#PubsMatter

Yearly archives: 2017

Trio to teach tasty treats

 in Festival News / Press Releases

Leading beer experts to conduct tutored tastings in Manchester

Real ale lovers enjoy the taste of their favourite drink, but do they know why? Now help is at hand as the North’s biggest beer festival is set to show next month just how diverse and complex beer is.

Building on last year’s sell-out tasting sessions, Manchester Beer and Cider Festival will give drinkers the chance to hear from three of the country’s leading beer experts. They will be running tutored tastings, suitably accompanied by generous samples of some of the 600+ ales on offer.

Christine Cryne DSC_0067 1Christine Cryne, John Clarke and Sally Lavender will be talking about some of their favourite beer styles, showcasing the breadth of taste and history of real ale in the UK and further afield. All three have gathered reputations as entertaining writers and presenters and their combined expertise will be available to selected audiences on each of the three days the festival opens to the public. Their subjects will range from the dark arts of milds, porters and stouts, the mystique of Belgian Abbey and Trappist beers and how beer can best be matched with cheese. (more…)

Safe and sound at Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

 in Festival News

Organisers of the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival – to take place at Manchester Central in January – are advising visitors to the festival to be prepared for bag searches at the venue to ensure everyone attending is as safe and secure as possible.

Following police advice all attendees will be subject to a bag search – with sharp objects such as scissors, picnic knives and nail files banned from the venue. Visitors bringing liquids or food into the venue will not be affected.

It follows the Great British Beer Festival which had a similar security policy at Olympia in London this summer – which saw a successful and safe event with little impact on visitors entering the venue.

Festival organiser Graham Donning said: “This year the venue, Manchester Central, will be operating on the basis that there will be 100 per cent bag searches due to the recent happenings at Manchester Arena and in the advice of the Police.  They will not be allowed to bring such implements into the venue – including any sharps (scissors, nail files etc).  Basically, best leave bags at home and don’t have anything on your person that would not get through airport security – liquids and food are okay.”

The MBCF returns to Manchester Central from 25-27 January 2018, with a special preview evening on Wednesday 24 January for members of the licensed trade and media, and free to CAMRA members.

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Unique contest to crown the best beer in Greater Manchester

 in Festival News / Press Releases
25th October 2017
For immediate release:

BREWERS’ CRAFT CHALLENGED

Unique contest to crown the best beer in Greater Manchester

Choosing your favourite ale from one brewery is sometimes difficult, but what if you had to choose from the incredible selection across Greater Manchester? Brewers now have the opportunity to stake their claim to the region’s ultimate ale accolade. And organisers of the North’s biggest beer festival are urging them not to miss out.

Fresh from an audit which showed Manchester to be the cask capital of Britain, the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival is calling for entries for the inaugural Manchester Brewers’ Challenge. But in an unusual twist for the CAMRA event, brewers are free to submit whichever beer and style they feel best represents their craft.

Beer orderer John O’Donnell explains:

“We have previously hosted rounds of CAMRA’s flagship competition, the Champion Beer of Britain. But as CAMRA moves the contest to our friends at Liverpool Beer Festival, we saw we could use this January to do something innovative and different.”

(more…)

Choose Manchester for January sales

 in Festival News / Press Releases

31st July 2017

For immediate release:

Tickets on sale 1st August 2017 for the big one – Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2018

Lovers of the brewers’ art are poised to snap up guaranteed admission to the North’s biggest celebration of beer & cider. Advance tickets for all days of the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival are on sale from 1st August through the festival’s website. Organised by the Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA), the event returns to Manchester Central from Thursday 25th to Saturday 27st January 2018.

The festival attracts visitors from all over the world to Manchester, recently crowned cask beer capital of Britain. They pour through the doors to sample some of the very best beers and ciders from the UK’s booming brewing & cider making industries. Foreign beer fans are well catered for with an excellent selection from Europe and further afield.

The 2017 festival featured over 750 different beers and ciders, and drinkers obliged by downing over 62,000 pints. A change of catering proved a huge success, with some of the best local and national street food traders providing a choice of hot and cold food. Organisers are planning to exceed the 13,588 visitors and expect ticket demand to be high for the 2018 event.

Plans are in hand to enhance festival-goers’ experience with a series of tutored tastings run by acknowledged beer experts. As well as a CAMRA membership stand, there will be stalls selling beer memorabilia, books and a selection of traditional pub games to enjoy.

Festival Organiser Graham Donning said “We’re delighted to make Manchester Central our home once again. Each year, we review feedback from visitors to make the next one even better, so we will have some improvements to make drinkers more comfortable. They like the Manchester Central venue that has vast numbers of seats and more space to move around. (more…)

Manchester stakes claim as cask capital of Britain

 in Press Releases
Manchester Beer Week       

Manchester has emerged as the cask beer capital of Britain, following a major new study into the beer sold in the city’s pubs and bars.

The Manchester Beer Audit 2017 found 411 different cask ales on sale in venues throughout the Manchester City Council area, beating nearest rival Sheffield, which boasted 385 beers in its last survey, as well as Nottingham (334), York (281), Norwich (254), Derby (213), and Leeds (211).

The survey also confirmed that Manchester is leading other cities in kegged “craft” beers too, with 234 different beers on sale throughout the city, an increase in variety that has been sparked by the recent boom in craft brewing.

More than 80 independent breweries now operate across Greater Manchester and these breweries account for 38 per cent of all cask beers on sale and 36 per cent of craft keg beers.

“The figures confirm what Mancunians already know – this is one of the best beer cities in Britain and possibly the best place in the world to enjoy great cask beer,” said Connor Murphy, organiser of Manchester Beer Week. (more…)