Westy’s & Beer
It has been said that beer is the nectar of the gods. You may be familiar with another famous quote about beer: “Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it is so good!” Frank the Tank, “Old School.” Much has been said about beer, both good and bad; but one thing is for certain, beer has been embedded in cultures around the globe for hundreds of centuries. That is a fact that will never change.
Holly & Mark - Cheers!
Before we talk about one of our favorite subjects, beer, here is a quick update from last week. The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams squashed the squids last Saturday to give Army the Star Series victory over Navy, 14-12! It was the first time Army has won the series since the 2013-14 season and how sweet it was. It made for a great weekend of celebration with some cold beers in hand! Which is a great segue to our blog topic of the week.
It has been said that beer is the nectar of the gods. You may be familiar with another famous quote about beer: “Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it is so good!” Frank the Tank, “Old School.” Much has been said about beer, both good and bad; but one thing is for certain, beer has been embedded in cultures around the globe for hundreds of years. That is a fact that will never change.
Holly and Mark have been beer lovers since our dads first handed a beer bottle to us as kids because we were looking at them funny and said, “do you want to take a sip?” The sip turned into a chug, and before you knew it, our dads were grabbing the bottles away from us.
Our love for beer was one of the many reasons we were attracted to each other when we started dating. Mark thought, “Awesome! I have a girlfriend who loves beer! That is cool.” Holly was like, “I can drink beer all day with this lightweight😊.” Some of our favorite dates were (and still are) going to bars and restaurants that advertise multiple beers so we can sample them.
After graduating from West Point, the beer gods smiled down on us when we found out our first duty station was Germany, the motherland of beer! For three years, we drank every kind of beer imaginable. Holly typically went with the local pilsners, while Mark favored the hefeweizens. Our favorite all-time beer was brewed by monks in a monastery known as the Kreuzberg near Wildflecken. In 1987, Playboy magazine ranked it as the 3rd best beer in the world (the monks had the framed article hanging on a wall to prove it)! It was so good that Holly and Mark brought a small keg of it back to New York for our wedding party to drink during Happy Hour prior to our rehearsal, which ended up being a lot of fun to say the least. The downside to German beer was that we returned to the states with a big, fat, beer-face, but it was worth it!
Fast-forward thirty years and you will still find Holly and Mark drinking beer on every occasion. We also happen to have four beers on tap at our house. Plus, we are extremely lucky to have friends who enjoy drinking beer with us. We drink light beer most of the time, but Mark grew fond of IPAs during COVID thanks to his sister-in-law, or should I say no thanks to her because the beer face is back! Holly’s all-time #1 beer is Coors Light, so you can bet your bottom dollar it will be on tap at Westy’s (and probably in bottles and cans, too)! In fact, our friends all know that Holly’s favorite beer is Coors Light, so that is a common birthday gift for her😊.
Hopefully, you have a better understanding of why we are opening Westy’s. Bottom Line - we love beer! That is not the only reason we are opening Westy’s BUT, when used responsibly, beer can bring people and communities together like nothing else. When you go into any bar, pub, or tavern in the world there will be one common theme – people raising a pint together to have fun, to tell stories, to cheer on their favorite teams, and to cheer one another up. THAT is why we are opening Westy’s. When Westy’s opens this summer, we want it to be that place for you. We want it to be the place where the craft known as beer – and all of the good that goes with it – meets you, the community.
It has been a wild and crazy journey so far to get to that grand opening date this summer, but, like our big, fat, beer-faces from Germany, it will be worth it! So, make plans to join us this summer at Westy’s – where craft meets community.
Cheers,
Mark & Holly
Owners | Westy’s
Westy’s & the Army-Navy Rivalry
You can expect to see your fair share of Army Navy memorabilia at Westy’s. It won’t be over-the-top, but we plan to outfit Westy’s with items such as pennants, and old Army Navy programs and posters. We will even have our own Beat Navy Tunnel for patrons to walk through – but that is all I will say about that for now…
Mark & Holly at the 2024 Army-Navy Game in Landover, MD.
Hello friends,
If you follow Westy’s, then you probably know we are classmates from West Point’s Class of 1991 – Duty Shall Be Done or, in Westy’s case, Drinking Shall Be Done😊
What you may not know is we both played collegiate sports at West Point. Holly played soccer and Mark played 150 lb. football, which is now known as Sprint football (Mark can explain over a beer at Westy’s if you are wondering what the heck this is).
Both of our boys followed in Mark’s footsteps and played Sprint (Keegan 2019, Kyle 2027), our daughter Lexi (2021) played women’s lacrosse, and our daughter Daisy (2029) will be playing soccer starting next fall. If you have been to our home, then you quickly realized we bleed black and gold; and at no time do we bleed black and gold more than when we play Navy. Mark was fortunate enough to beat Navy two of three contests as QB of the 150 lb. team, and although Holly never played against Navy (they did not have a collegiate team yet), she grew up with a burning passion to beat Navy because her dad is a USMA ’62 grad.
