Not many beer makers have charitable giving in mind when they brew their first batch, but for Lexington-based West Sixth Brewing, it was one of the reasons the partners went into business.
Brady Barlow, co-founder of West Sixth, said he and the other founders had three reasons to start a business when they opened 12 years ago:
- To make good beer.
- To be a good place to work.
- To give back to the community and support nonprofit organizations.
“This is not our first rodeo. We’ve all been in other businesses,” Barlow said. “This was a passion project. Different people have different middle-aged crises. Some people buy a convertible; some people get with a group of guys and start a brewery. I feel like ours is a little more harmless.”
The brewery opened at, naturally, West Sixth Street in Lexington, and since has opened locations in the NuLu neighborhood of Louisville, a farm just north of Frankfort, and the Bridgeview Box Park at Newport on the Levee.
From day one, the partners knew they would give back, and in the early years, they looked for nonprofits and asked if they could team up. One of the first organizations they partnered with was FoodChain, a group with a mission to increase access to locally sourced, fresh food for everyone. The pairing seemed like a logical choice, as both entities are based in the same building.
FoodChain serves thousands of meals per week at its headquarters and delivers to the doorsteps of homes with food insecurity. It has a teaching kitchen and hosts cooking classes for all ages. Students learn ways to process local fruits and vegetables so that nothing goes to waste.
Since 2011, West Sixth has supported FoodChain by raising funds at brewery events and donating beer and supplies for FoodChain events. They also team up for Saturday tours. One tour takes visitors to see FoodChain’s processing kitchen and onsite aquaponics farm, where the organization raises tilapia and grows microgreens. The West Sixth tour introduces visitors to the brewery to see the entire beer-making process from fermenters through canning.
“West Sixth has amazing, longstanding staff who care about their neighbors and the community,” said Leandra Forman, co-executive director of FoodChain. “They are the best neighbors for us. We know we can always borrow a cup of sugar from them.”
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To commemorate its 10th year in business in March 2022, West Sixth teamed up with Blue Grass Community Foundation to launch West Sixth for a Cause Foundation, which enables the brewery to put all forms of charitable giving under one umbrella. “We’ve given back about $1.2 million over the last 12 years,” Barlow said.
Each month, West Sixth gives 6 percent of proceeds from a single day to a featured nonprofit. Plus, it offers a daily Wooden Nickel Program in which each tasting flight a customer orders arrives with a wooden nickel. Customers can use that nickel either to take $1 off merchandise or give $1 to a nonprofit. Barlow said 99 percent of customers give it to the nonprofit.
West Sixth also gives back through events, some of which are recurring, and others of which are one time only. “We’ve learned over the years that listening to what folks need is a lot more effective than just copying and pasting the same program and running it over and over again,” said West Sixth Marketing and Creative Director Kelly Hieronymus.
Hieronymus said that West Sixth participates in more than 400 events outside the taprooms every year, and more than 50 percent of those events have a nonprofit tie. West Sixth’s participation can be financial, but sometimes just by being present, the brand can enhance an event or simply amplify a group’s message. West Sixth serves beer at Pride festivals across the state, donates matching funds for Bluegrass Cycling Club’s annual Pedaling for a Purpose, and hosts a music event for Kentucky Natural Lands Trust.
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The West Sixth Farm sits on 120 acres in Franklin County and offers walking paths, mountain biking trails and an orchard. A representative from Woods & Waters Land Trust visits the farm to lead the weekly Friday Hiking Club on a one-hour guided hike. “This is a way for [Woods & Waters Land Trust] to access folks and tell them about native plants and the way that our landscape and geography is in Kentucky,” Hieronymus said.
In this case, the donation is not financial, but West Sixth is acting as a megaphone for Woods & Waters Land Trust.
Clearly, it is not all about the beer at West Sixth, but the beer is what brings people in the doors, resulting in the brewery’s tremendous growth over the past 12 years. West Sixth offers about 10 standard brews, such as West Sixth Amber Ale and Fuzzy Fields Hazy IPA, along with seasonal rotators, such as DankeChain Oktoberfest and several varieties of taproom exclusives. With the beer selections and four locations in the state, West Sixth is doing something right. But as Barlow said, it all started with the giving. “We were giving back long before we were able,” he said. “Financially, we shouldn’t have been giving back yet, but that’s the reason we got in business.”
Follow West Sixth on social media to stay updated on ways to pay it forward.