Yearly archives: 2015

LABOUR OF LOVE FOR COUNCIL LEADER

Sir Richard Leese to officially open Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2015

The leader of Manchester City Council is set to officially open the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2015. Sir Richard Leese CBE will attend the Press & Trade session, hosted by LWC Drinks and the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA), at the first day of the festival on Wednesday 21 January and will declare the festival officially open at 3pm.

Sir Richard, who has been the leader of Manchester City Council since 1996, will also be announcing the winner of the Champion Beer of the North West competition, as well as announcing the North West’s entrants into the finals of the Champion Winter Beer of Britain competition.

Sir Richard said: “The festival will be a celebration of Manchester’s thriving craft beer and cider industry and a wonderful opportunity to discover a huge range of products, ranging from those made locally to others from right around the globe.”

Following the trade session attended by invited brewers and publicans, the festival will open its doors to the public at 4pm.

Festival organiser Graham Donning said he was looking forward to welcomingSir Richard to the event. “It gives the branches of Greater Manchester’s Campaign for Real Ale great pleasure to have Sir Richard Leese open our event. The Manchester Beer and Cider Festival has fast become the most prestigious beer festival in the North West of England that welcomes visitors from all over the country and Europe as well as from far flung places across the globe.”

“Manchester is a great city to visit for the shopping, entertainment and the classic pubs and modern bars that are dotted around the city and the region.  We hope that Sir Richard and fellow councillors from Manchester City Council enjoy our event and realise how much business such a beer festival brings to the city with a dramatic increase in footfall for the pubs, restaurants, hotels and all other businesses.”

“This event is now the number one event for ‘Things to do in Manchester’ this week and many more thousands of people will realise what a good venue the Manchester Velodrome is with its marvellous facilities and staff. It almost makes me want to get my bike out and ride around the track!!” For more information about the festival visit www.mancbeerfest.uk

For further information contact:

Clare Barber
0151 255 0152

Notes to editors:

Sir Richard Leese

Sir Richard Leese was Manchester City Council’s Labour leader whose first act in charge was to revive the city following the 1996 IRA bomb, ultimately winning him a knighthood. A former teacher, he was first elected as councillor in 1984 and has led the city through over 15 years of major regeneration since his election as leader in 1996.

Manchester Beer & Cider Festival
1) The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival is organised by the Greater Manchester Branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

2) The 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.

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

15^th January, 2015

For Immediate Release:

BEST OF BRITISH – AND THE REST OF THE WORLD!

Take your tastebuds on a trip around the world’s best beers and ciders!

As well as bringing you some of the finest British cask conditioned ales, the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival will feature some of the finest traditional beers from around the world and has expanded its global offering this year.

Once again, it 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.

The Bière Sans Frontières bar will feature fine beers imported from Germany and Belgium plus beers from the Czech Republic – Budvar and Bohemia Regent.

A second Bière Sans Frontières bar on the concourse level will offer craft beers from the rest of the world – including the USA, Italy and Spain.

Highlights include:

*Who needs hops?

Jopen   Koyt      8.5%     Old Ale DUTCH

Brewed using a medieval recipe that pre-dates the use of hops and ingredients including Bog Myrtle. Clear copper brown in colour with aroma’s of malt with notes of spice, herbs and dried fruit. Spicy and malty flavour with clear notes of caramel and hops. Sweetish aftertaste. Very interesting.

*For the allergy conscious

Bernard               Gluten Free Lager        4.70%   Gluten Free       Czech

This is the gluten free version of the Svetly Lezak premium. Little noticeable difference in taste between this and the “glutened” version.

*Feeling adventurous?

Amager Bryghus/Prairie Artisan Ales       Tulsa Twister      7.6%     Saison   DANISH

Pours clear golden with tall frothy white head. Floral aroma of wheat, herbs, honey and light citrus. Taste is lightly sour with honey sweet underneath, lightly bitter finish. Body is light, smooth with average carbonation.

*A world of contrasts

Evil Twin Yin Draught  10%   Imperial Stout   American

The first side of the soul! This is really good. Roasty and chocolate flavours. Fades a bit to quickly to be a 5* stout but still very pleasing.

Evil Twin  Yang  10%       Imperial/Double IPA       American

The other side of the soul! Golden colour, small head. Strong aroma of hops. Taste is very malty, with some astringent bitter hops. Really bitter aftertaste

FEELING FRUITY?

