The highly-anticipated Manchester Craft Beer Festival has officially unveiled its summer lineup – with dozens of breweries pouring over a hundred varieties all weekend long.
From fruity sours to triple hopped IPAs, rich stouts and aromatic pale ales, the Manchester Craft Beer Festival is promising a heady selection, to say the least.
Bringing together homegrown brewers like Pomona Island and Track with those from further afield, the event will showcase beers from roughly 50 different breweries across two days later this July.
Even better, the ticket price includes FIVE hours of unlimited beer.
Who could say no to that?
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Some cracking food will also be served at the festival to soak up the beer / Image: Manchester Craft Beer Festival
There’ll be some cracking food on offer here too to soak up all that beer, ranging from delicate and innovative fine dining plates to big, fat LA-style beef burgers and dripping, saucy tacos.
Lorcan Kan of Things Palace, formerly Where The Light Gets In, will also team up with the Higher Ground team (formerly of NOMA, WTLGI, Relae etc) to produce a selection of innovative new dishes.
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Meanwhile, Madre, the home of upscaled, ingredient-driven tacos in Liverpool, will partner on a menu with AngloThai – leaving us to expect some solid Asian-inspired tacos to be coming out of the kitchen here.
Liverpool’s Belzan Pasta Kitchen will be pulling up, serving their classic pasta dishes, whilst long-standing Freight Island resident Patty Queen will be there as always slinging its LA-inspired menu of burgers, shakes and fries to the boozy masses.
Elsewhere, Manchester newcomer Green Lights has collaborated with Kantina’s in-house residents Plant Grill to create the perfect plant-based burger for vegans and flexitarians. This will be served alongside their usual menu offering.
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Beers will be free flowing at the festival, with all drinks included in your ticket / Image: Manchester Craft Beer Festival
Entertainment across the weekend will come from big names including funk and soul king Craig Charles, Daddy G of Massive Attack, Django Django and Bristol’s legendary Wild Bunch Sound System – all of whom will be taking to the decks to spin their top selections.
Tickets are priced at £49.50 and guarantee guests entry to a five-hour session on the Friday or Saturday.
Passes also include all of your beer, access to all areas, and a special festival beer glass to take home.
Food must be purchased separately.
Taking place at Mayfield Depot on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 July, you can grab tickets for Manchester Craft Beer Festival online here.
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There’s an exciting array of food up for grabs at the upcoming event / Image: Image: Manchester Craft Beer Festival
The full list of breweries confirmed to appear at Manchester Craft Beer Festival:
Alpha Delta (Raise the Bar winner) / Attic Brew Co. (Raise the Bar Winner) / Amundsen Dessert Bar (NOR) /Barrier Brewing Co. (USA) / Beak Brewery (Raise the Bar winner) / Beatnikz Republic / Blackjack Brewery / BOXCAR / Braybrooke Beer Co. / Brew York / Brixton Brewery / Brouwerij Frontaal (NL) / Brouwerij Kees (NL) / Budvar / Bullhouse Brewery (Raise the bar winner) / Bundobust Beers / Burnt Mill / Campervan Brewery / Dark Star / DEYA / Donzoko / Duration Brewery / Equilibrium (USA) / Full Circle Brew Co. / Gipsy Hill Brewing Company / Grimm Artisanal Ales (USA) / KCBC (USA) / The Kernel / LERVIG (NOR) / Lost and Grounded / Manchester Union Brewery / Marble Brewery / Mikkeller (DEN) / Neon Raptor / Neptune Brewery / Newbarns / Newtown Park (Raise the Bar winner) / North Brewing Co. / Northern Monk Brew Co. / Pastore Brewing (Raise the Bar winner) / Polly’s Brew Co. / Pomona Island Brew Co. / Salt Beer Factory / Signature Brew / Siren Craft Brew / Stone & Wood / Thornbridge / Tiny Rebel / Track Brewing / Two Tribes Brewing / Vault City / Verdant / Vocation / Wild Beer Co. / Wiper and True / Zapato Brewing
Feature image – Manchester Craft Beer Festival.
