Manhattan Brewing Co. | Manhattan, KS
Beer Trip: Manhattan Brewing Co. in Manhattan, KS
The city of Manhattan was long overdue for a brewery when Manhattan Brewing Company opened its doors. Centrally housed in the revitalized downtown on Poyntz, this place has been consistently busy every time we’ve been to visit. With its trendy atmosphere and strong community connections, it’s easy to see why.
Walking up to the purple door and sign on Poyntz
Pops of purple everywhere at Manhattan Brewing Co.!
The Brewery
Spacious outdoor patio area along the street
Fun views of brewing equipment, complete with a vast sticker collection
Walking up to the brewery, you go through their outdoor patio that’s situated right on the street. For those of you familiar with Manhattan, the inside feels just like an Aggieville establishment with its long, narrow footprint, square-paneled ceiling, and plenty of purple throughout. To your righthand side, the bar runs half the length of the space while table seating occupies the left-hand side. Their actual brewery is housed near the rear of the building and is only divided by a half-wall, so everyone can enjoy watching the brewers practicing their craft (or you can take a formal tour on Fridays/Saturdays!).
They change up their decor seasonally, which is always fun to see. During this trip, the theme was summertime - featuring a mini pool on ice full of crowlers to take onto the patio to enjoy. Being a true community brewery, they strive to include the entire family by offering tons of board games for your group to enjoy.
Summer theme on point, complete with crowlers of discounted brews
Foosball and board games for the entire family!
The Beer
Offerings during our visit in July 2023
Depending on the day, Manhattan Brewing keeps between 15 and 18 different beers on tap. Of those, 5-6 are their flagships and the rest of them rotate out until they are gone. They are always very heavy on the IPA selections, with the menu featuring 6 different ones on our most recent visit. Other styles included multiple sours, a wheat, California Common, stout, and a barrel-aged brew. One thing that Manhattan Brewing does differently than anyone else is getting different community entities involved with collaboration brews. While lots of places partner with other breweries on a specific beer, they pair with local organizations and businesses such as the K-State Foundation or The Fridge Wholesale Liquor.
Having visited quite a few times, we tend to go for their rotating menu over their flagship options. However, when visiting for the first time you need to try the Townie. This is one of the better wheats out there and is uniquely dry, yet very easy-drinking. On this trip, it was their Slap N’ Pickle that really stood out. A lot of pickle beers taste like they just mix the beer 50/50 with pickle juice, but this one was perfectly subtle with a nice salty aftertaste.
Can’t go wrong with a flight when there are so many options to choose from!
Food, Merch, & More
Manhattan Brewing doesn’t have a kitchen, but they do encourage you to bring in outside food from the neighboring establishments. If one of their beer offerings doesn’t suit you, then you can also enjoy one of their wine, cocktail, house-made seltzers, or non-alcoholic beer offerings. As far as merchandise goes, they have certainly expanded their selection from the last time we were here. They have multiple shirts, sweatshirts, hats, glassware, sunglasses, frisbees, and even clothes for kids and babies. You can also get many of their brews to go!
Tons of shirts in every color a K-State fan could dream of
Unique merchandise offerings
To-go beer selection
Warren (our son) and Isla (our niece) joined us on this brewery adventure!
Chris and his dad, Carl, and brother, Cody on another past trip to Manhattan Brewing Co.
Disclaimer: There was no consumption of alcohol by any baby :-)
Their seating area has since changed, but we enjoyed having a large group here for Chris’s mom, Cheryl’s, birthday a couple of years back!
