September 2008
IT’S NOW all systems go for this year’s Manchester Food & Drink Festival. As last time there will be a welcome focus on real ales from the plethora of breweries, big and small, across Greater Manchester.
The main arena for this will be the new Spinningfields district, just off Deansgate, where a real ale bar will be run as a joint operation by Marble Brewery, the Crescent and the Knott. This will feature cask beers from breweries across the county and run from Friday 3 to Saturday 11 October.
In addition there will be a re-run of last year’s hugely successful Ale Day, where expert panels of judges select the “Best Beer Brewed in Greater Manchester”. This year the “Ale Day” tent will feature two beers from each participating brewery and be run as a small beer festival over Friday 10 (when the Ale Day judging will take place) and Saturday 11. Members of the public will also be able to vote for their top beer and the resulting “People’s Pint” winner will be announced on Saturday afternoon.
Coming up next month is the Didsbury Beer Festival. This is to be held on 21 and 22 November at St Catherine’s Social Club on School Lane. The beers will be “local and Lakeland Ales”. We will have more on this next time but meanwhile you can check out their website at www.didsburybeerfestival.org.uk.