Food & Drink
Family behind Salvi’s launch new concept, weeks after iconic restaurant closure
Daisy Jackson
Just weeks after the closure of its iconic, 16-year-old Italian restaurant in the Corn Exchange, the family behind Salvi’s have revealed a brand-new concept.
And this time, the reins are being handed over to the next generation.
Salvi’s founder Maurizio Cecco has helped to shape Amò, but it’s all the brainchild of his daughter, Sienna.
Sienna will run the business out of a unit up on Deansgate Mews, serving fresh pasta dishes, pizza sandwiches, tubs of tiramisu, and two-for-£10 spritzes.
The deli aspect of the original Salvi’s has been carried over to Amò too – you’ll find shelves almost to the ceiling filled with Italian pasta, wine, olive oils, pistachio spreads, and more.
Sienna has grown up in restaurants, with her parents launching Salvi’s when she was just two years old.
She said she wants the space to be a livelier, fresher version of the Italian restaurant that has been so loved by Mancs for so many years.
Sienna outside AmòFresh pasta dishesInside Amò by Salvi’sTheir viral frozen crema di caffeLemon granitaInside Amò by Salvi’sTiramisu pots
Amò, which is Neapolitan slang for ‘my love’, will have loads of fresh Italian dishes, including arancini, gnocchi, and hearty pasta plates.
At lunchtimes, guests can order from a £10 lunch menu, with dishes changing daily depending on the best produce the kitchen can get – it could be a pizza sandwich with proscuitto and tomato, a spicy pasta, or a gnocchi bake, always served with your choice of soft drink.
With its position on Deansgate Mews, Amò basks in the sunshine at lunchtimes.
And while it’s definitely a different concept to the original Salvi’s, Amò looks set to carry the family’s Italian food legacy into its next generation.
Award-winning Didsbury bakery La Chouquette reveals incredible new site
Daisy Jackson
La Chouquette is one of Greater Manchester’s top bakeries – an award-winner, with queues down the street every weekend for its authentic French pastries and loaves.
And now they’re ready for a new chapter, revealing a major expansion today.
Owners Catrina and Flo have painstakingly expanded the bakery into the unit next door, creating what feels like a true French bakery.
And in the midst of this huge renovation project, they’ve welcomed a tiny new baby boy – quite the summer for the couple.
Catrina and Flo launched La Chouquette in lockdown, and in a time where people could only get their hospitality fix from takeaways, immediately became one of the most popular spots in the region.
Their success has been so great, you’ll still consistently find queues down the street every weekend, for their top sellers like their authentic almond croissants.
Then in October 2024, they grew the business and launched Piqniq, a new deli in Didsbury village, serving freshly-baked baguette sandwiches, breakfast butties, toasties, tiramisu pots and their legendary pastries.
The new-look La Chouquette features beautiful details like mosaic floors, rich blue walls, wooden shelves, and brass light fixtures.
La Chouquette’s best-selling almond croissantsInside the stunning new La Chouquette in DidbsuryNew savoury bakesThe chausson aux pommesThe counter stuffed with artisan French bakesChocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns
The huge new counter displays more pastries and breads than ever before, like a hearty chausson aux pommes filled with apples that will be perfect for autumn, plus seasonal treats like a rhubarb creme brulee pastry, and homemade quiche.
Speaking at the grand relaunch today, Catrina said: “The layout has changed, it looks so much more chic, it looks like a traditional French bakery. We’re really excited about it.”
As for what’s on the counter, Flo reassured fans that their beloved almond and pistachio croissants remain, but with some new savoury editions, like a truffle croque monsieur made with croissant dough.
La Choquette has reopened today, and will be open seven days a week from 7am until 5pm.
Georgina Pellant -
15th June 2021 
