Vocation & Co @ Society, Manchester

Set in a small, modern Society foodhall beside the canal basin with the Bridgwater Hall on the opposite side. Airy inside, with large windows, (mostly) canteen-style tables and the expected semi-industrial look. Remarkable display of 30 craft keg taps on bronze bar-back, with a huge variety of guest and the brewery's own beers. Four handpumps can also be found on the counter, offering Bread & Butter (£4.20) and Heart & Soul plus a foul-sounding 6% collaboration with Vault City and Deya's Texture Like Sun golden ale.

Large industrial barn with various food and drink concessions. Battery hen bench tables and lighting at a level that an owl would struggle with. There's a Vocation bar here with three cask and 30 (!) craftykeg. Went for a Heart & Soul which was a bit floury tasting, maybe barrel end but not their usual standard (NBSS 2.5) served-up by a surprisingly friendly barman given the general air of chaos. Final nail in the coffin was broken wi-fi. Not my kind of place at all, I can’t see why you’d want to drink here out of choice. GBG’23 listed because it’s Manchester so of course it is.

Society is the name of the canteen-style food hall set in a modern development of offices. The hall is set slightly below ground level and has a large number of long tables with bench seating both inside and outside. As you enter, the Vocation & Co. bar is directly opposite on the long wall. Various food outlets are off to the left-hand side, whilst there is another bar dispensing cocktails off to the right. Whether that is related to Vocation & Co, I'm not too sure. The lengthy Vocation & Co. bar has 4 or 5 handpulls. The only 2 clipped on my visit had their Bread & Butter and Heart & Soul. It seems that they may have guest beers from time to time. The keg beer range is much wider. Vocation & Co. beers were Pure Pilsner, Hebden Lager, Big Squeeze, Death By Cherries, Devil's Leap, Session IPA, Life & Death, Life & Death Gold, Cooler Shaker, Sunset Overdrive, Naughty & Nice Malted Honeycomb Milk Chocolate Stout, Naughty & Nice Whipped Nougat Milk Chocolate Stout, May Contain Sixpence & All Souls. There was also a Vocation/Funky Fluid collaboration beer called Tropical Sunset Ripple. Guests were Deya Kellerbier, Lil' Chu & Unmute Yourself, Newborn Pils, Hogan's Cider, Schoffenhoffer Grapefruit, Schneider Weisse Helle Weisse, Verdant There Will Be No Intervals & Even Sharks Need Water, Sureshot Up That Finnieston Crane All Night, 9th Overall 2013 & Grandmother Technique, Newborns Autumn Beer, Five Points Jupa & Jester King Vague Recollection (2021). The two cask beers were fine, but I wasn't overly impressed with the keg beers I tried. The May Contain Sixpence was strong (12.5%) and didn't contain a sixpence, whilst the Autumn Beer did contain 3 bar flies which probably gave it a little more flavour than it otherwise would have had. With many other decent real ale pubs and bars in Manchester, I'm surprised that this one has made it into the latest Good Beer Guide.

Heard about this place on a recent podcast that suggested it was one of the finest places to drink in Manchester. If you are after a new build, with interesting craft beers (mainly from Vocation but other available) and a choice of "street food", then I can see what you'd say that. Definitely high on variety. Food is ordered from an app - and a choice of many styles.