Manchester

This Manchester bar is giving away unlimited pints of AF beer this January

This is your call to get back to the pub, sharpish.

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 10th January 2022

A bar in Manchester is giving away unlimited pints throughout January – meaning that for the price of one pint you can drink as many as you like this month.

The catch? The deal’s only available on draught alcohol-free beers as part of a Dry January promotion, which hopes to encourage more Mancs to try the alcohol-free versions created from its best-selling beer range.

BrewDog, which has two bars and a ‘dog house’ hotel in Manchester city centre, has revealed it is giving away bottomless pints of its alcohol-free draft options all month in a bid to encourage more mindful drinking and get people back into the pub.

Image: BrewDog

Bestsellers like the original Punk IPA are available in the offer, just transformed to remove the alcoholic part- forming Punk AF, soon to be your new favourite Dry Jan alternative.

Elsewhere, you’ll also find other popular AF alternatives like Elvis AF, Lost AF, and Nanny State – giving you all the flavour, just without the percentage.

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And there’s more, too. To coincide with the arrival of Dry January, BrewDog has just released a new, tiki-inspired AF draught fruit punch beer for the occasion. Called ‘Made For Us’, the alcohol-free fruit beer, created by Square Root, is served over ice to make it extra refreshing.

Image: BrewDog

Given it’s Dry January and our pockets are wrung dry, feeling the full force of the festive aftermath, BrewDog’s venues in Manchester are getting savvy by offering up unlimited non-alcoholic pints to make their non-alcoholic options even more affordable.

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If you’re new to a lack of alcoholic booze and seriously wanting a pint, it’s a place where you can seek solitude and enjoy a draft beer to soothe the Dry January jitters- all without the ‘getting drunk’ part.

Essentially, you can get free refills of all your favourite pints for the price of one- what’s not to love about that?

The ‘Brewdog & Beyond Burger’, a completely vegan monster burger made with a beyond meat patty, vegan black pudding, onion rings and seasoned vine tomatoes. / Image: BrewDog

Read more: Where to go for cocktails in Manchester if you’re avoiding booze this January

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The bar’s also getting in on Veganuary, with a 2 4 1 offer on its vegan and vegetarian mains this month – all created in collaboration with friends at Beyond Meat, Biffs, Temple of Seitan, Moving Mountains and THI.

That means you can enjoy the likes of its BrewDog & Beyond Burger, a completely vegan monster burger made with a beyond meat patty, vegan black pudding, onion rings and seasoned vine tomatoes, for free when you order a second meal alongside.

To get the 2 4 1 food offer, all you need to do is sign up using this link to get a voucher you can use throughout the month.

We’ll see you at the bar.

Feature image – BrewDog

Manchester

Where to find the cheapest drinks at the Manchester Christmas Markets, from beer to mulled wine

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Where to find the cheapest drinks at the Manchester Christmas Markets, from beer to mulled wine

The main gripe people seem to have with the Manchester Christmas Markets is the prices of food and drinks, blasting them every year like a broken record as being ‘overpriced’.

So we’ve done the hard slog for you, running all around the city centre to suss out exactly how much everything is costing in 2024.

From Piccadilly Gardens (rebranded as The Winter Gardens for the season) to King Street, there are wooden sheds and festive cheer absolutely everywhere.

There’s some brilliant food and drink to discover – you can see our top picks HERE – but as this is a huge visitor attraction, that can come at a price.

Once you factor in the deposit for a Manchester Christmas Markets mug, you can easily spend £12 just to get a mulled wine (though you will get £3.50 of that back when you return your mug).

There are also deposit charges on glassware – £2 for a pint glass, £3.50 for cocktail glasses and £7 for a stein.

You can see the full list of prices for food and drinks right across the Manchester Christmas Markets HERE, but below are where you can find the cheapest spots at the festive event.

Mulled wine

Mulled wines are priced at £5.50 almost everywhere across the Manchester Christmas Markets, though some stalls are offering bigger serves of this popular festive drink for a small price hike.

Then people are charging another £3 to add a shot of brandy, rum or amaretto, making an £8.50 total.

But the cheapest we’ve found is just £7 for mulled wine with a shot of booze, and that’s at Mamma Mia, an Italian stall on New Cathedral Street, right near St Ann’s Square.

