“Every time you think you’ve collected everything, someone else will show you something that you’e not got,” says manager Allan Hudd when we meet at the Briton’s Protection on a wet, rainy Friday afternoon.
The historic boozer has been serving drinkers for generations and has a legacy that harks all the way back to the Peterloo Massacre, but today we’re here to talk about the pub’s epic whiskey collection – which spans over 360 bottles.
When he came on board in 2013, there were already around 190 whiskies on the back bar – but under Allan’s premiership, this has grown massively.
Now, alongside a hearty collection of Irish and Scotch whiskies, the pub also boasts the biggest collection of Jack Daniels in Manchester and pulls in fans and collectors from around the globe.
“These guys they know everything about it. They’re a great bunch, I can’t speak more highly of them, but they know every little detail,” says Allan.
“It’s great when they take pictures of their collection and you see that ours are in there.”
The Sinatra Century Jack Daniels edition, created to commemorate what would’ve been the singer’s 100th birthday, contains a tie clip with an unaired recording of one of his concerts at the Sand hotel / Image: The Manc Group
On the shelves, you’ll find some super rare Jack Daniels bottles, including a special flight case of Sinatra Century that holds a tie clip with an unaired recording of one of the singer’s concerts at the Sand Hotel.
The pub also holds Jack Daniels’ full Master Distillers collection, a number of legacy releases, a Green Label bottle you can only get exclusively at the distillery, a bottle of no.7 from the distillery’s Scenes of Lynchburg collection, a Gentleman Jack, and a Gold no. 27, barrelled in maple wood.
Of a collection totalling nearly 50 different styles, though, the real stars of the show are the Briton’s Protection’s own Manchester casks – which the team hand-selects every year, with the help of JD’s master distiller.
The special Manchester casks, created specially for and by the Briton’s Protection team, can just about be seen lined up on the bottom shelf here in order, from number one on the left to number six on the right.
Covid aside, every year since 2014 the Britons Protection team has taken an annual trip to Tennessee to visit the distillery and conduct a series of blind tastings in order to cultivate their new barrel.
It’s a process that takes roughly six months from start to finish, resulting in a unique run of around 300 bottles which they then sell on to collectors and to drinkers through the pub.
When they first began making these unique casks, Allan tells us the only other place in the UK that had done the same was The Savoy Hotel in London.
Since then, they’ve gone on to become the place for avid JD fans to get their fix, and have now produced six out of a planned ten exclusive Manchester casks, whilst the Savoy still only has one.
Image: The Manc Group
Each bottle in the range offers something a little bit different, playing with JD’s three main flavour profiles. Whether you’re a fan of something light and fruity, woody and oaky, or spicy, trust us – there’s a cask here for you.
Asked which is his personal favourite, Allan tells us it’s cask number three:
“Cask three is probably my favourite, we actually picked that with Jeff Arnett, who at the time was the master distiller [….]
“I turned my paper over and it was the same one he’d picked and I was like if it’s good enough for the man who makes it it’s good enough for me, that’s it we’re done.”
Some of the casks are in incredibly high demand, not least the original cask one – which Allan confides sold so well he only has half a bottle of it left on his back bar.
Typically, they sell all of their cask bottles for £70 a pop – and for this you’ll also get a nice box, some glasses etc – however, due to the demand for this particular edition, he tells us the last one he sold went to a gentleman in Norway for £1,500.
Image: The Manc GroupImage: The Manc Group
“With whisky, there’s no real price band on it. It’s just whatever people … if you want it, you want it,” he explains.
“I’ve sent these all over the world… to Sweden, New Zealand…
“I sent one to Australia, it cost more to ship it than it did for the bottle but the person who bought it didn’t care. He had a gift of cask 3 at the time, and he was like I need the back catalogue, I need the new ones.”
“It’s just great to see that dynamic of people where a friend from god knows where has come to try it and then they’ll travel all the way here to see what it’s about,” he adds.
The pub’s obsession with Jack Daniels isn’t limited to the back bar, either. Behind the bar is a snug, which they call their Jack Daniels room, and it’s ompletely dedicated to the brand.
Image: The Manc Group
Barrel tops have been repurposed as tables, the original Manchester casks hang on the wall with their respective numbers, there are pictures from the distillery and other mementoes dotted about here and there. It’s a Jack Daniels fan’s haven.
The fact might come as a surprise to some, considering that the Britons Protection is also a CAMRA recognised pub with a good selection of ales – but this little gem is full of interesting discoveries.
To sample a whiskey flight or even get your hands on one of the limited edition casks, your best bet is to go down yourself and have a chat with Allan. Trust us, he is a fountain of knowledge on the subject.
You can find the Britons Protection at 50 Great Bridgewater St, Manchester M1 5LE.
Food & Drink
Lupo Caffe Italiano – a taste of sunny Rome on a Prestwich industrial estate
Daisy Jackson
The sun is beating down on you, there’s a couple of luminous orange Aperol Spritzes on the checked tablecloth, Italian pop music is trickling out over the speakers and you’ve got two heaping bowls of pasta on the way.
The setting could easily be a cobbled street in front of the Colosseum in Rome. But it’s not. It’s an industrial estate in Prestwich.
Lupo must be one of Greater Manchester’s most hidden gems in a very literal sense.
To get here, you have to drive or walk a strange looping circuit around industrial warehouses peddling everything from splashbacks to burglar alarms to grow tents.
One of these warehouses, located in the very furthest yard, looks a little different to the others, festooned with bunches of garlic and dried herbs strung up from the ceiling.
