Let’s start with the beer. First thing we canned this year was the West Sixth Cerveza, a light Mexican Lager that’s crisp and easy on the palate, great with a lime, and perfect with tacos, (and a ton of other foods). It’s so good we decided to go year-round with it. Our Flagship Family (West Sixth IPA, West Sixth Amber, and Pay it Forward Cocoa Porter) was happy to welcome Cerveza.
Year Six also brought the decision to live it all the way up and put some small batch favorites into cans. You can only get them in the taproom, so guess you’ll have to come see us when they come out.
Our team got a message from Ben (owner) late on the night of May 3 saying that our Pennyrile Pale Ale had won the Bronze Medal at the World Beer Cup® in Nashville. It’s the largest international beer competition in the world, with more than 8234 entries from 2515 breweries coming from 66 countries. 182 entries were received in the American Pale Ale category — making it the 5th largest in the competition. This is for certain one of our most proud moments at West Sixth Brewing.
Ya’ll knew we had purchased this big plot of land out in Frankfort, Kentucky some time ago. But this year our vision became a reality and we opened the West Sixth Farm. Big shoutout to the entire team who worked endlessly to make this a place for in and out of towners alike to come and enjoy the rolling hills of Kentucky, drink Kentucky made beer, and experience Kentucky hospitality. PLEASE check out the site for all the digs and visit when we open back up in April.
A few more things worth noting about 2018: Served West Sixth beer at over 200 events this year with the help of our incredible events team. New truck. New boiler. Brewed and canned the Bourbon Barrel Aged Christmas Ale. Expanded our Sixfold Series. Had some super fun and weird employee campout times, softball and volleyball games, and hangouts at other local establishments that we love.
We have always been a people company and this year proved we are still 100% all in on our people. We LOVE meeting y’all and spending years with you, sharing high highs and low lows. You are what keep us going every day. Our events are created to give you a good time and amazing experience. Our beer is independently created by a handful of brewers that are passionate about good beer. It is served by a beautiful team of folks who are happy to know you. And those of us ‘in the back’ are delighted to work behind the scenes and be a part of this great big story.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y’ALL! Let’s see what we can do in 2019.