…at least as far as I’m aware, is the Micro Bar in the Manchester Arndale Market.

Run by the folks from the Boggart Hole Clough brewery, it used to be a single unit (about 10 feet across, six deep) with a small bar and three or four hand-pumps, with a shelf (just the one) of bottled beers behind the bar. But a few months ago they expanded by knocking-through to the unit next-door, making good use of the additional space to extend the bar and add another four or five shelves’ worth of bottled beers and ciders.

They now have a decent selection of beers from smaller and/or independent UK breweries that you probably won’t find in the supermarkets, as well as a few Belgian and US imports. In the past Jo and I have managed to find the likes of Wincle Undertaker, Bollington Oat Stout, Glencoe Oat Mill stout (she likes her oat stouts, does our Jo) and on our last visit, I picked up a bottle each of Dark Star Imperial and the Winter 10-11 vintage of the rather awesome Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and they had a couple of bottles of Brooklyn Local One in as well.

All in all, the Micro-Bar probably about 60 or 70 bottles to choose from. It’s not an amazing selection, not when you think of the huge range that places like Beer Ritz in Leeds, The Bottle in York or Utobeer in London’s Borough Market manage to pack into a relatively small amount of space, but it’s probably about as many as they can comfortably cram in, so full marks to them for effort. And unless anyone has opened a specialist beer shop in Greater Manchester and I’ve not heard about it (if you know of anywhere else, please let me know via the comments) it really is the best we’ve got around these parts.

Brewery: Boggart Hole Clough
Location: Manchester, England
ABV: 4.7%
Version: Bottled
Source: Manchester Farmer’s Market

Of the three Boggart Hole beers I bought a few months back, this is the one I had the highest hopes for. The potential combination of exotic sweetness from the rum and the smoky bitterness of the porter was an intriguing one.

Alas, it didn’t quite live up to expectation when the time came – the beer poured well: dark ruby body, thick, frothy tan head, enticingly fruity, spirit aroma on the nose. But both the taste and mouth-feel turned out to be less impressive. For a start, I think the beer was probably over-carbonated as there was a definite fizz on the tongue. And as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I do prefer a stout or porter with a creamier, silkier mouth-feel (like Boggart’s own Chocolat Noir for instance).

As for that anticipated blend of flavours, well, the rum did give it an interesting edge, to begin with. But after a while it seemed as thought the rum was conspiring with the porter’s own coffee characteristics to add more of a sour than a sweet note (although I wonder if perhaps that was another side-effect of the carbonation?) It wasn’t quite enough to ruin the overall experience – the beer was still drinkable enough to finish – but overall, Boggart Rum Porter was a long way from the best of the stouts and porters I’ve tried recently.

Of the three Boggart beers in that Farmer’s Market pack I picked up, I’d have to say that the Chocolat Noir was the definite winner, with the Waterloo Sunset Porter coming in a close second and the Rum Porter lagging in third place. And given the cost of the three-pack (£10 iirc) it seems unlikely that I’ll be picking up another one any time soon. Although if I can actually find the Boggart Brewery some time (it’s only about 10 mins. from my place after all) then I’d happily try a few of their other brews. It’s even more important than ever to support your local producers, after all.

Brewery: Boggart Hole Clough
Location: Manchester, England
ABV: 4.2%
Version: Bottled (bottle conditioned)
Source: Manchester Farmer’s Market

The Boggart Brewery (or the Boggart Hole Clough Brewery to give it the full moniker on the website) is an independent outfit based in North Manchester – not too far at all from where I live – that’s been in business since 2000. I’ve been meaning to track down some of their beers for a while, so when I found myself passing the Manchester city centre farmer’s market a few weeks ago on the way back from a trip to London, I grabbed a three-pack of assorted stouts and porters (which set me back a tenner, iirc).

Chocolat Noir (no info on the Boggart website) is the first of the three I’ve sampled and I was quite impressed, I have to say. It’s a quaffable 4.2% abv stout, with a faintly sour aroma in the bottle, that pours a classic ebony with hints of ruby red and starts off with a good frothy head. Mouth-feel is very pleasant and the flavour is a shot of pure mocha – an extremely tasty blend of coffee and chocolate that wouldn’t be out of place in your high-street boutique café of choice – and with a lingering bitterness to the after-taste.

It was much smoother and richer than, say, Guinness original (which – in the interests of research and accurate comparison – I sipped out of my missus’ glass when she wasn’t looking), and compares quite favourably to the likes of the Daleside Chocolate Stout that I sampled recently. All in all, I’d be quite happy to come back to this one, although with the still-superior Meantime London Stout available at 3 for £4 in Tesco at the moment, I’d have to have a good reason to shell out the extra.

Supporting local producers and cutting down on road-miles, y’say? Yeah, that might just swing it… :)