As the current head coach of the Sprint football team, it is sad to say that if Mark’s team loses to Navy, everyone in our family knows that Mark will be in a bad mood the entire next year. Winning the Gold Star against Navy ranks right up there with the birth of a child (ok, maybe we are exaggerating but not by much).
With that in mind, know that this weekend is a BIG deal for Holly and Mark, and Army Athletics. Army currently leads the “Star Series” over Navy this year by one victory, 12-11. Army has not won the Star Series since 2013-14 season and our overall record in the Star Series is 4-40-2. Not very good. We have a long way to go to make that up, but winning the Star Series this year is a step in the right direction. This Saturday, Men’s Lacrosse plays @ Navy and Women’s Lacrosse hosts Navy. Both games are at noon. Men’s Tennis hosts Navy this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Two victories and we clinch the series outright – one win ensures a tie. Let’s go ahead and win all three!
This leads me to the point of this blog. You can expect to see your fair share of Army Navy memorabilia at Westy’s. It won’t be over-the-top, but we plan to outfit Westy’s with items such as pennants, and old Army Navy programs and posters. We will even have our own Beat Navy Tunnel for patrons to walk through – but that is all I will say about that for now…
If all goes well, we will open Westy’s around the same time the fall sports teams are starting their seasons. If all goes REALLY well, we will be celebrating many victories over Navy at Westy’s for years to come.
GO WESTY’S! GO ARMY!! BEAT NAVY!!!
Mark and Holly West
Owners
Westy’s Pavilion
The weather is finally starting to warm up in the Hudson Valley. This means more and more folks will come out of winter hibernation and begin enjoying the outdoors again. The warmer weather also lends itself to more outdoor construction at Westy’s! Our 4-seasons pavilion is finally taking shape. The concrete foundation is complete, and our awesome construction crew started framing it out today. We will be sure to periodically post pictures of the progress.
Concept Rendering of the pavilion at Westy’s.
Hello friends,
The weather is finally starting to warm up in the Hudson Valley. This means more and more folks will come out of winter hibernation and begin enjoying the outdoors again. The warmer weather also lends itself to more outdoor construction at Westy’s! Our 4-seasons pavilion is finally taking shape. The concrete foundation is complete, and our awesome construction crew started framing it out today. We will be sure to periodically post pictures of the progress.
The pavilion will be a highlight of Westy’s that you won’t find in many other bars throughout the Hudson Valley. Not only can you enjoy a brew on the back patio while watching your favorite sport or listening to your favorite music with friends, but you can also challenge them to cornhole, ring toss, or some other fun game. We can’t wait to host our inaugural cornhole tournament this summer!
The pavilion will also be a great spot for you to host your special events like graduation and birthday parties, retirement celebrations, and promotion ceremonies. In short, the pavilion will be a social gathering spot where locals and visitors alike can gather to have fun and take a break from the craziness that life throws at us. We plan to spend a lot of time in the pavilion!
For those who follow Team Westy’s journey on Instagram or Facebook, you probably have a good picture in your mind of what Westy’s will look like. If you do not follow our journey, I hope you consider doing so. Knowing what Westy’s will look like, to include the pavilion, is certainly exciting.
The one thing I hope no one loses sight of is the “why” behind Westy’s. “Why are we doing this?” Sure, we have always dreamed of opening a bar. But why Westy’s? And why now?
Simply put, we are doing it to give back. We believe that Westy’s can be the catalyst in helping Highland Falls return to the days when it was a vibrant, bustling village that provided restaurants, retail stores, and entertainment that made everyone proud.
West Point’s Association of Graduates took it upon themselves to start the Hudson Valley Project, a non-profit organization with the goal of helping revitalize Highland Falls. Westy’s is an off shoot of AOG’s vision, and we are excited to be doing our part to help. That’s why we want you to join Team Westy’s and be a part of it.
Cheers!
Mark and Holly West
The Westy’s Journey Has Begun.
While Holly and I have frequented MANY bars in our lifetime, we’ve never had the chance to work in one. So this journey to open Westy’s has been eye opening to say the least.
Holly & Mark West, in their home bar in 2021.
Hello friends,
While Holly and I have frequented MANY bars in our lifetime, we’ve never had the chance to work in one. So this journey to open Westy’s has been eye opening to say the least.
From the layout of the kitchen, to the POS system, to the music and sound system, security, fixtures and furnishings, and so much more, we learn a little more each day.
Luckily we have an outstanding team of professionals around us who want Westy’s to succeed as much as we do.
We look forward to sharing more with you as Westy’s progresses.
Mark West