Six Northern Irish craft brewers for Manchester Festival

Around 20 craft beers from Northern Ireland breweries will be featured at the big Manchester Beer and Cider Festival at the end of this month.

Drinkers heading for the North of England's biggest beer and cider celebration will be able to sample real ales, lagers and stout from six of Northern Ireland's leading craft breweries. The event takes place from 25-27th January.

The Northern Irish beers from six craft breweries are featured in a 'Little Ireland' section that offers over 20 beers and recognises the support for the event from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The Northern Ireland breweries are:

Boundary Brewing, Belfast, county Antrim

Bullhouse, Newtownards, county Down, a brewery producing its range in cans

Farmageddon, Comber, county Down, a brewing co-operative

Knockout, Belfast, county Antrim, Northern Ireland's first producer of canned beers

Lacada, Portrush, county Antrim

Mourne Mountains, Warrenpoint, county Down, which produced the first fully traceable beer, Downstream, using blockchain technology.

The Manchester Beer and Cider festival, organised by local Campaign for Real Ale member companies, marks its fifth year with an outstanding menu of the best brewers and producers.

This year, 22 bars will serve 750 different examples of traditional British ales, those seeking the cutting edge of modern brewing and fans of foreign beer styles. Also included are ciders, perrys, fruit wines, mead and handmade sodas.

The festival will offer a massive choice of over 650 beers from around the world (plus 103 ciders and perrys). The range of modern keg beers from both the UK and overseas will be the largest ever.

The festival has developed a reputation for curating unique pairings of brewers to create new beers.

A dozen brewers will be setting up their own bars inside the festival to showcase their products, and a Keykeg bar will serve real ale in a modern environment. Cider and perry lovers have their own bar, and fans of foreign styles can expect a superb range of beers from Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic supplemented by a curated choice of beers from the rest of the world.

And for those who like their ales in bottles - or would just like to take home some - the Real Ale in Bottle bar will have a UK-wide selection. Alongside the ales, there'll be street food traders from the city and beyond, providing the snacks for visitors.