THERE’s a festival for every form of booze in Manchester these days. Beer and gin have dominated recent merry events, but whisky is fighting back. Appropriately enough, The Whiskey Jar on Tariff Street in the Northern Quarter is hosting its first Whisky Festival on Sunday June 5, featuring more than 300 whiskies to buy and try.
There'll be free samples, masterclasses, stalls selling food with a whisky twist, live music and even a whisky-based cocktails bar.
There are two sessions – 12pm-4pm and 5.30pm-9.30pm. Tickets are £25 and include your own whisky tasting glass and four 20ml samples covering Scotch, Irish, American and Bourbon, and World whisky.
Spirit lovers are in for a fun overload a couple of weeks before (full preview to follow nearer the time) at the Cocktails In The City at the Old Granada Studios for two nights, May 19 and 20. 24 venues are going to slug it out in the battle of the bars, including newcomers El Gato Negro and Cottonopolis. More than 2,000 people are expected to go along to the huge showcase of cocktail making, and tickets are now on sale at £12 (includes one cocktail).
At the same venue the previous night it’s the turn of parent project Boutique Bar Show with workshops, tastings, a range of local and international brands... and an introduction to ice carving. The cast list is still filling up, but one must is international speaker Leonardo Leuci of the Jerry Thomas Project (pictured below), who looks into the worldwide influence of Vermouth and cocktail culture from the 1800s onwards. A bit niche but any excuse for a Negroni. TOM cannot live by gin or whisky alone!
