Manchester city centre is already blessed with a number of very fine pubs and alehouses: The Marble Arch, The Angel, Common, Bar Fringe, Knott Bar, The City Arms, The Crown and Kettle, The Bank, The Bull’s Head, and The Smithfield Hotel to name just the ones within walking distance of the tram that Jo and I drink in fairly regularly and I can remember off the top of my head.

Well, last Saturday Jo and I popped in for a couple of drinks at a newly opened establishment which I think already stands head-and-shoulders above the majority of the rest, and is surely set to be recognised as one of Manchester’s very finest: The Port Street Beer House. Here’s why:

First: the location. At the Piccadilly end of Manchester’s Northern Quarter, about 5 minutes walk from the tram stop in Piccadilly Gardens, it’s far enough off the beaten track to avoid attracting passing hoardes of alcopop-seeking teeny-boppers (is that the right technical term? I’m terribly out of touch these days). Perfect.

Next: the pub itself. From the highly polished wooden flooring (which is quite lovely) to the sophisticated decor, muted lighting, eclectic-yet-comfortable furnishings in the upstairs lounge and the light jazz playing softly in the background, it’s a very grown-up sort of space. Which is just the sort of space I like, seeing as I’m well over the hill and accelerating comfortably into middle-age. Again, perfect.

And finally, the beer selection. Oh, my word, the beer selection…

Five cask pumps, which on the night in question were offering beers (from left-to-right) by Dark Star, Acorn, BrewDog, Thornbridge and Prospect. Another ten or so keg taps; two more BrewDog, a couple of continental (Czech or German, I think) lagers, one American guest and some others I failed to make note of. And then a couple of six-foot fridges half full of bottled delights from the UK, Europe, the US and probably Asia and Australia as well, with another two pallet-loads en route, so I was told. To be fair I will say that some of the bottles in question sounded like they were a little bit on the pricey side. But then, quality costs, you tend to get what you pay for and we really are talking about the sort of beers that you definitely aren’t likely to see in many other places outside of their country of origin (again I forgot to note down specific examples, so I’ll make a quick list next time I’m in). Caveat emptor if you’re picking stuff from the fridges at random, is all I’m saying.

Anyhow, the first pint of the evening for me: Thornbridge Hark. A light, session strength golden ale, with bags of hoppy freshness up front and then a long, dry, biscuity finish. Very drinkable, quite moreish, easily the sort of ale you could stick with all night. Meanwhile, Jo tried a half of Dark Star M&M Special Porter. This 6.5% ABV, dark, rich porter was massively smoky and spicy (chorizo!) with sweeter liquorice to follow. Maybe a bit of a challenging flavour profile, but if smoked beers are to your taste then this one is definitely worth trying.

Next up, I chatted to one of the chaps behind the bar about just how bloody marvellous it was to see Brewdog Hardcore on draught and as a result ended up with a half from the keg. In bottles, this 9.2% ABV imperial IPA is pretty damn amazing. On draught it’s… just awesome. All the burnt-orange citrus flavour, dry hop bite and incredible tropical-fruit aroma of the regular version, but with a silkier, richer mouth-feel. Quite splendid. Jo meanwhile had gone for a freshly-tapped cask ale: Prospect one-twenty. At 4.0% ABV, this light malty ale with a dry, biscuity finish and a slight orange-citrus tang (think orange shortbread, but not at all sugary) was another excellent session choice. Jo said she could quite happily drink this all night and wouldn’t have complained if it was the only cask beer on.

At this point, I decided to step away from the monster IPA and renew my acquaintance with an old favourite: Acorn Gorlovka. This 6.0% ABV stout is smooth, dry and packed full of delicious flavour: high-cocoa milk chocolate (think Green & Blacks), with a lingering roast-malt finish and a faint coffee bitterness giving it a distinctly mocha profile overall. Very, very good indeed. And at this point in the proceedings, I brought Jo a half of Left Hand JuJu Ginger. Jo likes a good ginger beer, but this one turned out to be not quite gingery enough. It was cucumber-fresh and not too sugary (which is a good thing), with a tangy, lemony after-taste, but the ginger did’t linger (which is a bad thing…) and by the end of the half it was a case of lemon, lemon and more lemon. “Lukewarm lemon tea”, Jo concluded, and went back to the Prospect one-twenty for the rest of the evening.

