Alphabet Brewing Co Taproom, Manchester

With our latest visit to Manchester being on a Saturday afternoon, it seemed like a good idea to take a tour of the various taprooms and bars set in the railway arches and trading estates just to the east of Piccadilly station. Alphabet Brewing Co. was our first calling point. This large warehouse space has bench seating with multiple games to play at the front, a small bar area to the right on entry and the brewery equipment fronted by a load of wooden casks beyond the indoor drinking space. Beer options were all keg and all were from Alphabet themselves - A to the K, Haze Craze, Not Another Pink Beer, Bound For Hell, Juice Springsteen, The Dragons, Juice Wayne, I'm Sorry Dave & A Proper Shootout. It wasn't very busy in here, especially compared with some of the later breweries we visited, but service was quick and the beer was decent. Speakers in one corner were blasting out the Beastie Boys when we arrived, which quickly moved onto Metallica.

Official site of Alphabet Brewing Co Taproom - www.alphabetbrewing.co.uk

Official site of Alphabet Brewing Co Taproom - www.alphabetbrewing.co.uk

The brewery tap for the Alphabet Brewing Co is open on Fridays from 5pm to 10pm and Saturdays from midday to 10pm. Visited on Saturday night and the place was fairly busy considering its location and the weather conditions. No cask ale but there were at least 10 of their own keg beers available. Tasters were offered (and graciously accepted). I had the Flat White (Stout) which I had been wanting to try for a while and this was rather enjoyable. My drinking accomplice had the Juice Willis which was also decent. I could have stayed in here longer but we had other places we wanted to visit so we moved on. Cans and bottles are also available, with a discount (20 or 25%) for taking away. Although it is a bit of a grim walk when it's dark and raining, there are other breweries in the area so you can make a bit of a crawl of it. This isn't the kind of place that would suit the traditionalists but I definitely enjoyed my trip and will be back.