The brainchild of popular Paisley based wholesalers AleselA, the Glasgow Beer Event will be held at the warehouse home of the charity organisation ‘Glasgow The Caring City’ - the venue for the Big Feed street food market.
Taking place over three sessions, Friday 2nd Feb 6pm to 11pm, Saturday 3rd Feb 12pm to 5pm and 6pm to 11pm, tickets for the GBE will cost just £10 and can be found in some of the city's most popular beer bars, including the Bon Accord, Pot Still, Inn Deep, Redmond's and Marchtown.
Bringing together ten brewers that AleselA currently work with, including some from across the border, the event will also feature a dedicated real ale bar with over 20 or so cask ales from another dozen or so English and Scottish breweries.
Co-founder of AleselA, Susan Jamieson, said: "There will be something to suit everyone from the experienced beer geek to the novice beer enthusiast just starting out and unsure what they like.
“We wanted to take the best elements from both independent and CAMRA organised events and combine them, hopefully this will result in the best of both worlds for the beer drinkers who attend.
"In the so-called 'craft beer' world, largely hidden from your average beer drinker, there is a degree of rivalry between cask beers/real ales and working in the beer industry for 7 years now, we’ve come to realise that the lines drawn between these two camps are actually quite easily blurred – there are pros and cons to both dispense methods but the bottom line for beer drinkers is that they want something of consistently high quality that they like to drink,
regardless of the dispense method.
“We’re trying to smooth over some of the entrenched notions by some factions in the beer loving community and just celebrate and enjoy beer and the wealth of great breweries we are blessed with in this country right now.
“As such, there will be around ten brewers that we currently work with – a mix from England and Scotland - bringing with them their own mobile keg bars.
"There will also be a separate bar serving 20 or so cask ales from another dozen or so English and Scottish breweries in the style of CAMRA events like Paisley Beer Festival and Glasgow CAMRA Festival.
"The breweries whose beers are being showcased on the cask bar are sending brewery staff to man the hand pumps behind the bar too. Ultimately, it's the best of all worlds and this set up should also result in an excellent and varied choice of high quality beer for
attendees to choose from.
"Hopefully we can break down some barriers and dispel some misconceptions about the various genres within the beer world, and have a great time doing it.”
The AleselA team confirmed that there will be food vendors at the event too, providing plenty of tasty choices of food so that no-one will be drinking on an empty stomach, as well as extending the event to local bars so that any drinks people enjoy at the festival can be found elsewhere once it's over.
Susan added: "We’re hoping to extend the pub’s and bar’s involvement past the actual Event as well by having the breweries attending the Event supply their beers to those pubs and bars involved in the weeks afterwards.
"It’s frustrating when you’ve tried a beer at an event that you’ve really enjoyed and then you can’t seem to find it anywhere to drink it again. This measure will go some way to addressing that situation.
“We want to show people what’s out there in the beer world these days, to celebrate the differences and quirks between the various different styles and to show that something as enjoyable as beer shouldn’t be constrained by rules cliques and misconceptions. When all’s said and done, it’s beer, not rocket surgery – drink and Enjoy!”
