Press Releases

The festival’s official feed for press releases.

Press enquiries should be addressed to:
press (at) mancbeerfest.uk

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…)

Charity to take off at beer festival

 in Festival Charity / Festival News / Press Releases

16143461_1351451794894343_7989543817007608465_oThe biggest beer and cider festival in the North has announced North West Air Ambulance Charity (NWAA) as its charity partner for the next two years.

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival organisers were on a mission to find a new partner and hovered over 11 applications before landing on NWAA. They were impressed by the service’s assistance saving lives and the charity’s need to raise £9 every minute helicopters are in the air.

The fleet of three helicopters operate from City (Barton, Manchester) and Blackpool airports covering the North West 365 days a year. The service is not part of the NHS or publicly-funded emergency services and needs to attract funding to keep airborne.

The charity will be circling the huge floorspace of Manchester Central, a venue more used to locomotives than helicopters, to scoop up loose change from festivalgoers as well as a guaranteed income from a share of programme sales.  And it promises some entertaining diversions for drinkers from its promotional stand. (more…)

Bigger, better – and back next year

 in Festival News / Press Releases

Beer festival organisers announce a return to Manchester Central in 2018

Beer lovers in Manchester kept their part of a promise to make the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival bigger and better than before.

Organised by the combined expertise of the nine Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), drinkers poured in to the city centre venue last month to enjoy the 756 beers and ciders served at 22 bars. They despatched a staggering 62,000 pints at the three day festival, a rate of almost 27 pints a minute!

Now the biggest event of its kind in the North, the festival is a labour of love for the 343 volunteers, the majority of whom were drawn from local CAMRA branches. They built, served and took down the huge event over eight days, with a time lapse video posted on YouTube proving popular.

The annual event moved to Manchester Central last year, and organisers have been delighted by the response from beer fans. Organiser Graham Donning said: “Manchester Central is the perfect venue for our festival. It’s right in the heart of the city, itself a booming centre of brewing excellence. We’ve had great support from the venue team, who I know have been stunned by the professionalism of our volunteers. And most importantly, our customers love coming here and trying so many excellent brews.

“So we’re delighted to announce we will be back at Manchester Central from Thursday 25th to Saturday 27th January 2018.” (more…)

‘Mousse herd heads for Manchester

 in Festival News / Press Releases

Nomadic Brewster sets up unique experience for Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Visitors to Manchester Beer and Cider Festival will be able to sample the results of a unique experiment in brewing – comparing the same beer brewed at four different breweries across the length of the UK. Organisers at the festival which comes to Manchester Central next week have commissioned an award-winning brewer to take one of her most popular beer recipes on a tour of the nation.

When South Wales’ Waen Brewery announced it was closing its brewery in September, it sent shockwaves round the UK’s craft beer scene. Over seven years, the brewery had picked up numerous awards for its popular brews including Snowball, Lemon Drizzle & Chilli Plum Porter. But brewster Sue Hayward announced she planned to keep the beers alive by brewing her recipes at other breweries, festival beer manager John O’Donnell spotted an opportunity to set up a unique experiment.

Over the past six weeks, Sue has travelled to four of the UK’s most respected craft beer breweries to recreate her most popular beer, the golden citrus ale Pamplemousse. All four versions will feature side by side at the North’s largest beer festival. Sue Hayward herself will be on hand on Friday 20th January to take visitors through the subtle differences in the different versions. (more…)

Here come the beers….

 in Festival News / Press Releases

Credit Krzysztof Kaplon (10)
Beer festival organisers in Manchester promised this year’s would be bigger and better. And the beer lists released today promise a staggering 750 different drinks!

Now the biggest event of its kind in the North, the Manchester Beer and Cider festival is organised by the combined expertise of the nine Greater Manchester CAMRA branches. The annual event serves the lover of traditional British ales, fans of the cutting edge of modern brewing and the uninitiated who are ready to start their journey of discovery.

Over the last few months, the festival’s specialists in real ale, foreign beers and and ciders have assembled a programme which has something for every taste. But the target for most festival goers are the cask-conditioned bars.

Here, over 400 real ales – ranging from Britain’s oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame to one of the newest, Manchester’s own Origami – show the variety of this uniquely British natural product. And retaining its reputation for innovation, the festival also has a superb range of key-keg conditioned beers.

With such an extensive selection, visitors may be forgiven for not knowing where to start. The festival programme gives tasting notes to help the unsure, but recommendations will be available at each of the 20 bars. (more…)