National Winter Ales Festival, Burns Night and Alfred

...This week's main event is the National Winter Ales Festival at the Sheridan Suite in Manchester. You can read all the details and beer list here, but if it's as good as it was last year then you're in for a treat. The fest has a trade session on Wednesday evening and then opens to the public from Thursday through to Saturday. The guys at CAMRA do a great job organising this and other events, and there's no better place to find a new, untried brewery or five. I'll be going along on Thursday and no doubt will be reporting my findings later in the week.

Closer to home, the ever-expanding North continue thier quest for world domination (or at least North Leeds) with the opening of Alfred in Meanwood on the 28th. There's not a great deal of info on thier site about what the finished Alfred will look like, so you've no choice but to go visit. I'm sure with North at the helm we'll get decent music, a smart bar and plenty of beer choice. Again, one to visit once open, and another welcome addition to Leeds's drinking scene. You can follow them on Twitter here.

Keeping with North, The Cross Keys are hosting a Burns Night event on the 25th. Beer, Food Whiskey and verse are all on offer, so visit the website for tickets. It could already be sold out, but have a try anyway.