But if beer is not your thing, never fear, there’s bound to be something to take your fancy at the festival which also features a massive selection of traditional ciders and perries (pear cider).

In fact, The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival will have two separate cider and perry bars this year. The concourse level bar will have the emphasis on producers from the North West including Manchester’s Moss Cider Project, Nooks Yard from Northwich, Bolton’s Red Bank Cider Company, Dunham Massey Press and True North Cider Press from Holmfirth.

Meanwhile the floor bar will feature those from the traditional cider areas of Somerset & Herefordshire.

For those novice cider drinkers, Cider Bar Manager, Mike Robinson, explains how to choose. He said:

“All the ciders and perries are different, with their own unique flavour and style. They range from fairly sweet, to very very dry and may be naturally cloudy, or clear. But don’t worry if you are not sure what to have – our knowledgeable staff will be happy to help you decide what to have – and even to provide a couple of “tasters” to help you make up your mind.”

He warned: “Just remember – cider and perry are much stronger than most beers, and can be deceptively easy drinking – take care!”

If you enjoy cider and perry you can also attend the Greater Manchester Cider & Perry Festival held annually in June – see www.manchesterciderfestival.co.uk for details.

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 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.

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

For more details visit www.mancbeerfest.uk

For further information contact:
Clare Barber
0151 255 0152

12th January, 2015
For Immediate Release:

MANCHESTER BEER & CIDER FESTIVAL 2015
MORE NEW BREWERIES THAN YOU CAN SHAKE A MASH PADDLE AT!

Manchester is seeing an unprecedented growth in the number of new breweries starting up and MBCF will be bringing you beers from many of these fledgling enterprises.

At almost four months old by the festival comes around, Bury’s Silver Street Brewery will almost be the granddaddy of the group. They will have four beers at the festival including their Driftwood IPA and their robust Porter. The brewery takes it’s name from the address of the Clarence pub where head brewer Craig Adams has been brewing in the basement twice a week since the pub re-opened in October.

Two newcomers from Wigan, Martland Mill & Hophurst, have both got almost three months under their belts and will each have two beers on the bars. Martland Mill will feature Clogmaker, a rich golden full bodied ale with a fruity flavour and an inkling of cedar and honey alongside quaffable golden ale Spinners Gold. Hophurst will be presenting their Debonair rich stout and Twisted Vine golden ale.

Tweed Brewery, the first new brewery in Hyde for decades, launched in November with Anthony Lewis, formerly of Denton’s Hornbeam Brewery in the head brewer’s role. The festival will feature their debut beer Winter Tweed.

Two more of Stockport’s premier real ale pubs now both boast their own breweries with the Magnet’s Watts Brewing and the Crown’s Stockport Brewing Co both taking their beers from their respective pubs to the bars of the Velodrome. At Watt’s Brewing, brewster Sarah Bergin has brewed up two speciality brews just for the festival, one an wheat beer with orange peel and the other a Raspberry & rose hip pale ale.  Stockport Brewing’s flagship beer StockPorter will be one of their two beers. Not to be left out, Fool Hardy Ales from Stockport’s third and longest established brew pub The Hope will also be featured.

The real youngsters of the family are Stockport’s Thirst Class Ales and two breweries based in Ancoats, Track Brewing Company and Alphabet Brew Co

Track’s debut beer a pale ale called Ozark was only first seen in pubs in December but has been selling out wherever it has appeared. Alphabet, set up by the owners of Manchester’s Kosmonaught bar, & Thirst Class, headed up by award winning home brewer Richard Conway, are even newer with Alphabet debuting their first beer at Kosmonaught in the first week of the new year and Thirst Class expected to debut just one week before the festival.

Richard Conway first came to the attention of local beer afficianados in 2013 when he won an IPA home brewing competition organised by Manchester’s Beer Moth beer shop. His prize for that was to rebrew the winning beer, Elephant Hawk IPA on a commercial scale which he did in conjunction with Stockport’s Quantum brewing. After deciding to set up his own brewery in July last year, Richard has spent six months putting his kit together. When asked about having his beers selected for MBCF, he said : “I am really pleased and excited to be represented at the festival”.

For further information contact:
Clare Barber
0151 255 0152

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