I blame my early-doors dalliance with Hardcore for what happened next: a pint of smooth, hoppy, malty and delicious BrewDog Punk IPA – again, imagine the bottled version, but then add a good 50% to the quality of the mouth-feel. It was cask rather than keg and I have no idea whether it was old-recipe Punk or new-recipe Punk, but whatever the case, it was high-quality stuff and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I went for a pint of BrewDog Zeitgeist – their Czech-style black lager. 4.9% ABV, packed with burnt coffee flavours and possessed of an incredibly refreshing hoppy bite. Lovely stuff once more and I was very glad indeed that I’d been able to try three BrewDog favourites on draught, be they cask or keg, old recipe or new, they were all very, very good indeed. Then there was one more half of Gorlovka for the road and then Jo and I called it a night – a truly excellent night – and headed for the tram back home.

So, what do I think of Manchester’s newest specialist beer emporium? Frankly, I absolutely love the place. I’ll be closely following developments on the Port Street Beer House blog and keeping an eye out for new beers announced via their Twitter account. And whilst I’m sure Jo and I will still frequent our other favourite drinking places on a regular basis, if our visits don’t more usually turn into stops en-route to an end-of-the-evening session at the Port Street Beer House, I’ll be quite surprised.

The Saturday before last, after starting the evening off with a curry and a couple of bottles of Black Sheep Ale at our favourite curry house (the Lime Tree in Prestwich), we (Jo, myself and our friends Andy and Dawn) headed up to Bury to visit the Trackside (we were there just before Tyson, by the sound of things).

Talk about a tricky decision when I got to the bar. The Trackside is usually a good bet for a dark beer or two, but last Saturday there was a choice of four, plus assorted bitters and pale ales. I started off (possibly a little rashly) with a pint of Acorn Gorlovka Imperial Stout; a gorgeous, coffee-rich, smoky stout that weighs in at a session-hefty 6% ABV. I sampled this one a few weeks ago at the Marble Arch, in a more cautious half measure. Possibly I should have saved that one for later and stuck to the halves as well, but I think I must have had a rush of blood to the head and besides, the night was still (fairly) young. That one went down very nicely indeed (although probably far faster than it should have) and so it was back to the bar, this time for a swift half of Rossendale Pitch Porter. Not quite as robust as the Gorlovka, although still a respectable 5% ABV, it was another very pleasant roast-malt experience and definitely one I’d be happy to repeat.

After that I made my first tactical error of the evening: instead of joining Jo on the Dunham Dark – a smooth, slightly sweet mild with a light touch and only 3.8%% ABV, I instead opted for a bottle of Robinson’s Chocolate Tom that I spotted in the fridge. I’ve tried both the Old Tom and Ginger Tom before, and I’d always promised myself I’d have a go at the Chocolate version, after Ed gave it a write-up a while back. This was clearly the opportunity I’d been waiting for, so I went for it. Bad move. I’m not sure whether it was because the bottle had been chilled, or the beer was too young, but in any case it was far, far too sweet for even my sweet tooth to enjoy. If Marble Chocolate is Green & Black’s in a glass then this was Dairy Milk by comparison and I’m afraid there was little else to notice or to recommend it. If I ever see a bottle on sale I might grab it and put it away for a while to see if it ages at all well, but I’ll be definitely steering clear of drinking it out of a fridge again.

My second tactical error of the night involved sending Andy to the bar for a half of Dunham Milk Stout. I should have known better: Andy doesn’t really do beer by demi-measures and came back to the table with a large half (two halves in a single glass, if you catch my drift). Which was a bit of a shame, because I’d already sampled some when Jo got a half in an earlier round and whilst I was interested enough to give it a decent go, I didn’t really want to invest in a full draught. It was… okay. Considering Dunham’s beers usually rate ‘damned good’ to ‘excellent’, I was a bit surprised at how ordinary this one tasted. A bit thin, nothing in the way of defining characteristics or stand-out flavours. I’m no milk stout expert, I admit, so maybe it’s actually a cracking example of the style, but if you ask me their Dunham Porter and Dunham Stout are much, much better. By this stage Andy was back on the bitter instead of the stouts and I had a glug of whatever he was drinking (it might have been Dark Star Sunburst, that rings a bell) and very tasty it was, too. Ah, well.

