Beer enthusiasts are looking forward to the second Glasgow Beer Week from 7-14 September. Scottish breweries and publicans are combining to offer a multi-event, multi-venue celebration aimed at raising the profile and improving the image of beer.

For the first time all three Glasgow breweries are taking part, with Tennent’s offering a rare chance to tour Wellpark Brewery and meet the master brewers. In the city itself, WEST brewery on Glasgow Green has created the official Beer Week brew, a light, pale beer in the tradition of the German Rhineland. South Side brewpub Clockwork Beer Co is working with local botanists on an experimental herbal beer with plants gathered on a wildlife walk.

Highlights will include a repeat of last year’s popular Homebrewing Live, in which local homebrewers demonstrate the process of beer-making, and Sisters Are Brewing It For Themselves, a girls-only beer tasting. Further glamour will be provided by the “Beer Beauty”, TV presenter and beer expert Marverine Cole, who will be leading a special beer dinner.

For those of an academic bent, the Scottish Brewing Archive Association is holding a one-day conference to start the festival, featuring speakers from the brewing and whisky industries.

“If you know lager, you’re a Skolar,” the adverts used to say. Beer historian Ron Pattinson does know lager, and he’ll be talking about the strange story of British lager on Monday evening.

Pubs and bars will be making a special effort to attract customers, with several events at which new and rare beers will be on offer. And a special event at the end of the week will welcome Glasgow’s newest speciality beer bar to the city.

Twitter users will be adding the ‘#gbw12’ hashtag to their tweets to create a real-time news feed that will be posted on the Beer Week website. The site also features a beer map showing what beer-lovers are drinking around town, based on the checkins made by users of the beery social media app Untappd (‘Foursquare for beer’ – untappd.com).

Events are still being added to the schedule, so for the full updated programme of events and participating venues, please visitwww.glasgowbeerweek.com or follow @glasgowbeerweek on Twitter.

Oak aged beer goes online

From September, Scotland's leading independent beer company, Innis & Gunn, will sell its beer direct to the consumer through a new online shop at www.innisandgunn.com. 

For the first time ever, UK fans of the brewer’s pioneering oak-aged beers, will be able to buy Limited Edition releases, made for international sale only, including the US Innis & Gunn Independence Day 2012 and Spiced Rum Aged, as well as the core range of Original, Rum Finish and Blonde. Melville’s fruit beers – both strawberry and raspberry variants – will also be available to buy from Phase I of the e-store launch.

 Dougal Sharp (pictured), CEO of Innis & Gunn, says: “The website is a place to discover Innis & Gunn: to discover who we are and to discover our beer. We have an international following on the web; consumers who tune in to every new happening. We created our website to be an information hub for this community initially, as well as newcomers to the brand, but it was always part of the plan to make our beers available to everyone to buy. This is the first step in that process.”

 Available for sale from September will be:  

Innis & Gunn Original, 6.6%abv;

Innis & Gunn Rum Finish, 6.8% abv 

Innis & Gunn Blonde, 6% abv,  

Innis & Gunn Independence Day 2012 Limited Edition, 7% abv

Innis and Gunn Spiced Rum Aged, 7.4% abv

 Melville's Craft Lager – Scottish Raspberry

 Melville's Craft Lager – Scottish Strawberry

 Innis & Gunn branded merchandise will be added to the online store in Phase II (Autumn 2012). Initially the Innis & Gunn e-shop will only be available to customers in Great Britain (UK and Northern Ireland). There will be a £6.75 delivery charge per order.