Stockport beer festival to take place featuring 'birthday' beers, brewery tours, and live music

A new beer festival is taking place in Stockport to coincide with the tenth anniversary of a local brewery.

Runaway Brewery will celebrate ten years in business with their first ever beer festival featuring premieres of new beers and selections from across the world alongside live DJ sets, impromptu brewery tours and ‘extra special’ sourdough pizzas.

The festival will begin on May 30 at the brewery’s taproom in the centre of Stockport on Astley Street with a special launch of new ‘birthday beers’ brewed especially for the occasion, alongside collaborations with some of the finest in Greater Manchester’s food and drink scene. The festival will then expand on May 31 and June 1 to three bars with more than 30 taps of beer available to choose from.

READ MORE: Huge new Electric Shuffle bar announces opening date in Manchester

The three bars, which will include a pop-up garden bar in the venue’s courtyard, will sell some of the Runaway Brewery’s best beers as well as seasonal beers on keg and casks and a selection of UK, European and world beers from Café Beermoth on draught and in bottle. There will also be food vendors on hand, including pizzas from local fave Honest Crust.

A rotating line-up of DJs will soundtrack the festival throughout the weekend with everything from folk and soul to hip-hop and disco, with a bit of ‘dad rock’ also thrown in for good measure.

On June 1, the Runaway Brewery taproom itself will open its doors for a closing party, providing a ‘more relaxed, low key feel’ to proceedings with jazz and reggae music and board games.

Speaking about the celebration, Runaway’s founder Mark Welsby said: “We want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last ten years – both within the hospitality industry and of course the beer drinking community - we really wouldn’t still be here without them!

“We hope the festival goes some way to sharing our gratitude with everyone – and make for a memorable weekend with great friends and delicious beer of course!”

Specialising in naturally carbonated, bottle and keg conditioned beers, Runaway Brewery started with just Mark back in 2014, before big-leagues in the industry joined him along the way, including John Major, now head brewer at Fell Brewery, and Steep Soda co-founder Liam Willday. Mark is now joined by Oliver Edwards and Jake Duncan.

Mark added: “Our little brewery started with very humble beginnings, so the fact we’re still here is amazing to me. Yes, we’ve worked hard, but we’ve also been incredibly lucky over the years – it’s been a real privilege to work with so many brilliant people.

“I’m so proud of the team here - past and present – it only feels right for us to take a moment to step back, take stock and celebrate what we’ve achieved together.”

Entry to the festival on all days will be free, but will operate on a first come, first served basis. Event times will be advertised closer to the date on Runaway’s social media.

The Runaway Brewery Taproom is on 9-11 Astley Street, Stockport, SK4 1AW.