Beer and Bait

Beer and Bait runs at Blackfriars Restaurant on Friday 23 October, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. It's a tasting evening that starts with a tour of the venue's own micro brewery, followed by a guided tasting where the house beer expert pairs a selection of local craft beers with matching bar snacks. The organisers describe it as the serious art of pairing beer styles with food that goes well beyond a pint and a packet of crisps.

To get why they're leaning into the brewing side of things, you have to look at the building. Blackfriars stands inside a 13th-century former Dominican friary founded in 1239, long described as the jewel of Newcastle's medieval past. Over the years it's grown from the friars' refectory dining room to take in almost all the remaining claustral out-buildings, and today it houses a Banquet Hall, a Parlour Bar, a Cookery School, and a Tasting Room alongside a number of function and meeting rooms. The beers poured here draw their inspiration from those original Dominican friars, who brewed their own ales on the site back in the 1200s.

So the night follows that thread: you start by seeing how the beer is actually made in the micro brewery, then move on to the tasting itself. The house beer expert leads the way, walking you through the local craft selection and the snacks they've paired with them. It's less of a casual drink and more of a guided look at how different styles of beer work with different flavours.

It runs from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at Blackfriars Restaurant and Banquet Hall, Neville Hall, Westgate Road, NE1 1SE, and tickets are £39.50.