The Epicurean

The Epicurean began as a suburban craft-beer specialist under owner Simon Yarwood, building a following across Greater Manchester before opening this Ancoats shop in November 2021 as its first city-centre site. It sits on Henry Street in the heart of Ancoats, next door to natural-wine merchant Kerb, and trades as part of the group known as The Epicurean Beer People, which also runs stores in Chorlton, Didsbury and Heaton Moor. The Ancoats unit was fitted out from a blank canvas by manager and resident beer expert James Hodgson, who squeezed nine fridges into the space to keep a large chunk of the 500-plus range chilled and ready to drink.

The shop is wall-to-wall beer: floor-to-ceiling shelves and those nine fridges carry local heroes such as Track, Pomona Island, Squawk and Runaway alongside national names like Cloudwater, DEYA and Verdant and international rarities from Belgium, Germany, Norway and beyond. Staff knowledge is the selling point — it is the kind of place where you can describe what you like and be walked to the right can — and the stock deliberately spans vegan, gluten-free, low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beers, plus ciders from around the world, rather than sticking to hop-forward pale ales.

For non-drinkers the draw is the alcohol-free 'beer library', among the best suburban and city-centre NA coverage in Greater Manchester. Manchester Confidential singled the shop out for stocking the likes of Vandestreek, Beavertown's Lazer Crush, Tiny Rebel's Clwb Tropicana and Big Drop's Galactic Stout, and the current chilled low-and-no fridge backs that up: Athletic Brewing's 0.5% alcohol-free lager, Track's own Arosa 0.5% lager, Pomona Island's 'A Token Of Sweet Nothing' pale, Vandestreek's 0.5% grapefruit IPA, Beak's Nolia alcohol-free IPA and Warsteiner's 0.0% pilsner among them. Because it is a bottle shop the beers are sold to take away, with free local delivery on larger orders, but the breadth and turnover mean the alcohol-free selection stays fresh and genuinely current rather than a dusty afterthought.