Brewdog, Manchester - New Menu

My husband loves craft beer. We've spent many an afternoon in the bars of Manchester whilst he 'samples' new beers and checks them in on his 'Untapped' app. Naturally, Brewdog is one of his favourite stomping grounds, so it feels a bit like home. They always had a good range of hunger busting nibbles such as pizza, burgers and meat platters, but they just upped their game. Considerably.

This weekend their manager Dean (legend amongst my husband and his mates...) invited us to sample their new offerings. I nearly bit his hand off. Barbecue style food and craft beer; it was like a match made in heaven. Paddy had already tried some of it the week before, but unfortunately he was hammered and remembered very little. He did however come home ranting about the mac 'n' cheese.

We sat in the sun with drinks in hand whilst kitchen wizard Jim cooked up a feast! Paddy was in usual beer sampling mode whilst I had a rather nice take on a lemonade. He insists on making my try his beer, even though I pull a face resembling a wasp sucking a lemon. I even impressed myself by picking out his first one as a wheat beer - I remember from Dani's beer school that these were much more palatable for beer heathens such as I.

Paddy ordered the beef brisket with a side of southern sweet potato mash. Right. I know I can be prone to a little melodrama, but this was insanely good. The beef was blackened on the outside with a sticky glaze, yet moist on the inside. It came with a big chunk of bread which soaked up the juices, gherkins, coleslaw and pickled red cabbage. The sweet potato mash had a decent cinnamon kick to it too.

I had the pork ribs with mac 'n' cheese. This was equally as wonderful! The outside of the ribs were charred but again the meat was beautifully moist. It just fell off the bone and there was no hint of greasiness. Hats also off to Frosty the butcher!

The mac 'n' cheese deserves its own picture. Yes, it was as good as it looks! I could eat this every day of my life and never get bored. It'd kill me first. I'm angry just looking at it today. It was out of this world...

The standard sides also deserve a mention. The coleslaw is a tangy mix of vegetables and the pickled red cabbage is tart and crispy - both are the perfect accompaniment to food with a bit of heat.

As you can see from our plates, we loved the new menu. I really cannot say enough good things about it. Having recently been to Red's in Leeds and Dukes Brew and Cue in London, I can honestly say that Brewdog are up there with them. Granted, the menu isn't as big, but what they do have they do exceptionally well. Food like this will pull in more than just the drinkers, and who knows... may even convert people to decent beer and away from fizzy yellow lager?

There is only one thing they could do to improve this new menu... desserts. I was craving something sticky and sickly after all that barbecued meat. If this ever happens, there's a very real possibility that Paddy and I will move in.

Disclaimer: We were guests of Brewdog but all opinions are my very own. Jim was definitely NOT wearing chef's whites from a well known Michelin starred restaurant. No way.

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