Yearly archives: 2014

MANCHESTER’S TOP BEER FESTIVAL WELCOMES INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

 in Press Releases

For immediate release:

MANCHESTER’S TOP BEER FESTIVAL WELCOMES INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

MANCHESTER Beer and Cider Festival (MBCF) is not only causing a stir amongst local real ale fans who can’t wait to fill their tankards with the finest brews but is attracting attention worldwide!

Travellers from overseas have been contacting the beer festival organisers, CAMRA, to get their hands on tickets in advance.

Beer festival enthusiasts Mike and Maggie Nolan from Canada are eager to sample some British brews when they visit the UK next year.

And after they contacted festival organisers anxious to guarantee their entry to the event which will be held in January 2015, organisers kindly decided to offer the couple a pair of tickets free of charge.

Festival organiser Graham Donning said: “As a gesture of goodwill we decided to offer our international visitors free entry and have put their names on the door. We look forward to meeting the Nolans and hope they will enjoy our range of traditional British cask conditioned craft ales including Manchester’s own Marble Beers and the popular Hawkshead Brewery.”

“They can also try our massive range of ciders and perries plus some of the best imported beers from around the world including German, Belgian, Dutch, Czech and American beers.”

The couple were delighted with the response saying: “We are very much looking forward to the festival! We have been to several beer fests in and around Ottawa but are excited about attending one in Manchester!”

The MBCF takes place in the National Cycling Centre’s Velodrome from January 21-24 2015 and will feature over 500 beers, ciders and perries over two levels.

Robert Wessel, from California, is also looking forward to the festival. He says: “British beer, in particular cask-conditioned beer (real ale) offers a much better sensory experience when properly served and enjoyed at cellar temperature and in good condition.

“Granted, I could enjoy a bit of the same in California, but to date, it never has really compared, hence my returning several times a year to enjoy real ale as it was intended.”

Rob travels all the way from Redondo Beach to Manchester each January for his fix of Northern nectar.

He explains why: “The MBCF is enjoyable due the wide range of beer styles on offer, from refreshing golden ales to beers a bit more appropriate to the season, such as winter warmers, stouts, old ales and barley wines.

“The ability to sample these fine ales, properly served and in excellent condition, be it in a proper pint or a nip (a rather appropriate measure when enjoying the stronger and very warming beers), makes for an enjoyable, flavourful and palette-expanding evening.”

Indeed the MBCF website has been visited by people from 29 different countries to date including 35 hits from Italy, 33 from Brazil, 17 from Germany and much more. It has also gathered Facebook followers from as far as Denmark, Pakistan, Argentina and Russia.

For tickets and more details visit www.mancbeerfest.uk

For further information contact:

Clare Barber

07545 600 825

 

17th December, 2014

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival is organised by the Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
  2. The 2014 festival attracted over 10,000 visitors who drank over 40,000 pints of beer, cider and perry. The 2015 festival will have another 17,000 pints available.
  3. The event will be held in The Velodrome in the National Cycling Centre, home to Team GB’s fantastically successful Olympic cyclists.
  4. Advanced tickets are available from £3 for entry during Wednesday, Thursday and Friday daytime and £6 for Friday evening after 5pm (all prices plus 10% booking fees).

CHARITY HOPES TO RAISE THE BAR AT MANCHESTER BEER FESTIVAL!

 in Festival Charity / Press Releases

Henshaws Society for Blind People is hoping to top last year’s amount raised as they prepare to be the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival’s (MBCF) chosen charity for the second year running.

Following a successful event earlier this year, when Henshaws raised £2,750 at the beer festival, MBCF is delighted to welcome back the charity to the event which will be held at the Velodrome in Manchester in 2015.

One of the oldest charities in the UK, serving Manchester for nearly 200 years, Henshaws is a specialist charity which offers a crucial lifeline to all those affected by sight loss within Greater Manchester and beyond. They provide expert support, advice and training and help hundreds of visually impaired and disabled people each year to develop the skills and independence they need to lead lives that are as full and independent as possible.

Glen Lockett, Henshaws’ Head of Fundraising, said: “We’re thrilled to chosen once again to be Manchester Beer and Cider Festival’s preferred charity. The money raised at the festival for Henshaws will help us continue our life changing services for those affected by sight loss and other disabilities. We’re urging everyone to come down and grab a beer and support Henshaws!”

The Beer Festival’s chosen charity is given a promotional stall and free rein to collect loose change from customers at the event which is expected to attract in excess of 12,000 visitors. They will also be promoted on the festival website, posters, flyers and in the festival programme.

