The dates have been counted and verified and the verdict is in…We are coming back!
IMBC 16
6th-9th October 2016
Victoria Baths, Manchester
Details soon…
IMBC 15 THANKS
Wowee! What a whirlwind of an extended weekend as per at IMBC. By all accounts, you all enjoyed your time at Victoria Baths. We, the organisers, certainly enjoyed the festivities. We might say this every year, but we are fairly certain that this year’s Indy Man Beer Con was the best one yet. We hope you agree! Let the thankings begin…
Firstly, we’d like to thank YOU – the avid beer drinker and intrepid taste bud explorer for coming to IMBC and getting fully involved. You all helped to contribute to the fantastic atmosphere and we hope to see all of your faces again.
A big thank you to all of our sponsors. Cloudwater, Vertical, Beavertown, Hawkshead, Camden Town, Brewdog, and Northern Monk. Each of the aforementioned made their spaces their own and each bar was certainly a destination at the festival. Big thanks also to our sponsors Simply Hops, enablers of many a hop forward beer at IMBC, and Uber, who got many of you home in one piece.
Thanks eternal to all the breweries that joined us over Indy Man Beer Con from far and wide. The beers (and ciders!) you brought made each session a smorgasbord of delights. We knew what was coming in most cases but there were some great surprises on offer and the pop-up tastings, as well as scheduled events, went down a treat.
Photograph by David Bailey
Photograph by David Bailey
Photograph by David Bailey
So many thank you’s to our food and snack vendors this year. Outside was truly a masterclass in handheld eating offerings: Bundobust, Almost Famous, Fish &, Great North Pie, Diamond Dogs, and Honest Crust all made each session’s sustenance selection the happiest of headaches. Not to be outdone, our indoor snack vendors laid on the greatest beer pairings we’ve seen yet. These included delights from Karkli, We Eat, and Epicerie Ludo – as well as sweet treats from the formidable Idle Hands.
Photograph by David Bailey
Photograph by David Bailey
Speaking of which, we must thank Idle Hands for keeping us caffeinated throughout Indy Man Beer Con, serving up some of the best coffee that Manchester has seen and gladly offering up a change of gear at IMBC. Likewise, we rain gratitude down upon London’s award winning soft drink makers, Square Root Soda, for their superb seasonal softs and cocktail wizardry at this year’s festival.
A thousand thank you’s to our volunteers, as usual your kindly efforts made the festival possible and ensured that everything ran smoothly. Thank you for your hard work during the setup at Victoria Baths, your endeavours throughout, and the pack down after the lights had faded. We couldn’t have done it without you!
The wonderful We Can performed canning heroics throughout IMBC. Enabling, for the first time at a beer festival, you the punter to take any beer home in a CAN. They were amazing and the machine canned beers in about five seconds. It was a great success for all involved and we hope to have We Can on the case next time around!
Photograph by Jody Hartley
On the visual side of things, we must throw our arms up in the air and thank the design gods for Steve Hockett. Steve has been our man since day dot of IMBC and this year was no exception. We love his snorkelling Indy Man and we were as pumped as we’ve ever been with this year’s IMBC glass, truly a design classic in the making.
Thanks infernal also to our website builders, Oh Digital, for enabling our first foray into the world of digital beer lists.Massive thanks to Noisebox, MSL, and Hollowsphere for making the baths look and sound incredible. On an aural note, we are forever thankful to all our DJs that played over the course of IMBC. Special thanks also to the live acts that threw down on Sunday. There was never a dull moment in Room 3.
Photograph by David Bailey
Lastly, Indy Man Beer Con wouldn’t be Indy Man Beer Con without the superb surroundings of Victoria Baths. We thank the building, the history, and the hard work of the Victoria Baths staff for housing us once more. The setting is definitely a major part of what makes this festival special, having such inspirational surroundings fuels IMBC & makes each session a real event. Thank you Martin, Chris, and the team for continuing to house us, we miss you already.
See you next year!
Team IMBC
Volunteers Wanted!
Two weeks to go until IMBC commences & we are still on the lookout for volunteers at this year’s festival. If you, or anyone you know, is interested then please get in touch. Check out what you get as a volunteer at IMBC in the attention grabbing poster below.
