WE thought we’d lead off our preview of IndyManBeerCon with a picture of doughnuts, perfect to accompany your schooner of barrel-aged Imperial Russian Stout. There’s also artisan coffee, chocolate truffles, Pollen cruffins in the mix alongside all the pizza, dogs and global street food stalls you’d expect at the groundbreaking craft beer festival, back at the Victoria Baths for its sixth year (Sept 28-Oct 1).
It just shows how this event, organised by Jonny Heyes and the team behind Common and Port Street Beer House in the Northern Quarter and The Beagle in Chorlton, transcends the beer festival norm, its stunning array of craft brews sharing the stage with the creative food traders who are in step with the brewers.
Your IMBC mission may be to search out saisons and sours, stouts and porters, wheat beers and double IPAs and all the ingenious collaborations and flavours in your glass but savour this food line-up:
Dim Sum Su (Chinese street, People’s Choice winners at the recent British Street Food Awards, Honest Crust pizza, Chaat Cart, Great North Pie, Al Pastor Paul (Mexican street food), Patty Smith’s Burgers, Diamond Dogs, Nasi Lemak (Malaysian street), Holy Crab (ToM’s fish-driven fave), In Truffle We Trust (artisan chocs), Karkli (spicy crunch), Pollen bakery and, of course, those headline doughnuts from Blawd, Common’s on-site bakery, who are collaborating with coffee gurus Idle Hands.
We’d like to list all the breweries and beers involved, but they are an ever-mutating hoppy feast, not finalised until the eve of the fest. Best way to access the online craft roster is to get the new IMBC app, now live and ready to download on the App Store here and on Google Play here.
It will allow you sign up for notifications to specific breweries so you are alerted when their beers change. Other handy features include a link through to Untappd, a map so you can get around and find breweries, and the full run down of the IMBC 17 Fringe line-up.
Tickets are still available at £8.50 for two sessions, Thursday, September 28 (5.30pm-11pm) and Sunday October (1pm-7pm). Buy them here.
IndyManBeerCon. Sept 28-Oct 1. Victoria Baths, Hathersage Road Manchester M13 0FE. @indymanbeercon