Is it time to #RethinkCider? We here at Manchester Beer and Cider Festival 2020, certainly think so.
This year’s cider and perry bar will be run by the team behind Manchester Cider Club – creating a new, modern and exciting Cider Bar for this winter’s festival.
We will be introducing several new features:
- Cider cooling for all the Ciders and Perry
- Five keg ciders
- Fifteen draught ciders and perries delivered through hand pulls
- A diverse range of Bag in Box ciders and perries representing a wide regional range and a diversity of cider styles
- A cider bottle bar, for takeout and tasters in thirds, featuring some of the best quality bottle fermented and bottle conditioned ciders and perries available
- An increased number of local ciders from within the Greater Manchester CAMRA Region
We believe MBCF20 will be the very first Festival in the UK to be serving three keg conditioned ciders. These are ciders that are still conditioning within the keg and meet CAMRA’s definition of real cider.
Talk and Tasting with Tom Oliver
We are extremely pleased to announce that leading cider maker Tom Oliver will be conducting a cider tasting and talk on the Thursday of the Festival.
His last tasting in Manchester, at The Crown and Kettle in September, was packed out with fifty people paying to listen and taste a wide range of his ciders and perry.
Click here for details
Introducing the team:
Chris Hewitt, owner and cider producer of Dunham Press Cider, will be supervising the search for the best ciders we can find. He recently won the top award for his ‘Peterloo Perry’ at the National Fruit Show.
Cath Potter will be on quality control, checking that each cider reaches you in its best condition. She is a fully trained cider Pommelier, the first in the North West and amongst only ten in the country.
Dick Withecombe, our Cider Bar Manager, will oversee the display of our ciders, making it easier for drinkers to pick and choose ciders whose flavours and styles best match their drinking tastes.
Andrew Rodbourne will be supervising our bar team. He’s a CAMRA trained Bar Manager. This year joining our team of experienced bar volunteers will be a new generation of younger volunteers, attracted to CAMRA because of the new upsurge in popularity of cider.
What is Real Cider?
CAMRA promotes cider that has been fermented from the freshly pressed juice of apples, never from concentrate.
Ciders that still retain their natural unpasteurised flavours, where any carbonation is created by natural conditioning or fermenting within its container, whether that be keg, draught or bottle.
These are the ciders at the Festival that will wear the CAMRA Real Cider badge.
What is Rethink Cider?
RethinkCider is about improving the way cider is perceived – educating drinkers that there is so much more to cider than the mass-produced brands dominating the market.
RethinkCider is all about full juice ciders of diverse styles, ciders made like wine, but with the broad appeal of real ale and independent craft beer.
It’s about celebrating history and tradition, while also applauding innovation and modern thinking, but with a firm ethos of high quality, natural ingredients.
2020 is the year to #ReThinkCider
The full list of ciders & perries will be available from early January.