IN today’s hop-happy Manchester a new beer launch is hardly an event. Unless, of course, its arrival coincides with the re-birth of an iconic building, whose redevelopment will help revitalise a neglected corner of the city.
So cheers to the Mayfield Depot developers, U+I, for commissioning a special Mayfield Pale Ale from Runaway Brewery, which will only be available at GRUB’s new food fair, which kicks off now on Friday, June 9.
The launch should have been this Friday, May 19, but technical problems have kicked in. To be expected, considering how swiftly this initial stage of the £850 million regeneration of the 24 acre site, alongside Piccadilly Station has happened. With such capital invested, what's a couple of weeks to get the initial launch right?
GRUB and Runaway, of course are no strangers. They collaborated in a regular Saturday event at the brewery in Dantzic Street before Jason and Jules Bailey’s street food pop-up operation decamped to larger premises at Alphabet Brewing Co (below).
The Mayfield Pale is a 4.4 ABV and vegan-friendly, using rotating batches of hops from around the world, depending upon seasonality.
Runaway co-founder and brewer Mark Welsby (in main picture with Jason) said: “We wanted to brew a beer that would complement the amazing array of street food on offer at Mayfield. The final product will be somewhere between a summer golden ale and a lager. It’ll be served chilled and will be fizzier than a traditional ale. We’re going to have over 1,000 pints each weekend and more if we need it.”
It will not be alone in a beer roster that 12 keg beer lines and two cask pumps serving exclusively northern beers (five from Runaway) to complement a rolling rota of six street food traders. Expect to find Manc faves such as Yakumama, Holy Crab, What’s Your Beef and The Ottomen with visitors from further afield. We'll let you know the rearranged line-up for the new launch date as soon as we have it.
GRUB at Mayfield opening party, Fri June 9, 19 12pm-10pm, Mayfield Depot, Baring Street, M1 2AD. Also Saturday, June 10 same times, a formula repeated every weekend from then on in. Dog-friendly, bar takes cards, many traders won’t.