Straight from the source: A guide to Manchester’s best breweries and taprooms

First started back in 2008, Track is now one of the city’s most revered names in beer. During a trip to the US, founder Sam frequented the small taprooms scattered across the East and West Coasts, and it was here that inspiration for Track struck.

Born from the idea that beer is more than a way to end the day, instead a way to ‘reflect, connect and share’, Track’s gorgeous brewery taproom has been built as the perfect space to do just that.

Paying close attention to the way our lifestyles change throughout the season, Cloudwater has modelled its process on creating booze for special moments with friends and loved ones.

Dip into their unit behind Piccadilly, which is conveniently across the car park from Track, to see first-hand exactly why that approach has worked so well, for so long.

After cementing a legacy in the city centre for some years, Runaway has now completed its move to its new home in the increasingly lauded food and drink hotspot of Stockport. The new space is just as lovely, and you’ll still find all those same sublime pours that have made them a consistent favourite for what feels like forever.

A huge local success story,  Guy, Keith, Luke, Dan, Nat, Kit and Greg are seven brothers from Salford who have built something of a Northern brewing empire.

The team now operate an array of locations across the city, including Ancoats, Media City, a dedicated brewery taproom at Salford Enterprise Centre and even in Manchester’s Terminal 2.

One of the newer faces on Manchester’s busy brewing scene, Sureshot is the brainchild of James Campbell, who over the last decade has spent time at an array of Manchester’s most respected indie breweries as head brewer.

Alongside offering brewery-fresh beers from just next door, Sureshot’s Sheffield Street taproom also has the self-proclaimed ‘best beer snacks this side of Cricklewood’, as well as click & collect pizzas from Nell’s.

25 years on, Leeds’ North Brewing Co has finally found its long-sought-after Manchester home, on the flourishing Circle Square development just off Oxford Road.

The taproom boasts 24 draught lines, including 18 keg beers and one cask, pouring North Brewing’s ever-evolving range of core beers, specials and collabs.

The team behind Green Arches had previously brewed for Beatnikz just a few doors down, so we’re pretty confident beer fans are in more than capable hands, given how excellent those creations were.

Despite its relatively short time in the city, Green Arches has proved an immediate hit, and they’ve worked wonders with the space beneath the railway arches, transforming it into a cosy little nook amongst Red Bank.

South Cumbrian brewery Fell has two outposts in Manchester these days, both of which stock an array of wonderful beers from the small indie team that started their life over in Kendal and Penrith. You can find them either in the suburbs of Chorlton along Wilbraham Road, or slap bang in the heart of the city centre, with Fell’s newer Northern Quarter space occupying the former Pelican site.

Combining Bundobust’s widely acclaimed Indian street food offering with the team’s in-house brewery was never going to be anything other than a hit, and that has very much been the case since the doors to their huge Oxford Road spot opened. The ever-rotating list of innovative creations, including regular collaborations with those who make up the rest of this list, makes it one of the best drinking spots in all of the city, and that’s before you factor in being able to grab a Vada Pav alongside.

Stubborn Mule has come a long way since their brewing was done in a back garden in Timperley. Very much a labour of love, Head Brewer Ed Bright packed in his banking job to build Stubborn Mule into what it is today, and the Altrincham taproom is a proper hidden gem over in the suburbs.

Balance’s niche is complex mixed-culture, barrel-fermented beer, which utilises the best of British ingredients. The brewery’s Sheffield Street taproom is a beaut of a space and a welcome addition to any city centre taproom crawl.

Fine, it’s another that isn’t technically a taproom, but when you’ve got one of the most celebrated breweries in the country operating its flagship pub on your doorstep, it makes the list. North Westward Ho, the brainchild of the esteemed Pomona Island team, has 18 world-class beers on tap,  5 cask lines and 4 lines of natural wine and cider, along with a substantial collection of German lagers, Belgian beers, English cider, mixed fermentation ales, Italian spritzes, bitter cocktails, vermouth and amaro.

The Smithfield Market Tavern is definitely more pub than taproom, but it does act as the outpost for local brewery Blackjack, and it’s a truly brilliant place just on the edge of the Northern Quarter. It’s also worth noting that Blackjack has annoucned it will open up its brewery tap in Angel Meadows for a super-limited run of dates this summer (Sat 2 Aug & Sat 23 Aug), promising loads of exciting stuff like new releases, collaborations, great food and music.

Northern Monk’s massive Northern Quarter Refectory makes for a genuinely stunning industrial backdrop for enjoying some of the finest beers in Manchester. At the moment, the fantastic Cardinal Rule operates out of the kitchen, serving up delicious American fried chicken and biscuits, which are a near-perfect accompaniment for Northern Monk’s constantly rotating taps. There’s plenty of seating out front too, so it’s always a solid choice on a sunny day.