Where to find the cheapest drinks at the Manchester Christmas Markets, from beer to mulled wine
Where to find the cheapest drinks at the Manchester Christmas Markets, from beer to mulled wine
Where to find the cheapest drinks at the Manchester Christmas Markets, from beer to mulled wine. Credit: The Manc Group

Beer

Again, prices for beers at the Manchester Christmas Markets are pretty consistent and average £6 a pint.

But you can get cheaper – at The Last Outpost, a Western-themed bar at Exchange Square, beers start from £5.50.

And at The Hip Hop Chip Shop at Piccadilly Gardens, they’re selling local craft beers, like Shindigger, Pomona Island, Manchester Union) for just £5.50. And you get bonus good vibes for supporting local breweries.

Wine

We’ve found a couple of glasses of wine for just £5 around the Markets this year, which is cheaper than most bars in town really.

The King Street Craft Bar, which has the bonus of having seating, has house wines from a fiver.

Christmas Alley at Piccadilly Gardens will also give you a wine for £5.

Prosecco

Prosecco works in every season and if this is your go-to of all the drinks at the Manchester Christmas Markets, we’ve found where you can save a few pennies.

Most places are charging between £6.50 and £7 per glass, but at El Gato Negro on King Street (yep, the same stall operated by the Michelin-recommended restaurant) are charging just £5 – that’s a whole £1.50 cheaper than most other stalls.

Hot chocolate

Basic hot chocolates are generally £3.50 everywhere, with a few very luxury upgrades (like a £7.90 creation from The Flat Baker that’s served in an edible cookie cup).

Once you add in a shot of alcohol, the cheapest as at the Apres Ski Bar at Piccadilly Gardens, which charges £2.50 for a spirit.

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That makes £6 for a boozy hot chocolate.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Manchester

Forget pub crawls – you can now go on a guided cheese crawl around Manchester

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia

Manchester is a foodie’s paradise and with so many options at hand why not break it down into individual food groups – starting with the dairy crowd pleaser, cheese.

Long gone are the draining pub crawls of the past, it’s time to make way for the new pioneer in the world of adventurous crawling, ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’.

There’s always lots of food and drink options flowing throughout our bubbly city spanning all cuisines and cultures so it comes as no surprise that the latest way to experience Manchester is via cheese, a staple of many citizens’ diets.

On the tour, there will be insider knowledge on-hand as you wander the streets and sample the creamy delights, assisting you with any dying queso queries and pecorino ponders that you need to get off your chest.

There’ll be plenty of familiar independents on the Manchester Cheese Crawl, including Northern Soul’s impressive grilled cheese sandwiches as well as more traditional cheese samples.

How could this experience get any better I hear you ask, how about a free glass of fizz to accompany those already impressive cheese selections? Yes please! 

Guests can expect to sample some of Manchester’s dairy delights while being directed by some of Manchester’s top cheese connoisseurs that are the real big cheese.

Groups who take the tour aren’t just treated to food and drink, they also receive free entertainment from their food guides who are prepared to make you chuckle with their incredible humour.

Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire Cheese, a cheeseboard staple, has been recalled
The Manchester Cheese Crawl will feature plenty of bites for curd nerds
A selection of dairy heaven displayed on a wonderful variety cheese board.
A selection of dairy heaven displayed on a wonderful variety cheese board.
Credit: Unsplash

Previous visitors have commented on their experience while taking the tour sharing the names their groups received with highlights such as ‘Shaken not curd’ and ‘Three blind mice’.

They really are serious about their cheeses, another previous visitor who went on the tour revealed their guide even had a name that perfectly fit the occasion, ‘Mel the babybel’. 

It’s sure to be a fantastic day with games and activities planned for all as you walk between the shops landmarked on the cheese-filled route.

Everyone on the tour also gets a small taste of the high life as they are treated to a Lancashire cheese handmade by a local star and celebrity.

Read more:

Starting at the Richard Cobden Statue and finishing on the always vibrant Tib Street, a quick google search reveals this walk isn’t too strenuous taking only 12 minutes but with many cheeses to get your whiskers on it will probably take around an estimated two hours to tackle.

Running this Saturday 16 November and planned to continue until November 2025 and beyond, you’d be emmental to miss out on this cheesy adventure.

If all this cheese talk has left you dreaming about your next foodie fix, tickets for ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’ are on sale and available here.

Featured Image: Unsplash

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