Email us on [email protected]
IMBC 15 Breweries
The moment you’ve all been waiting for. Here is the brewery list for IMBC 15. More day-to-day info to follow SOON.
INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES
1. NZ Collective:
8 Wired (New Zealand)
Renaissance (New Zealand)
Three Boys (New Zealand)
Tuatara (New Zealand)
Yeastie Boys (New Zealand)
2. Against The Grain (USA)
3. Firestone Walker (USA)
4. Galway Bay (Ireland)
5. Jopen (Netherlands)
6. Mikkeller (Denmark)
7. Põjhala (Estonia)
8. Lervig (Norway)
9. Tilquin (Belgium)
10. Nómada (Spain)
UK BREWERIES
11. Cloudwater (Manchester)
12. Northern Monk (Leeds)
13. Hawkshead (Staveley)
14. Camden (London)
15. Beavertown (London)
16. Brewdog (Aberdeen)
17. Ad Hop (Liverpool)
18. Almasty (Newcastle)
19. Alpha State (London)
20. Alphabet (Manchester)
21. Atom (Hull)
22. Black Iris (Nottingham)
23. Blackjack (Manchester)
24. Brew By Numbers (London)
25. Burning Sky (Firle, Sussex)
26. Buxton (Buxton)
27. The Celt Experience (Caerphilly)
28. Chorlton Brewing Co. (Manchester)
29. Cromarty (Cromarty)
30. Elgoods (Cambridgeshire)
31. Five Oh Brew Co (Manchester)
32. Hammerton (London)
33. Hanging Bat Brew Co (Edinburgh)
34. The Kernel (London)
35. Kirkstall (Leeds)
36. Left Handed Giant (Bristol)
37. Mad Hatter (Liverpool)
38. Magic Rock (Huddersfield)
39. Moor (Bristol)
40. Orbit (London)
41. Partizan (London)
42. Quantum (Stockport)
43. Redchurch (London)
44. Runaway (Manchester)
45. Siren (Berkshire)
46. Squawk (Manchester)
47. Thornbridge (Bakewell)
48. Track (Manchester)
49. Vocation (Hebden Bridge)
50. Weird Beard (London)
51. Wild Beer (Somerset)
52. Zapato & The Beak (Leeds)
53. Wiper & True (Bristol)
54. Wylam Brewery (Wylam)
COLLABORATION BEERS
The following beers were paired by pulling out of 3 hats, 1 contained fruits (roughly), 1 contained styles and the final contained breweries. You’ll never believe what happened next.
Weird Beard/Lervig with IMBC: Gooseberry Pale
Northern Monk with IMBC: Quince IPA
Madhatter with IMBC: Seaweed Gose
Cromarty with IMBC: Bilberry Saison
Squawk with IMBC: Fig Stout
Hanging Bat with IMBC: Sloe Wit
CANNING SERVICE
In a first for IMBC, We Can will be providing cans for takeaway. Grab an empty can, take it to the tap of your choice to get it filled, take it back and We Can seal will seal it – the beer will last around 5 days. We Can will also be selling the above collaboration beers, these will last up to 6 months. Takeouts just got verified!
In a first for IMBC, We Can will be providing cans for takeaway. Grab an empty can, take it to the tap of your choice to get it filled, take it back and We Can seal will seal it – the beer will last around 5 days. We Can will also be selling the above collaboration beers, these will last up to 6 months. Takeouts just got verified!
IMBC Launch at Port Street Beer House
INDY MAN BEER CON LAUNCH
We are having a small party at our brethren Port Street Beer House to unveil some tasters of what to expect at this year’s Indy Man Beer Con.
Consider it an announcement of everything that is going to be going down at IMBC. Brewers will be unveiled, eating houses unlocked, and special events earmarked.
Expect beers across the boards at Port Street from the breweries that we have been collaborating with ahead of IMBC. Details on that soon.
Food will be on hand from Epicerie Ludo, expert snack vending from the award-winning Chorlton deli. Take in all the information we’ll be laying down with an Aficionado soundtrack ~ provided by kingpin, Jason Boardman, who will again be curating some of the sounds at this year’s IMBC.
There will also be cans galore from the go to craft canning canners, WeCan. Find out all about their crafty can plans for IMBC…
Hope you can join us!
