Top regional restaurants are teaming up with local brewers including Cloudwater, Runaway and Blackjack
Beery me. If Manchester wasn't already awash in ale, now some of the city's best restaurants are contributing to the city's collective pint pot with their own specialist brews.
To celebrate this year’s Manchester Beer Week (June 29 - July 8), eight top regional independent restaurants are to team up with eight of the area's best brewers to create a series of exciting new one-off beers.
Award-winning Stockport restaurant Where the Light Gets In (WTLGI) will team up with Cloudwater Brewery, recently named as the second best brewery in the world. The restaurant’s near neighbour, vegan specialist The Allotment, is to join forces with Thirst Class.
Highly esteemed Japanese restaurant Umezushi will partner with Runaway to create an eastern inspired brew, while Bundobust, craft beer and vegetarian Indian street food specialists, will create something special with Squawk.
Rudy's Pizza, which recently celebrated the opening of its second city centre venue, is working with Blackjack to create a pizza-friendly collaboration, while Caribbean restaurant The Drop will pair with Alphabet.
The final two collaborations involve partnerships with two highly regarded local chefs. Mary-Ellen McTague's new Chorlton venture, The Creameries, is teaming up with Rivington Brewing Co, while Marble Brewery will join One88, the Whitefield restaurant owned by former Hilton head chef David Gale.
The aim is to raise awareness of good beer and brewers in the area and highlight beer as just as worthy a partner for food as wine.
“These collaborations have really got the juices flowing and we hope they’ll capture the spirit of innovation and commitment to quality that have fuelled exciting growth in both food and beer throughout Greater Manchester,” said Manchester Beer Week organiser Connor Murphy.
“Beer is a perfect partner for food and we’re really grateful that some of the most respected restaurants from the region have signed up to help us prove that point.
“For too long the restaurant trade has defaulted to wine as its core drinks offer, largely because it has lazily followed tradition. Many places take great care in presenting excellent food using carefully-sourced ingredients, yet give little thought to the beer they serve alongside it.
"Beer is incredibly varied and, aside from the core elements of malted barley, hops and yeast, can be created using a wide array of ingredients, so it is versatile enough to pair with almost any dish."
Manchester Beer Week is also teaming up with the Whitworth Art Gallery to get the region’s art community involved in the initiative. They have issued an appeal to find eight local artists to join each restaurant and brewery pairing.
These artists will be asked to create one-off pieces to be used as labels for each beer and the final artworks will be displayed as part of an exhibition at the Whitworth on Thursday, June 28. The pieces will also be auctioned to raise money for Manchester Beer Week's chosen charity Mustard Tree.
More at mcrbeerweek.co.uk
