00:00 "So it's not just about the beer, although that's the most important thing, it's also about the
00:03 atmosphere and getting together and celebrating the excellence that we're trying to promote."
00:09 The first ever international brewing and cider festival is taking place in Manchester on the
00:15 22nd and 23rd of March 2024. Located in Depot Mayfield in the city centre, the two-day event
00:22 showcases award-winning pours from more than 100 breweries and cider mills worldwide.
00:28 The festival has been organised by the International Brewing and Cider Awards,
00:32 which dates back to 1886 and is the most historic international beer and cider competition of its
00:38 kind in the world. This is the first time the awards have been held in Manchester,
00:43 and brewers and cider makers from around the world are competing to gain global recognition.
00:48 The general public is welcome to sample world-class beers and award-winning ciders
00:53 at the two-day event here in the city.
00:55 "We are wanting to bring the excellence of brewing and cider making to a wider audience, so
01:02 we have created the festival purely for that reason. Over the weekend there is probably one
01:10 of the largest collections of international beers and ciders in the world at this competition that
01:14 people can sample, and also we've got a full lineup of live entertainment, so they're not
01:20 just getting the beer and cider experience, they're getting the music as well. For over 130
01:25 years we've celebrated beer making and cider making and we're wanting to bring that knowledge
01:30 to the general public, so they can come in and they can network with the brewers, find out a
01:36 little bit of history, and they can also then sample those winning beers that have been tasted
01:41 by our esteemed judges. Manchester is a very lively, vibrant city. We used to be held in Burton,
01:49 which has got a very rich history in the brewing industry, but we felt like it was ready for a move,
01:57 it's ready for a fresh start. We think that Manchester's got a great brewing and cider
02:01 scene as well, especially cider, that is starting to grow, so that's why we made the move to a new
02:08 city. We're trying to find a home and hopefully Manchester is a place." "I think people should
02:13 drink whatever brings them joy, but if you want to find joy from beer and pubs, you're going to
02:18 find the most of that at your local pub, down your local brewery tap room, where they make everything
02:24 in-house to the highest quality they possibly can, they can chat to you about what they're doing,
02:29 it's just a fantastic experience." "We've got a load of really great breweries here, cideries,
02:34 we've got everybody who's from the industry who really is moving and shaking at the moment, so
02:39 that's really what we want. So Hideaway Brewing was started in my garage in 2020, I got made
02:44 redundant, it was the usual Covid story from a small home brewer to what we are now, which is a
02:49 microbrewery based in Salford. I think Manchester's the place to be for beer and cider anyway,
02:54 especially craft beer, it's just a home of it in the country, it's us, London, and I think
03:01 we're doing a little bit better. It's massive, but not just for Manchester, but for the craft
03:07 beer industry as a whole, it's just to have something like this that really recognises
03:11 is what we do on a day-to-day basis is fabulous.
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