Indy Man Beer Con to return after two year break

The Indy Man Beer Conference is to return after a two year break due to the pandemic. The celebrated beer festival will be back at Manchester's historic Victoria Baths for its four-day run from September 29 to October 2.

The organisers are also planning to bring back the Summer Beer Thing festival to Kampus in the city centre too.

Speaking to the M.E.N, IMBC co-founder Jonny Heyes said: “Our last one was October 2019, so it’ll actually be three years when this one comes around. We’ve missed two events, but it’s been three years.

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“Trying to start something like this back up again is quite a prospect really. These things have their own momentum, so it’s a bit like starting from scratch.

"There was an element of ‘should we, shouldn’t we’. But it’s always been a labour of love.”

The first event happened at the Victoria Baths in 2012, bringing together local breweries with some of the best from around the world.

Eight events have happened in all, until the 2020 instalment was axed due to the pandemic. Prior to that, tickets for the four-day beer festival would sell out within hours of going on sale.

“The response we got from just putting out the dates for this year on Instagram has been amazing,” he added. “I think people feel a strong affinity to it. And the venue, Victoria Baths, also plays a very big part.

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“We tend to operate on a bit of a Glastonbury style basis, in that we don’t really announce anything that’s happening until a bit later on! But we’ll probably have