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All tagged Matthew Curtis
Today, Café Beermoth is known and loved as a venue that sources exciting beers from independent breweries. But before Beermoth became a café, it was a shop. In February 2013—when its original location opened its doors at 70 Tib Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter—Beermoth was, remarkably, the city centre’s first specialist, off-premise beer retailer. It arrived at the beginning of what would become an exciting period of development for the Manchester beer scene.
In January 2024 Garrett Oliver emailed Thornbridge co-founder and managing director, Simon Webster. He’d heard a rumour that Carlsberg were “laying the unions to rest,” and asked if the Derbyshire brewery were interested in acquiring one of the sets. Fortuitously, Simon—a self-confessed Burton-o-phile—along with fellow co-founder Jim Harrison and production director Rob Lovatt, were keen to get their hands on one.
A cidermaker of roughly two decades, Tom knows—despite the fact cider doesn’t quite exist in the same space as craft beer or natural wine—it must learn from their successes in order to find its own. To achieve this, cider needs to shed its tired image: whether fizzy, sweet and industrially produced, to the opaque, rocket-fuel-strength, farm-shop scrumpy. Cider and perry must find higher ground, where they can hold their own against some of the most highly regarded beers and wines in the world.