This year Henshaws is sponsored by Printerbased Limited printer specialists based in Ashton-Under-Lyne www.printerbase.co.uk

Festival organiser Graham Donning said:

“We are delighted to welcome back Henshaws and look forward to working with them in 2015 to raise the profile of their work and raise funds to support their activities. At such a large event, there are endless opportunities for fundraising which could also add value to the festival customer experience.”

Manchester’s first Beer and Cider Festival which was held in January this year, was an unprecedented success. More than 10,000 people attended MBCF at the National Cycling Centre with all 16 bars being drunk dry by the Saturday afternoon.

Now work is well underway on the second event which is set to be even bigger and better. MBCF will take over the whole of the Velodrome in January 2015 adding at least three brand new bars including two mixed cask ale bars, a second cider and perry bar and a number of brewery bars.

For more information about the festival visit www.mancbeerfest.uk

For further information contact:

Clare Barber
07545 600 825
press (at) mancbeerfest.uk

Notes to Editors:

1) Henshaws Society for Blind People provide expert care, advice and training to local people affected by sight loss and other disabilities, right where it’s needed most.
Henshaws work throughout the north of England, with centres and communities in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Newcastle and Yorkshire. There is also Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre and specialist Henshaws College, a unique further education college for students aged 16-22.
2) The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival is organised by the Greater Manchester Branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
3) Advance tickets are priced at £3 for entry during Wednesday, Thursday and Friday daytime and £6 for Friday evening after 5pm (all prices plus 10% booking fees). Early bird discount code will be active until midnight on 20th November.
4) The 2014 festival attracted over 10,000 visitors who drank over 40,000 pints of beer, cider and perry. The 2015 festival will have another 17,000 pints available.

Bar line up revealed

 in Festival News

Tickets are now on sale for the 2nd Manchester Beer & Cider Festival. The festival returns to the Manchester Velodrome from 21st – 24th January with an incredible line up of beers, ciders & perries planned.

There will be 19 bars spread across the Velodrome’s concourse and floor including 10 top breweries bringing their own bars to the event. These will be led by Manchester’s own Marble Beers with their enduringly popular beers including Pint, Dobber & Marble Ginger. Also returning to the festival for a second year will be Cumbria’s Hawkshead Brewery who last year walked away with the award for Champion Beer Of The North West for their Cumbrian Five Hop. Yorkshire brewer Ilkley Brewery and Cheshire’s Bollington Brewery will also return and will be joined by six brewers setting up bar for the first time.

Brewster Michelle Kelsall will bring her Offbeat beers to the event including the award-winning Way Out Wheat & Dotty Double IPA. Fellow brewsters Amanda Seddon & Kathryn Harrisson of Wilson Potter brewery will also have their bar at the event. It has been quite a year for Wilson Potter having made habit of picking up awards, winning Beer Of The Festival at Stockport, Chorlton and Didsbury Beer Festivals. The award-winning beers should all be on the bar.

Bury will have two representatives in the brewery bar line up with Outstanding Beers, one of the most established and respected micro-brewers in the region, lining up alongside the up and coming Brightside Beers who have made great strides since setting up in the back of the family bakery just three years ago. From Hebden Bridge, Bridestones Brewery have been making a name for themselves in their local heartland for past couple of years but are only just starting to regular appear in Manchester – this will change after they bring their bar to the festival.

Last but by no means least in the brewery bar line up will be Marble protégée Rob Hamilton & his Blackjack Beers. The regular Brew Tap open weekends at the Manchester based brewer have become a mecca for beer fans over the past year and now they will be bringing their diverse range of beers to Manchester Beer & Cider Festival. The Blackjack Brew Tap will be located on the concourse level.

Of course there won’t just be beers at the event. The new Cider bar on the concourse level will focus on the growing number of cider producers in the North of England. While the traditional cider producing areas of Somerset & Herefordshire continue to dominate the industry, recent years have seen a growing number of producers in the North and Manchester Beer & Cider Festival will be featuring some of the very best of these including Manchester’s own Moss Cider Project, Bolton’s Red Bank Cider Company, Dunham Massey Press and True North Cider Press from Holmfirth.

The festival is also expanding it’s range of beers from across the world. Once again, is expected that the full range of German Oktoberfest beers will be on the bar, in itself a rare occurrence in the UK. However, the festival will also be featuring a range of beers from the growing craft beer movement around the world. These will include beers from Australia’s Stone & Wood, Denmark’s Amager & Spain’s Naparbier. The USA will be represented by Evil Twin, Two Roads & Greenflash amongst others. Other countries represented will include France, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Netherlands & Italy.

To keep up to date as brewers & beers are confirmed follow the festival on twitter at @MancBeerFest or on Facebook.com/ManchesterBeerFestival

GRAB YOUR TICKETS FOR MANCHESTER’S TOP BEER BASH

 in Press Releases

From 8am today, beer fans can snap up tickets to the region’s biggest beer festival.

The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival takes place in the National Cycling Centre’s Velodrome from 21st – 24th January 2015 and will feature more than 500 beers ciders & perries over two levels.

The inaugural event held last year was an unprecedented success with almost 30% more visitors than anticipated meaning that, despite a capacity of over 2,000 people, thirsty drinkers had to queue outside at peak times.

For 2015, the event is expanding to take over the whole of the Velodrome concourse and floor and is making tickets available in advance so eager fans of the booming craft brewing scene can guarantee their place.

Visitors to mancbeerfest.uk can book their tickets from today with prices for most sessions being just £3 (plus a modest booking fee). To celebrate the launch, an early bird discount of 50p a ticket is available until 20th November by entering code “MBCFEarly” at the checkout.

Festival organiser Graham Donning said:

“We got lots of enquiries for advance tickets last year, but we thought we had capacity for everybody who would want to come so didn’t make them available. With the continuing growth in the craft beer market, we are expecting even more visitors in 2015 so it makes sense to let them guarantee their place by selling tickets in advance.”

The 2015 festival will see around half of the beers & ciders on brand new bars around the concourse of the Velodrome. As well as two new cask beer bars with a choice of almost 200 beers between them, the concourse will host four brewery bars and a new cider & perry bar majoring in locally produced ciders. A new “Rest of the World Bar” selling craft beers from Holland, Spain, France, Czech Republic and the USA will complement the German, Belgian and Budvar beers available on the floor’s Bière Sans Frontières bar.

From the concourse, visitors will be able to grab a beer and sit in one of the 3,000 seats overlooking the cyclists on the track.

On the Velodrome floor (via the stairs or the step free route of lift and ramp) there will be another 200+ beers on another two cask bars, another cider and perry bar, the Real Ale in a Bottle bar and a plethora of brewery bars including Manchester’s own Marble Beers and the enduringly popular Hawkshead Brewery.

Tickets go on sale from 8am on 14th November from www.mancbeerfest.uk

For further information contact:

Clare Barber 07545 600 825

Notes to Editors:

1) The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival is organised by the Greater Manchester Branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). 2) Advance tickets are priced at £3 for entry during Wednesday, Thursday and Friday daytime and £6 for Friday evening after 5pm (all prices plus 10% booking fees). Early bird discount code will be active until midnight on 20th November.

3) The 2014 festival attracted over 10,000 visitors who drank over 40,000 pints of beer, cider and perry. The 2015 festival will have another 17,000 pints available.

MINT UMBRELLA RAISE A GLASS TO MANCHESTER BEER AND CIDER FESTIVAL

 in Press Releases

Mint Umbrella is toasting its new media partnership with Manchester Beer and Cider Festival.

The North West marketing agency is excited to be supporting the annual festival which is organised by CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) volunteers.

The first festival, held in January this year, was an unprecedented success. More than 10,000 people attended the festival in The Velodrome at the National Cycling Centre with all 16 bars being drunk dry by the Saturday afternoon.

Now work is well underway on the second event which is set to be even bigger and better. The festival will take over the whole of the Velodrome in January 2015 adding at least three brand new bars including two mixed cask ale bars, a second cider and perry bar and a number of brewery bars.

Shortlisted in the Prolific North Awards 2014, Liverpool-based Mint Umbrella offers Manchester Beer Festival the perfect cocktail of marketing, PR, branding and design advice to ensure even more real ale and cider conoisseurs attend the event.

Organisers will also make sure there’s plenty to go round this year. Overall there will be almost half as much beer again as in 2014, so more choice with at least 500 beers, ciders and perries available.

Mint Umbrella Director, Nicky Rigby-Smith said:

“We’re delighted to be working with the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival 2015 as the official media partner! The festival was a huge success last year and will once again feature some of the very best cask conditioned craft beers available selected from hottest names in British beer.”

The Festival will take over the whole of the Velodrome from January 21st–24th 2015. The expanded festival bars will be spread across the Velodrome concourse and floor. The iconic National Cycling Centre is home to Team GB’s fantastically successful Olympic and Paralympics cyclists.

The Velodrome track remains in use throughout the festival by Team GB who train every day. As pints are enjoyed, there is every chance that medal winning cyclists such as Sir Bradley Wiggins, Laura Trott and Jason Kenny will be whizzing round as they train for the 2015 World Championships and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

For more information about the festival, how to attend and what packages are available go to www.mancbeerfest.uk

For further information contact:

Clare Barber
07545 600 825
clare@mintumbrella.com

October 30th 2014