Manchester’s much-loved winter beer festival is back this month

GRUB’s annual Winter Beer Festival is back this month bringing with it an array of pop-up brewery bars and 30+ guest taps pouring winter-inspired beers.

As well as featuring some of the country’s best and most exciting beers, the three-day event will be packed with delicious street food, coffee, cocktails, food and beer pairings, beer-eoke and pub quizzes.

Breweries joining this year’s event include Green Arches, GRUB’s Green Quarter neighbours known for brewing with DIY community principles at heart, and Left Handed Giant, a Bristol-based brewery that has been crafting modern, progressive beers since 2015.

Also pouring will be Leeds microbrewery Tartarus Beers who produce small batch beer with a mythical edge, and Zapato Brewing, an independent, family-run brewery based in the beautiful Colne Valley.

Non-beer drinkers will also be well looked after with a full menu of wines, cocktails, spirits, cider, softs and low & no alternatives, plus mulled wine to warm everyone up.

On the street food front, GRUB will partnering with vendors to create a series of exclusive food and beer pairings.

Throughout the weekend, guests can tuck into dishes from All Fried Up, one of GRUB’s most popular vendors creating pan-Asian dishes, and Bonnie & Clyde Italian Street Food, known for their famous deep-fried lasagne and freshly made arancini. 

Oscar’s Dogs will be serving NYC street cart-style loaded dogs and nachos, and on Saturday, Munchie Mummy’s Vegan Bakery will be dishing out an indulgent selection of cakes, bakes, cinnamon buns and speciality coffees. 

Saturday daytime also sees the return of The Pub Pub Quiz, a trivia challenge about Manchester’s local pubs and breweries, while beer-eoke takes over GRUB’s cinema room on Saturday night.

GRUB’s Winter Beer Festival will take place over four sessions across Thu 16 Jan, Fri 17 Jan & Sat 18 Jan. Session timings can be found below:

Thu 16 Jan: 5pm – 11pm
Fri 17 Jan: 5pm – 11pm
Sat 18 Jan: 12pm – 5pm
Sat 18 Jan: 6pm – 11pm

All tickets include entry to the festival, a festival programme, a souvenir beer glass and (in the case of the Saturday sessions) entry to the special events.

Advance tickets for the Thursday & Friday sessions are priced at £4. Advance tickets for the Saturday sessions are priced at £5. A limited number of £6 tickets may be available on the door, though advanced booking is advised to avoid disappointment.