How to spend a Saturday off in Manchester?

First stop of the day has to be Pollen Bakery for a tasty Cruffin (They sell out FAST!!!) to eat as you head out of town for the ten minute walk out to the furthers destination, the first brewery of the day…

Chorlton Brewery, the first Saturday of the Month sees their Vegan food fair where you can sip some Manchester takes on Germanic brewing traditions while properly lining the stomach with some seriously tasty food.

Now heading back into the city, the next stop is Beer Nouveau. Brewing and pouring traditional and heritage ales alongside modern craft beers, you can sit on comfy sofas amongst the barrels and relax over a pint (or two), or hang around at the bar and have your ear talked off about what you’re drinking.

Back across the Mancunian Way, the next stop is Alphabet Brewery. A Flat White or A to the K or whichever weird and wonderful concoction they’re got on this week along with a bite to eat from one of their food traders to keep the alcohol effects at bay before popping next door.

Next door is Unit 101, a large arch run by the online Beer Merchants, and laid out for direct sales to the public with a long bar, big fridges and some seriously tasty beer from all over the world.

Around the corner for the next stop, the infamous GRUB. It’s hard to describe GRUB for those that have never been there, a collection of shipping containers selling food and beer doesn’t do it justice. A resident space for a rotation of some of the country’s best street food traders along with a bar selling some of the North’s best beers is far more accurate. But neither can describe the atmosphere of the place where you can chill for a while and regroup over a few plates of food before moving on to the second leg of the day.

Tucked behind Piccadilly Station, on the same street as Pollen, is Cloudwater’s Barrel Store. Yes it’s small and there’s more often queues to get in than not, but this is where you get their beer at its freshest, served in the best traditions of a brewery tap, by knowledgeable and passionate staff.

And now across to Red Bank. I refuse to call it the trendy new name of Green Quarter, that’s specifically a development of flats there.

First stop, Runaway Brewery. A new mezzanine bar and seating area overlooking the brewery itself allows you to sit and sip and get into the evening part of the day (it closes at 8, so no dawdling!) enjoying the very well crafted beers.

Second and last stop in Red Bank is the new Beatnikz Republic tap room serving modern lagers and IPAs on keg and in can where you can start to properly sink a few gearing up for a night on the town. Because apparently there are things called “pubs” that serve beer as well as brewery taps.

You can find all these venues on this here map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W3xlPcjbAe2fVMQ043va4bJiXXg&usp=sharing

But I won’t be doing any of these today, because I’m pouring beer behind my bar. So come in, say hi, tell me about the taps you’ve already been to, which ones you plan to go to, and make me feel really jealous.