One of our favourite beery insitutions turns eight this month, so Hop Hideout owner Jules Gray has agreed to take us on a trip down memory lane, as well as letting us in on the deets for this year’s celebrations.
I can hardly believe it’s been eight years of Hop Hideout. Genuinely, I question myself – where’s the time gone?! When we started the little pop-up beer shop on Abbeydale Road, there was the longstanding Abbeydale Brewery, plus The Broadfield and The Cremorne pubs in the neighbourhood pouring good independent beer. Picture House Social opened up a few years after, and then as we moved to the city centre in early 2019, Abbeydale was transforming into a beer and foodie destination.
Looking back over our five years there, it’s wonderful to remember the good times. From monthly meet the brewer events featuring the likes of Deya, Siren, Brooklyn Brewery and more, to beer writer hosted tastings with Melissa Cole and Matt Curtis, to our infamous birthday parties. Remember our Bill Murray-themed fancy dress extravaganza with collaboration beers? Steve Yuzu, a yuzu brut pale ale, has to be one of the best collab beers we’ve had the pleasure to be involved with – a huge thanks to Manchester’s Blackjack for going all out on that idea with us.
In fact, we’ve proudly been involved in many beer collabs over the years. To namecheck a couple, there’s Endless Toil, an orangey pale ale, with Saint Mars of the Desert and Tom J Newell, which launched alongside Tom’s art exhibition including a bespoke designed glass. There’s also Neptune Brewery and the Girls Who Grind Coffee, a big coffee imperial stout, which showcased an all-female talent from coffee producers and roasters all the way through to the brewery and Hop Hideout. Plus the many collabs we’ve done with beery friends such as Torrside, Elusive Brewing, Mad Hatter, Black Iris, Lost Industry and Turning Point Brew Co.
There have been lots of beer and food pairing evenings (and even a bit of wine and cider) over the years: barbecue, beer and music collabs, New Zealand beers and Chaat Cart South Indian food pairings, and we can’t forget Mor Mor’s infusion of Middle Eastern-influenced cuisine paired with Cloudwater beers.
2020 threw a huge curve ball, as you all know, and in November of that year we celebrated our 7th birthday virtually, putting on an online morning yoga session, Saint Mars of the Desert brewery tour, beer branding talk with writer Pete Brown and finally ending on a Zoom quiz (as most of the pandemic year seemed to entail).
This year we’re thankfully back to in-person events, so keep Friday 12 to Sunday 14 November 2021 free. We’ll be working with beer writer, podcaster and virtual beer school host Natalya Watson to curate our tap list, and you can expect a host of classic beer styles to enjoy, revisiting those that often started many of us on our first beer discovery journeys. On Saturday November 13 there’ll be a Hop Hideout social, starting at our space in Kommune foodhall before heading up to Saint Mars of the Desert for a real-life brewery tour (instead of our virtual one last year).
Tickets are available online (limited places!) and include a third on arrival at Hop Hideout, plus a snazzy Kev Grey beer cat designed patch:
