The Search for the Perfect Pint
Marble Arch Brew Pub - Manchester
The Marble Arch was built at the end of the 19th Century and is now a Grade II listed building, mainly because of the glazed ceiling and the ceramic walls that can still be seen through beer sodden eyes. Anyway, enough of the boring shit.
There is a brewery at the back of the pub which brews some fantastic organic ale, namely Manchester Bitter which has been known to get John H shitfaced and the best ginger beer you'll ever taste. Probably - The Ginger Marble. Another of their favourites is Lagonda IPA and there are always a few beers from local breweries. Food is good but quite expensive but the main reason is to go for the beer. There’s a beer for every palate here - from Manchester’s hop-accented favourites to bitters and stouts. As well as Marble’s own beers there are beers from other breweries including Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield’s Bradfield Brewery, Spitting Feathers (Cheshire) and the fantastic Bluebird Bitter from Coniston. If you don't particularly like "proper" beer they also serve the normal fare such as Budweiser, Guinness and Carlsberg. There are an impressive selection of beers in bottles too, from the Trappist Monk range and matured Belgian beers, to fruit and wheat beers (doppelweiss and dunkelweiss).
There is a brewery at the back of the pub which brews some fantastic organic ale, namely Manchester Bitter which has been known to get John H shitfaced and the best ginger beer you'll ever taste. Probably - The Ginger Marble. Another of their favourites is Lagonda IPA and there are always a few beers from local breweries. Food is good but quite expensive but the main reason is to go for the beer. There’s a beer for every palate here - from Manchester’s hop-accented favourites to bitters and stouts. As well as Marble’s own beers there are beers from other breweries including Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield’s Bradfield Brewery, Spitting Feathers (Cheshire) and the fantastic Bluebird Bitter from Coniston. If you don't particularly like "proper" beer they also serve the normal fare such as Budweiser, Guinness and Carlsberg. There are an impressive selection of beers in bottles too, from the Trappist Monk range and matured Belgian beers, to fruit and wheat beers (doppelweiss and dunkelweiss).
Port Street Beer House - 39-41 Port Street
This is a recent addition to the Manchester beer scene and very good it is too. The only downsides for me are that the toilets are on the second floor and the first floor, whereas it has loads of tables and chairs, does not yet have a bar. This should not distract from what is a very good pub with even better ales. The choices are vast. It is the only place I know in Manchester that regularly has Dark Star beers on every night. That in itself makes it worth the visit alone. There are five handpumps behind the bar - the regulars are Dark Star, Thornbridge and Prospect while the other two normally feature changing guest beers. Also on draught ate 14 different beers from around Europe from the locally brewed Moravka lager to German and American beers. They also have around 70 or so different bottled beers. The bar snacks are varied (and unusual as well) with a selection of nuts and pub snacks. Peanuts (dry roasted and salted), bombay mix, pretzels, mixed nuts and roasted broad beans, all scooped out of a jar and into a tapas dish, just for you and just for a pound. One plus point about the toilets is that you can normally see a dancing class going on over the road If you stand on your tip-toes and look through the window!!). Anyway back to the beer. A pint costs around £3.30 which is probably about 30 or 40 pence more than it needs to be and last time we were there we tried the Thornbridge Hark. A light, session strength golden ale, with bags of hoppy freshness up front and then a long, dry, biscuity finish. Rather than stick to the Dark Star (which we could do very happily) we switched to a Prospect 1 20. This is a 4.0% light malty ale with a dry, biscuity finish and a slight orange-citrus tang. I prefer my hopps to malt but it was truly good. We've also sampled a simply luscious Dark Star Golden Gate again at £3.30. This is a golden blond cask ale with autumnal spiced flavour.
The Angel 6 Angel Street (off Rochdale Road) -(Formerly The Beer House)
Another pub where I've had some excellent beer but there's sometimes an air about where you don't feel very welcome. The owners want to make this into an outstanding restaurant and because of this anybody ordering food seems to take precedence over the average beer drinker. Saying that, they have 8 regular hand pumps and the choice is normally good enough to make you want to come again. Their regular beer is White Lion brewed locally from Bob's brewing company. The prices again are around £2.80 upwards, depending on the strength of the beer. You can normally rely on an extra 10 pence per 0.1% ABV.
Bar Fringe - Swan Street
A cross between a Belgian beer bar and an English pub. Cask ale and many fine Belgian bottled beers are available in the bar or the beer garden out back.
