It’s a BrewDog bar so whether it be Manchester or Barcelona, this is how they look; rock dominated the playlist, lots of industrial décor, with the back bar area focused on a huge beer menu.  We kind of like them in all honesty.

The bar is also the entrance to the hotel.  From a diner's perspective, I wasnt keen on the trundle of people's cases wheeling towards check in/the luggage room, any more than I’d retrospectively fancy passing a nicely rowdy bar to stay in my circa £200 a night hotel room, even if there’s beer fridges in the showers.

A burger, a large bowl of wings, a large side of chips, a side of Mac & Cheese, 2 pints and a shared pudding.  That’s £55 to you Sir.  All very reasonable on balance to be honest.  BrewDog beer is just expensive, but then it’s also very decent.  But I’ve never quite been able to get my head around paying more for it in a BrewDog bar than you do in ‘Spoons, or even less frugal joints though.

Some pricy sides; £6.50 for a small enamel bowl of Mac & Cheese.  And whilst not a value thing, there’s some odd beer pricing too.  £7.05 for a pint of stout, and £5.97 for a citrus beer.  Why not £6.99 and £5.99 or just even quids?  Odd.

Now you’re in a BrewDog pub, or bar.  Whatever.  You know that you’ll get a vast selection of quality super hoppy and generally interesting beers on tap, and some high-end junk food.  That’s exactly what we wanted and also received.

The Patriot Burger (£11.50) was as rock and roll as the pint of BrewDog USA made stout which I ordered it with. A poppy seeded sourdough bun, toasted inside as it should be, filled with a sizeable chunk of mixed chuck/brisket, dressed with smoked bacon, cheddar, some green stuff and a superb Reds BBQ sauce. Indulgent, made with good ingredients, and very enjoyable. A well-made dirty burger is the summary here.

The Buffalo Wings (£11) were, in all honesty some of the best which we’ve had in Mcr city centre for as long as I can recall. Chunky wings, perfectly crispy on the outside and juicy within, bathed in a punchy Buffalo sauce which wasn’t at all shy on either the acid or spice levels. Some cooling blue cheese dip sat on the plate and ended up having fries dunked into it. On a side point; they do unlimited* wings on a Weds for £11. Bargain.

*But this isn’t a PR article and we aren’t in a commercial agreement with BrewDog here, so I’ll shut up and stop plugging their deals to our horde of readers….. just saying.

Sides were some rather excellent fries (£4.50) which had been fried and salted to perfection and still had their skins on, since that’s where much of a potato’s flavour lies. Simple but ticked all the boxes. Mac & Cheese (£6.50) always makes me want to order it whenever it’s on a menu. It’s one of my ultimate comfort dishes and when done properly can contain as much gastronomy as something way higher up the food snob chain. This fell short though, but I’ll come to that below.

Now since BrewDog are Scottish, at some point in the experience you need to order something that’s made of sugar and then deep fried. Said obligation was satisfied via Deep Fried Oreos with salted caramel ice cream (£8.00). Gooey, soft, sweet, and the ice cream was excellent too. Just don’t tell my doctor eh?

But; the burger was a bit of a mess once you’d eaten half. You just don’t need 30ml of BBQ sauce on a burger, regardless of how good said sauce is. You just end up with a deconstructed slippery mess that’s impossible to pick up without it sitting on your lap.

The £6.50 Mac & Cheese wasn’t just expensive, but was dull to boot. It felt as if Chef had made it for either a child or a middle-aged man on statins. I am the latter, but that’s not the point here is it? Super low on the seasoning, not very cheesy. Even the crispy onion garnish which helped coerce me into ordering it in the first place was sadly sparce. Either knock £2 off or go to town on it. Mac & Cheese can be special and at £6.50 for a side portion, it needs to be.

And were those ridiculously good wings perhaps too spicy? Maybe for some they were. The lowly food writer who’s penning this blurb says so. The Editor who just turned up to eat on this occasion says no. Final answer is a no then. Go and order them and decide for yourself.

From the second you walk in it was friendly and down to earth, with a rock and roll back note which fitted the venue perfectly. You couldn’t really ask for more. Due to some uncertainty when picking our beers we we’re offered tasters as per any decent pub. In this case, 100ml tasters!

Service charge wasn’t added, which we like, but there was an option to pay it using the excellent Tipjar service, which we of course did. And so should you. Remember last Summer when you realised how much you missed having a social life? Pretty bleak wasn’t it?

A bit slow to revisit our table and allow us to order those naughty deep-fried cookies, but then perhaps they clocked my statin tablets and were merely trying to do me a favour.

BrewDog have come a long way from being a small start-up based just outside of Aberdeen, and are now a huge company who’ve somehow retained their independence instead of selling up to one of the big boy brewers. They are now on a carbon negative journey, and do their best to make you feel as is drinking their beer is also pacifying Greta. The diesel car I used to drive into town for my meal does anything but that. But it’s all good PR nonetheless.

A couple of years ago, we got whiff of something big happening in Mcr from BrewDog, and came across ambitious architect drawings soon later, showing a roof top bar amongst many things. This big move has ended up being The DogHouse Hotel, where the bar which I’m writing about is housed, and it already feels like one of Manchester’s go to venues after just a few weeks of operation.

There’s very few places around who offer this much variety and quality on the beer front, who also put the same quality into the food offering. For us, it’s everything a beer bar should be, and a repeat visit in the near future is a given.

A fairly limited menu, focused on just wings and burgers, with a couple of salads to keep the menu feeling as green as the corporate PR. But then it’s a bar who serve food, not a restaurant, so let’s judge it as such.

That Mac & Cheese’s flatness and price will haunt me for a few days. And less is more when it comes to burger saucing .