A STELLAR collection of independent breweries is set to descend on Manchester next weekend, with the full line-up for the Summer Beer Thing festival revealed.
The sister festival to the legendary Indy Man Beer Con will be staged at the Kampus garden neighbourhood, developed by Capital&Centric and HBD, from Friday 30 June to Sunday 2 July. It’ll see 26 breweries de-camp to the gardens to host pop-up beer stands, alongside the existing Kampus’ indie operators each creating one-off ‘festival special’ drinks.
Some of Manchester’s best known breweries will be represented, with Sureshot, Track and Squawk all hosting stands. They’ll be in good company as they’re joined by a brilliant line-up of visitors, including Sheffield’s Triple Point, Dundee’s Holy Goat, Bristol’s Left Handed Giant and FLOC, from Canterbury.
Rivington Brewing Co and Verdant, from Cornwall, will be there too, with Talking Tides, from Redcar, and the Lake District’s Lakes Brew Co also attending. Coinciding with the end of Pride Month, London’s Queer Brewing, the project set up to provide visibility for LGBTQ+ people in and around beer, will also be making an appearance – see below for the full list of breweries.
There’ll also be guest kegs from international names including Collective Arts (Toronto, Canada), Jester King (Austin, Texas) and Frau Gruber (Swabia, Germany).
It’ll be bliss for beer lovers, with loads of beer taps nestled throughout the garden all weekend and DJs bringing the party vibes.
For the first time, this year’s Summer Beer Thing will see each of the indie operators at the foodie neighbourhood also open their doors to festival-goers, offering up one-off special drinks, able to buy with festival tokens.
Pollen is serving up a delicious batch of cold brew for coffee-lovers; Nell’s will be pouring a special Grapefruit Schofferhofer with frozen grapefruit margarita float; and Great North Pie their twist on a Spanish classic with Tinto De Vimto. Elsewhere, Three Little Words are putting on a specially mixed Raspberry Gin Punch, The Beeswing offer ‘The Bees’ting’, whilst Redlight keep it classy with Mini Pomme Verte Martinis.
The summer fixture is the sister festival to Indy Man Beer Con, staged at Victoria Baths. Since starting in Manchester in 2017, it’s gone from strength-to-strength, attracting thousands of beer lovers eager to try the latest brews, as well as those new to craft ale looking for an accessible way to get involved and try something different.
Louise Bruin at Summer Beer Thing, said: “We’re proud to be bringing a massive collective of breweries to Manchester for a weekend-long celebration in the Kampus garden. It’s no surprise we think British independent brewers are among the best in the world, so it’ll be brilliant to have so many of them all together in one place with a real celebratory atmosphere.
“It’ll be a perfect weekend for those who love craft beer and want to try all the latest seasonal brews, from crisp craft beers, to fruits, sours and stouts. Collaborating with all the Kampus bars and restaurants will just take it to the next level too.”
Tickets, priced between £6 and £10, are now on sale via Summer Beer Thing
Ticket holders receive a branded glass and can purchase tokens to spend at a range of festival bars featuring craft beers, fruits and sours, hoppy, hoppier and session beers as well as a range of non-beer drinks.
The full list of participating breweries :
- Baron (Buntingford)
- Beak (Lewes)
- Burning Sky (Lewes)
- Drop Project (Mitcham)
- Fell (Flookburgh)
- FLOC (Canterbury)
- Holy Goat (Dundee)
- Lakes Brew Co (Lake District)
- Left Handed Giant (Bristol)
- Little Earth Project (Sudbury)
- Makemake (Portsmouth)
- Maltgarden (Poland)
- Pastore (Cambridge)
- Queer Brewing (London)
- Rivington (Cornwall)
- Runaway (Stockport)
- Simple Things Fermentation (Glasgow)
- Squawk (Manchester)
- Sureshot (Manchester)
- Talking Tides (Redcar)
- Thornbridge (Bakewell)
- Track (Manchester)
- Triple Point (Sheffield)
- Verdant (Cornwall)
- Yonder (Radstock)
- Zapato (Marsden)
Session Times
Friday 30 June, 4pm – 10pm
Saturday 1 July, 12pm – 10pm
Sunday 2 July, 1pm – 6pm
Ticket gains you access to the festival site, a commemorative half pint glass (which also acts as your drinking vessel for the day), and exclusive access to our Summer Beer Thing bars across the Kampus gardens, as well as the ability to take part in tastings and any other events or offers we might have on
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