As well as a massive range of the finest cask conditioned ales on our main four bars, ten of the North’s most innovative and exciting brewers are bringing their own bars to Manchester Beer & Cider Festival.
As well as a great range of beers, the brewery bars will give you the opportunity to meet some of the brewery staff, talk to the brewers about their beers and taste some of the ingredients which go into the beers.
There will be two groups of brewery bars – one on the concourse level and one on the floor level.
Concourse Level |
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Blackjack BeersSuch is the impact Blackjack Beers have made on the Manchester brewing scene, it is difficult to remember that they were only established in 2012 when head brewer Rob Hamilton broke away from Marble Brewery to set up on his own. In just two years, Blackjack has grown and combined with Glassworks Distribution to form a company who are at the forefront of bringing craft beer to Manchester’s pubs. Their occasional Brew Tap weekends at the brewery have become legendary meetings of brewers, wannabe brewers and beer fans. One of the hardest working brewers around, Rob never stops creating specialist brews to supplement the brewery’s core range of seven beers. Expect the unexpected as Blackjack Brew Tap comes to MBCF. The following beers will appear on the Blackjack Brew Tap over the festival. Note that beers will be featured in rotation, not all beers will be available at all times.
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Bridestones BrewingAn award winning craft brewery based in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Bridestones has been brewing since May 2006 with the aim of producing great quality beers, brewed with all natural ingredients and Pennine spring water supplying their customers with a satisfying drink! The Craft Brewery is situated on the family’s farm in Blackshawhead, in the shadows of the local bouldering outcrop “The Bridestones” from which the brewery takes its name.
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Ilkley Brewing Co.Formed in 2009, the Ilkley Brewery prides itself on creating distinctive and very drinkable ales. Appreciation that palates differ is important to them so they offer a wide range of different beer styles, and the brewing team are constantly creating new and exciting beers. Traditional English brewing techniques are combined with inspiration from across the world to make award winning beers such as Mary Jane, Ilkley Black & Lotus IPA.
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Offbeat BreweryGreat beer brewed by a chick. Brewster Michelle Kelsall set up Offbeat Brewery in Crewe after moving from Scotland where she and her partner ran the Failford Inn in Ayrshire and the associated Windie Goat Brewery. Initially brewing at the back of the Borough Arms pub in the town, she soon found that the limitations of the house brewery was constraining plans to make a range of beers packed with flavour so set up on her own in an small unit just down the road. From there, the brewery has never looked back. From Kooky Gold to Out Of Step IPA, the brewery has picked up awards from beer festivals around the country. When their Way Out Wheat won the CAMRA North West Speciality Beers round at Chorlton Beer Festival, it set it on the road that would see the beer take silver in the Champion Beer Of The North West at MBCF 2014 and then on to Silver in the Champion Speciality Beer Of Britain competition at the Great British Beer Festival.
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Floor Level |
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Bollington Brewing CompanyBollington Brewing company was established in 2008 in the small village of Bollington near Macclesfield. Within one year, head brewer Kym Wainwright had won both Gold & Silver in the Champion Beer Of Cheshire competition for Bollington Best & Oatmill Stout respectively and have gone on to win many more awards since. The brewery has three pubs in Bollington, Macclesfield & Poynton. Bringing their custom built mobile bar to MBCF for the second year featuring the following beers:
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Brightside BreweryThe Friedrich family set up a small brewery in the back of the family bakery in Bury back in 2010. Most of the kit was designed & built by head brewer Neil who learnt his new trade as he went. The first beers were launched in 2011. Three years later, the bakery has been sold and the home made 2.5 barrel brew kit has been supplanted by a shiny new 18 barrel plant in an industrial unit it Radcliffe. With an increasingly diverse range from Odin best bitter to Underworld Porter, the brewery has a host of awards to it’s name including their Amarillo IPA being named SIBA North West’s Overall Champion in 2013.
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Hawkshead BreweryHawkshead Brewery was founded, by Alex Brodie in 2002 in a 17th century barn at the head of Esthwaite Water, just outside Hawkshead. Within 4 years their exciting range of beers had seen demand exceed capacity and they moved to larger premises at Staveley. Hawkshead is one of the most successful of the new wave of independent breweries which have ignited public excitement about beer and furthered the renaissance of British brewing. Their beer is full of flavour, handmade, crafted, bold, personal and made by people who love beer for people who love beer. At Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2014, their Cumbrian Five Hop won the title of “Champion Beer of the North West”.
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Marble BeersMarble beers began brewing in 1997 putting them at the forefront of what was to be the boom of micro-breweries in Manchester. Beginning life in the back of the Marble Arch pub on Rochdale Road they set out with an emphasis on high quality ingredients, hop forward thinking and an idea to create beer that people wanted to drink and talk about. The brewery is now a 12 barrel plant located just down the road from the Marble Arch, but the same principles remain. Favourites such as Pint and Manchester Bitter and newer innovative brews such as Earl Grey IPA have seen the brewery’s beers win far too many awards to mention. All of their beers are natural, un-pasturised and un-fined.
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Outstanding BeersFounded in 2008 with the mission of Bringing the Art Back to the Science of Brewing, Outstanding Beers are based in an old mill in Bury. Their beer focuses on the quality of the four basic ingredients – malt, hops, yeast & water. A dual brewing systems sees a 15 barrel and 2.5 barrel plant run side by side allowing them to produce a range of small production and experimental beers alongside their main production. Across their diverse range they combine traditional brewing practices with cutting edge technologies. Their mission statement is “Don’t aspire to be ordinary”.
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Wilson Potter BreweryWilson Potter Brewery is a six barrel microbrewery in Middleton owned and run by friends Kathryn Harrison and Amanda Seddon, producing a range of handcrafted real ales with a variety of styles and strengths. Kathryn and Amanda produced their first commercial beers in October 2011. In 2012 they won the first of their awards at Oldham Beer Festival with Tandle Hill voted Beer of the Festival and Harcles Hill winning bronze. This was followed by a Joint Winner award for In Shreds at Chorlton Beer Festival in 2013, Don’t Fall winning Beer of the Festival at both Stockport Beer Festival & Didsbury Beer Festival in 2014. They also took a second Chorlton Beer Of The Festival award in 2014 with specialist beer Gingery Does It being voted customer’s favourite
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