Manchester Beer & Cider Festival

After two years based at the Velodrome on the outskirts of the city, MBCF have moved to the grand and colossal setting of Manchester Central — which makes it much more convenient to get to.
Though I’d seen there had been queues for other sessions since it opened, we were inside in next to no time thanks to the sheer number of volunteers on the doors. With a choice of a half– or full pint festival glass (£3 refundable on return) it was onwards into the main room.
There were a lot, and I mean A LOT, of fellow drinkers inside, but still just about enough room to wander round the space and see what was on offer. Lots of table seating, but almost all were taken. Thankfully we met up with a mate who’d been there for a few hours so could dump ourselves on his table and use it as a base for the evening.
This year they had an incredible 470 beers and 130 ciders & perries available — though once some were sold out that was it. The 60 metre mega-​bar on the back wall had well over 100 hand pumps on it. Serving time didn’t take too long as again, there were dozens of volunteers.
About a dozen breweries had their own bars at the festival as well. These were mostly on the central bar and included the likes of Marble, Blackjack, Cloudwater, Runaway and Red Willow.
A popular section was the Bière Sans Frontières bar, where you could get draught or bottled beer from around the world (it was great that CAMRA were embracing new modern styles and non-​British breweries).
The only thing (seriously) lacking at the venue was decent food offerings. This may well be out of their hands if the venue insists on providing it — but even so there was hardly any choice. Thankfully, Pancho’s Burritos was still open when we left!
Tip: I wouldn’t bother with a £1 beer programme, it’s crammed with adverts and confusingly lists beers by country and not bar location — just have a wander round and investigate.

I’ve probably never seen that many beers before (300 as it is advertised but didnt have enough time to check)!
the place is original (healthy people are cycling around you while you are getting drunk) and you’ve a large seating area where you can stay enjoying your beer! staff is very friendly and ready to help!
I recommend this festival to any beer Iover and will definitely go again next year as I’ve still few drinks to try but will probably get dinner before as food is very disapointing!

Wow…300 ales… and the rest. That’s a selection of a tall order !
And what a setting for this new venue. I wonder how the dryathlete cyclists peddaling around felt about hosting hundreds of beer fuelled non-​supporters.
Personnaly I loved the location, the layout and the organisation. Great to be able to have thirds as well, means me and Michael have been able to try about 30 ales between the 2 of us which I am no un-​proud of. I mean… that’s 10% of the selection right.
Anyway, I’ll definitely go again next year. But I’ve heard more mitigated opinions from people going on the Saturday. It seems they ran out of beers and had to close at 4pm instead of 7pm. I can see the frustration and disappointment for Saturday afternoon beer fans.
The food could really do with an improvement. I bet they eat better in school canteens, for less money.