So, there you go: another great selection of beers at the Trackside, which is pretty much par for the course for those guys. We’ll be back, and it won’t be too long before we are, either.

A good friend of mine came up from London on Saturday, so I thought I’d take him to the best pub in Manchester: the Marble Arch.

If you’re from round these parts then you might scoff at my casual handing out of the ‘best pub…’ accolade; I’m sure you’ll have your own favourite and I’m not intending to denigrate any of our city’s other very fine watering holes. But honestly, if there is a better pub than the Marble Arch around these parts then I haven’t found it yet (and please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments if you think you might have).

My friend (also called Darren) and I got there around four in the afternoon, and a serendipitous table vacancy opened up just as we were arriving, so we settled ourselves in for a few pints and a good catch-up. I went up to the bar and came back with two pints of golden, crystal-clear Marble Pint, one of the tastiest, freshest pale ales you’re ever likely to meet. We started talking – setting the world to rights, as you do – and soon finished off the pint of Pint and decided to move on to Marble J.P. Best; a classic best-bitter that’s not quite as hoppy as the Pint, slightly stronger on the malt and still extremely refreshing. It definitely went down a treat.

T’other Darren is a big Belgian beer fan and haunts a few of London’s Belgian brasseries when he can, so he perused the Marble’s beer menu with an expert eye, picking out a beer he’d heard of but not yet encountered down south. I forget the name now, as they were unfortunately out of stock. Instead, my eye was caught by the Phoenix Thirsty Moon, so we opted for a couple of those instead. Again, it was another quite delicious bitter, but in this one the malt had been turned up a noticeable notch; it was rich, sweet and pleasantly warming.

By now we were feeling distinctly sociable – chatting to the folks on the next table about the demonstrations in the city centre – and we decided that before Jo joined us and we ordered food, we’d have one more go at the Belgian section of the menu. Darren picked out a St Feuillien Tripel and it turned out to be a delicious and extremely drinkable golden Belgian with very rich malt flavours that weren’t at all over-powered by its 8.5% abv.

Jo arrived mid-way through our goblets and we quickly ordered food (Cornish gurnard for Jo, venison for me and the Marble burger and chips for Darren – all absolutely delicious) and then we ordered another round. The time had come for a stout and so we opted for the Marble Chocolate; a rich, warming, dark-cocoa laced beer with a great body and a gorgeous mouth-feel. It’s dangerously more-ish, too at 5.5% abv. Beautiful.

By this point Darren was declaring himself full and happy, but I’d seen one more beer I really wanted to try. Having enjoyed Acorn’s Old Moor Porter recently, I just had to have a drop of their Gorlovka Imperial Stout. It was quite different to the Marble Chocolate, with a much more pronounced coffee and liquorice flavour, but once again it was dangerously drinkable, even at 6% abv. Probably a good job I just had a half, all things considered.

As we departed the Marble Arch I cast a longing over-the-shoulder glance at the Marble Dobber pump, but I’d sampled its ample delights before and – even though it had taken the top prize the Manchester Beer Festival the day before – I knew our paths would cross again, so I was content to let it lie.

The evening wasn’t quite over yet. We headed back to our place and I cracked open one of my precious stash of BrewDog Tokyo and poured it (ever so responsibly) into two glasses. Darren made all the right appreciative noises about this truly terrific beer and then we finished off with a wee dram of cask strength Edradour, just to send us nicely on our way.

The next morning, we (I say ‘we’, I mean ‘Jo’ – I was in no fit state) drove Darren back to Piccadilly station (this time sans riot police thronging the streets), chatting about the previous evening’s beers on the way. Darren’s favourite had been the Phoenix Thirsty Moon. Mine (Tokyo aside) was probably honours even between the Marble Pint, the Thirsty Moon and the Marble Chocolate, although frankly, they were all rather excellent and I wouldn’t hesitate to re-visit any of them.

So, there you go. A pretty much perfect session at the best pub in Manchester? In my opinion, yes. Can’t wait to get back to the Marble Arch for another.