There are shelves full of pasta, sauces and even crisps, a fridge packed with delicious Italian wines and beers, and retro football shirt-inspired merch hanging from the walls.
Its awkward location does nothing to hold back its loyal customers, who repeatedly return for the authentic taste of Rome on offer here.
Lupo is operated by Nico Pasquali, who first ran it as a tiny Italian cafe on Chapel Street in Salford (before all the high-rises appeared), then shifted it over to the odd shiny-commercial-office-land that is Exchange Quay, then took it almost entirely remote to trudge through the pandemic.
Lupo’s charming interiorsNico has added outside seating to LupoThe pasticceria selection at Lupo
At one point, Caffè Lupo existed mostly on WhatsApp, with customers texting in their orders ready for a doorstep drop on a Friday night.
But now the large-ish commercial unit is its main business, and it’s a special one.
You are greeted, always, with a friendly wave, then given the sort of service where you’re very gently guided to order all the best things on the menu that day, feeling like you’ll personally offend Nico if you order differently and stray from his recommendations. Thankfully it’s pretty easy to trust this man.
It’s extremely hard for me to see amatriciana on a menu and not order it – so I don’t try. One bowl of rigatoni amatriciana for me, and make it cheesy.
This is a textbook example of the deceptively simple pasta dish. Fatty guanciale cooked right down so that all that delicious pork fat melts into the tomatoes, then it’s seasoned with, I presume, several generations of secrets and love from Italian nonnas.
Rigatoni amatriciana, and fennel sausage orecchietteA spread of Lupo’s Italian foodPepernata – Nico’s mum’s recipeThe Pizza Lupo
The sweet, salty, meaty sauce is available on a pizza too, which will be top of my list next time I visit.
Across the table it’s a special (but it’s been on the menu for a while now) of orecchiette with fennel sausage and romanesco broccoli.
Nico tells us a customer once refused to pay for this dish because it wasn’t ‘saucy’ enough. Heathen.
That’s the running theme with Lupo – don’t come here expecting Neapolitan pizzas, or flat whites, or hot honey dips for your pizza crusts. It isn’t the Roman way, and Nico isn’t about to veer away from his proud roots to mould into any passing fads or trends.
If you’re after authenticity and tradition though, this is comfortably the top Italian in Greater Manchester.
If you can come to Lupo and walk away without ordering something sweet from the counter, you’re a stronger person than me.
PasticceriaOwner NicoLupo’s famous millefoglie
They’re famed for their doughnuts (rightly), with bouncy dough filled with flavours including pistachio cream, lemon, and homemade jams.
Also displayed in neat rows are fruit tarts with a glossy glaze, towering cream cakes in neat layers, and puff pastry cannoncini.
But Nico is adamant, absolutely adamant, that we order a slice of his millefoglie. It’s a sell-out, he says. We’re lucky he even has some in stock, he tells us. Who are we to argue?
And if you’ve made it this far, just stop reading right now, get in the damn car and go get yourself a slice before it sells out again.
Layers of lighter-than-air homemade pastry are sandwiched together with delicately sweet cream, hints of almond throughout, and it’s good enough to bring a tear to your eye.
We leave with a doughnut in a box too, so that we at least have a snack if we get completely lost finding our way back out of the industrial estate.
Aldi is back looking for another taste tester to send FREE crisps to
Emily Sergeant
Aldi is looking for a special someone to become its official crisp taster, and will send the lucky winner a bunch of bags to try for free.
Calling all self-confessed crisp connoisseurs, this one’s for you.
That’s right, Aldi is ready to make savoury snack food lovers’ dreams come true, as the supermarket retailer is back on the look-out for another official ‘Crisp Taster’ to join the team, especially after the inaugural search last year proved to be so popular with shoppers, amassing hundreds of applications.
The highly-anticipated return also follows interest from local celebrities last year too, with Manc actress Michelle Keegan declaring to her 7.5 million Instagram: “IS THIS TRUE @aldiuk? Because I am READY and available with lots of experience.”
Last summer, it was 39-year-old NHS worker George Critchley from Sheffield who became Aldi’s first-ever Official Crisp Taster… but now it’s your turn.
Aldi is back looking for another taste tester to send FREE crisps to / Credit: Aldi UK | Esperanza Doronila (via Unsplash)
The successful applicant will receive a selection of Aldi’s most popular crisps to sample at home for free, including Aldi’s Specially Selected Lightly Sea Salted Hand Cooked Crisps, Specially Selected Mature Cheddar & Red Onion Hand Cooked Crisps, the Snackrite Delta Strips, and Snackrite Cheese Flavour Cheezios.
All that’s required in return is a set of exclusive reviews rating the crisps’ taste, crunch, texture and appearance to help guide the supermarket’s Buying Team on potential future flavours.
“After the success of last year with hundreds of entries, we welcome our shoppers feedback once again to make sure our latest products provide the quality, taste and price they deserve,” explained Julie Ashfield, who is the Chief Commerical Officer at Aldi UK.
“Our range of crisps are going down a treat this year, so launching the role for a new Crisp Taster is the perfect way to encourage innovative ideas and delicious products onto shelves.”
Fancy it then? To apply, you’ll just need to be aged 16 or over, a legal UK resident, and create a short application video, that’s no more than a minute long, explaining why you should be Aldi’s next ‘Crisp Taster’.
Applications are now open, with a closing deadline of Thursday 21 August.
You’ll need to share your application video via the email address [email protected], and you can find out more information on the official ‘Crisp Taster’ webpage here.
Georgina Pellant -
19th November 2021 
