As the current host venue of the annual Beer Makes Glasgow festival, we have been aware of the incredible work done by the Drumchapel Food Bank for some time now. When we saw their recent post stating they were struggling with food donations, we knew we had to do something to help out.

So, from Sunday 9th June, we will be offering cans of our beer in exchange for cans of food.

Turn up at Drygate from Sunday to Thursday, and we'll give you up to six cans of beer for the corresponding number of tins of food. You can choose from Bearface Lager, Crossing the Rubicon West Coast IPA, Chimera India Pale Lager, or Dark Skies, our American stout. We'll accept more than six tins of food per donation, but we'd like to continue to promote responsible drinking, hence the cap.

Although all donations are welcome, Drumchapel Food Bank have requested the following items, which they require urgently: tinned meatballs, tinned beans & sausages, tinned chilli, tinned custard, tinned rice pudding, and tinned fruit.

We will also be accepting donations of instant noodles, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, size 4/5/6 nappies and other household essentials (all of which are in short supply), which we will donate to Drumchapel Food Bank, but these items aren't part of the can swap initiative.

We fully intend to run this initiative indefinitely, but we'll review it periodically to ensure it's still viable. If people keep coming in to swap food for beer, we'll keep running it.

“Drumchapel Food Bank do fantastic work in their community to help those who need it most," said Matt, our MD. "Across our team, we’re aware of how fortunate our positions are. Not everyone is able to support themselves or their families, and we feel it’s the responsibility of those who can, to aid those who can’t.

We’d also like to encourage other breweries to do the same, or find other ways to help local food banks. We know beer is a luxury item - our industry is not essential, so it’s crucial that those of us in privileged positions do what we can to help those in need of the basics."

Ryan McGeady, of Drumchapel Food Bank, said,

“As one of the only self-funded food banks in Scotland, we rely 100% on the efforts of our team and the donations of the public to be able to carry out our mission. We’d like to thank Drygate for running this initiative, and we hope the good people of Glasgow take part and help us to get food into the hands of those who need a helping hand. We’d also like to take this opportunity to mention that we accept other donations, and have other ways to donate – just get in touch!”

So come on down, switch a can for a can, and help our friends at Drumchapel Food Bank out with their important mission.

Beer Makes Glasgow takes place on 30th and 31st August 2019, and once again all profits from the event will go directly to Drumchapel Food Bank. Tickets will be available from Drygate.com from 14th June.

*Terms and Conditions: To ensure that swappers are not left disappointed, we are limiting the deal to Sunday - Thursday inclusive, when we aren’t at our busiest and may not have staff free to handle the exchange. Standard ID checks and age restrictions on the sale of alcohol will apply. There is a six can limit per donation, to ensure responsible drinking is observed. The team will not accept any food items with less than 3 months remaining on their shelf life.