Templeton, there were plenty of interesting things on at the bar to go with our food, which was extremely good indeed – me not being able to say no to a schnitzel. The bar area is large and very airy, with plenty of big tables for groups swigging out of steins – all very teutonic, and very friendly.

Beerwise, first up was the aforementioned Munich Red (4.9%), which until a few moments afterwards was my favourite WEST beer. I do love a good Vienna – although this recipe is a slight tweaking of the variant to include Munich malt – the caramel and berry fruit flavours come through, but the drinkability doesn’t suffer as a result. The majority of the giant steins on the go were of the red variety, and I can see why.

I also had a go at the Hefeweizen (5.2%) – if only because it had just been awarded Champion keg beer of Britain by SIBA. Also, I was keen to compare it to the Hefeweizen recently produced by Stewart Brewing over on this side of the country, which I sampled on keg for the first time at the launch of their coconut porter. WEST’s is definitely smoother, and slightly more bitter – which I like, and helps when on the pints – and the prerequisite banana and clove flavours are there in abundance.

It was then on to two new beers from the German stable – starting with WEST Opus:B (5.0%) – a roasted malt lager first kegged on Burn’s Night (hence the ‘B’). Served in one of their giant pint glasses (pictured above with a diminutive-looking half stein of the Red), it was very dark, frothy and very cold. After warming for a short while there were really interesting chocolate and caramel aromas coming from the glass – together with a bit of plum fruit. On the taste, dark chocolate and coffee with a touch of smokiness from the malt, with more dark stone fruits and a bitterness into the finish – really good stuff indeed.

Just before leaving we were told about their birthday beer – a koelsch by the name of Opus 5 (4.4%). Intended as a celebration of their 5th anniversary it was running a few days late by the sound of it, and was only available as a sample at the time of our visit. But beer bloggers never turn down samples, so we were brought a little taster. Slightly hazy, it had some enormous lemon aromas and flavours, with a touch of acetone sharpness that told me it still wasn’t really ready. Hopefully by now it has had a chance to develop more of the clean flavours that the style merits – as a milestone beer it should be very nice.

WEST website