Facebook event page here
IMBC LAUNCH // PORT STREET BEER HOUSE // WEDNESDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 2015 // 7pm // FREE ENTRY
Going, Going, Gone…well, almost
The tickets, they are a-selling. Sessions everywhere, anticipation tantamount, beer imminent. Just 87(!) days to go. Here’s an update for you on what sessions are available…
Thursday, 8th October – 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. (still available)
Friday Day, 9th October TRADE session – 11:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. (still available)
Friday Evening, 9th October – 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ***SOLD OUT***
Saturday Day, 10th October – 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ***SOLD OUT***
Saturday Evening, 10th October – 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ***SOLD OUT***
Sunday, 11th October – 1pm to 7 pm (still available)
Full Fat Tickets to all sessions ***SOLD OUT***
Jump aboard that Thursday night train, that Friday day feeling, that Sunday afternoon closing ceremony WHILST YOU CAN. Each session is unique, like a snowflake. Collect ’em all!
If you are in the trade and want to attend the Friday day session, please email [email protected]. The session is also open to the public, but of course!
Tickets here
Tickets for IMBC 2015
It’s February, a bit grey, still cold… so to brighten up your screens, we bring you the news that IMBC tickets will go on sale on Monday, 1st June 9am!
We will of course be back at Victoria Baths in Manchester.
Put it in the diary now, tell your mates, call your siblings, get everyone organised, you have four months to do so, get on it.
Session times are as follows:
- Thursday, 8th October – 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
- Friday Day, 9th October TRADE session – 11:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m.
- Friday Evening, 9th October – 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
- Saturday Day, 10th October – 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday Evening, 10th October – 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
- Sunday, 11th October – 1pm to 7 pm
If you are in the trade and want to attend the Friday day session, please email [email protected]. The session is also open to the public, we like to keep things relaxed!
As always, watch our Twitter feed and the website for news and updates… with that, we better crack on!
Team IMBC x
IMBC 2014 – press and blog reviews
2014 was pretty good for us, but don’t just take our word for it, here are some lovely reviews from those in attendance, thanks for your support.
“At Indy Man Beer Con the stars of UK and international craft brewing (some idolised like rock gods) man their own bars and treat their followers to various one-off, experimental and rare examples of their work.” Tony Naylor, The Guardian (Read more here)
“IndyManBeerCon – by common consent, the best of Britain’s new wave beer festivals… a must for drinkers of all stripes.” Will Hawkes, The Independent (Read more here)
“A dizzying array of real ales and craft brews plus talks, music and beer-matched meals” Paul Ogden, Manchester Evening News (Read more here)
“Just as the punk rockers of the late 70’s brought something brash and new to the tide of prog that dominated the British rock scene at the time, IndyMan brings the antithesis to the British festival scene… It was bloody brilliant and I’d go again in a heartbeat” Matthew Curtis, Total Ales (Read more here)
“Visit IMBC [where] the new craft brewers are pushing the boundaries, experimenting with all beer types.” Neil, Sowerby, Taste Of Manchester (Read more here)
“Indy Man is an astonishing beer festival. It brings together some utterly amazing beers in probably one of the most gorgeous venues I been drunk in.” Suzy Aldridge, Pub Geek (Read more here)
“A rush of artisinal ale affection in an amazing atmospheric arena” Cameron Steward, All You Need Is Beer (Read more here)
“The venue is tremendous. Magnificent in fact and the perfect backdrop to the event itself… IMBC is a great event.” Peter Alexander, Tandleman’s Beer Blog (Read more here)
“IndyManBeerCon… anybody with a Twitter account and a beer G-spot was attending. You stopped asking people IF they were going and simply asked WHEN.” Mark Johnson, Beer Compurgation (Read more here)
“It remains one of the most openly enjoyable, fun events on the beer calendar” Connor Murphy, Beer Battered (Read more here)
“In my 28 year drinking ‘career’, Indy Man Beer Con is easily the best beer festival I’ve attended” Scott Rhodes, Bacon on the beech (Read more here)
“Easily the best beer event we’d ever attended in the UK” Crema’s Beer Odyssey (Read more here)
“Have you ever been to the land of beer? Sadly this land is fictional, however IMBC acts as an embassy” James Jackman, Mancunion (Read more here)