West Shore Brewing Company, Clarence’s only brewery, is celebrating their first year at the first annual West Fest on July 7. The daylong celebration will feature a number of rotating beer releases, craft spirit and mead tastings, live music and food. West Fest kicks off at 2pm.

Live music will take place all day long during West Fest, with entertainment being provided by The Gavin Petrie Band, The Springfield Incident and The Big Sauce Trio. West Shore owner Josh Dziomba will also take to the stage for the special occasion, teaming up with musicians from other bands on the bill in a band he is calling the West Shore All Stars. West Shore’s neighbors Lilly Belle Meads will be on hand sampling their wares, as will Black Button Distilling, and food will be available from Lloyd Tacos, BABZ BBQ, Smoke, Fire, & Spice and Gianni Mazia’s On Main.

“Festivals are fun,” Dziomba says, “but honestly we wanted to do one because a lot of people don’t know we’re there yet. We’re on the outskirts of Clarence and even most of Clarence doesn’t know we’re there yet. We’ve been open for a year and are only open a few days a week, so we’re just entering the next phase. We’re always going to be small but we’re going momentum. People have been asking us to do a festival, so we’ll see how this goes.”

Music will take place outside in West Shore’s brand new beer garden, which features picnic tables, round communal tables, string lights, Adirondack chairs and cornhole boards.

But the true star of West Fest is the beer list. Rotating beer releases will take place all day, including Interlocking Double IPA (hopped with Citra and Chinook), All You Need Is Shandy, Magnolia Mountain Saison (their first ever saison), Green Flyer New England IPA (featuring Lemondrop, Centennial, Citra and Simcoe hops), Turncoat Ale, a hybrid ESB and American Pale Ale, and Citra Hopped Kickstand Kolsch.

 

West Fest will also feature a number of special beer releases, including Milkshake IPA, 4th of Juluau Christmas Ale, Honey London Brown Ale (a sub 4% ABV beer packed with caramel and dark malts), Cucumber Mint Gose (a new collaboration beer with Old First Ward Brewing) and a special infusion of the Citra DIPA. These special beer releases will only be available for growler fills for VIP ticket holders (more info on that below), but may be available for all West Fest attendees depending on quantity.

“I always bite off more than I can chew,” Dziomba jokes about the amount of beer releases for the event. “I love having people at the brewery, and I’m not even talking about the money aspect of it; it is the best feeling when that place is full. I just love when people are there enjoying the space and the beer and I get to spend some time talking to people. It’s an incredible feeling when you make something and then go over to a tap and pour it into a glass. You would think that feeling would fade, but it doesn’t.”

General Admission tickets ($10 pre-sale, $12 at the door) include the first beer free and the first 300 tickets sold include a free 1-year anniversary glass. VIP Tickets ($25 pre-sale, $30 at the door) include: early admission, 2 crowlers of limited release beers, 1 anniversary glass, plus discounts on merchandise, crowler packages, and crowler or mug club memberships.

“If you haven’t checked us out yet, this is the perfect opportunity to,” Dziomba adds.

For more information on the first ever West Fest, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/2537865409772775/.

Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague) and www.buffalobeerleague.com.