North Beer Club #35 - September 2023

NORTH BEER CLUB

HELLO FRIENDS

September’s always a dead fun yet busy month here, with Leeds International Beer Festival followed by Springwell Sessions (get your free Beer Club ticket if you haven’t already!).

This month’s box is laden with the fruits of many collabs that we did in August! Bright pale ales with Leeds International Festival of Ideas and Leeds-born Japanese clothing brand MKI are joined by a delicious Wit with Scottish friends Six Degrees North. Also in there is a beer made to celebrate Craft Beer Channel turning a decade old, and obviously they wanted to make an outrageously fruity sour number… and we were more than happy to oblige!

The most important collab of all, however, is yet to come! North x North Beer Club is well underway, and we’ve loved reading through all your suggestions so much. By the time you’re reading this, we’ll have settled on a final recipe and be gearing up for the brew day on

Friday 15th (more info inside)! It’ll be loads of fun, please head down if you can make it! How often can you say you’ve personally helped

If you can’t make it, you’ll always be have the fresh cans to try in your box. We’ve now added the packaged on dates in the booklet to double down on our commitment to get you the best, most flavourful beer in your boxes that’s months fresher than anything you’d pick up in the supermarket.

Finally, please make sure your email on your account is correct so you don’t miss the monthly Beer Club updates that should fall in your inbox at the end of the month

Cheers everyone, enjoy the beers, and really hope to see as many of you as

AT A GLANCE

GOLD SUBSCRIPTION

SILVER SUBSCRIPTION

NORTH x LIFI

Style Pale Ale

ABV 4.2%

Hops Citra + Simcoe + Mosaic

Canned 23 August 2023

In collaboration with Leeds International Festival of Ideas, an annual event held in the city that celebrates leading thinkers and great minds from various fields. The festival exists to provide a platform for people to share their ideas and insights, exploring new concepts and perspectives – something we do at North on a daily basis.

To celebrate the return for 2023 we’ve collaborated on a super light and refreshing Session Pale Ale. It has a smooth base of pearl barley and wheat, allowing the timeless combination of Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe to bring all the flavour. Aromas of lemon zest and freshly cut grass bring a note of vibrancy that balances against the juicy flavours of white peach and sweet mango, with a light floral finish.

VEGAN / CONTAINS BARLEY + WHITE

NORTH x 6 DEGREES NORTH

Style Belgian Wit

ABV 4.4% Hops —

Canned 14 August 2023

Our friends from Six D North are known for using the best ingredients from their local area, foraging from the Scottish landscape to create outstanding beers. When we started to plan out the recipe for this collaboration, they took to the foothills of the Cairngorms to gather the most aromatic Highland Heather for this Belgian Wit.

Taking inspiration from this classic style, we mixed in flaked oats and pilsner malt into the mash, to bring clarity and smoothness, with the yeast developing esters throughout fermentation. We sourced Scottish Honey, keeping to the province of the heather, complimenting the floral notes, and used Curacao orange peel to bring a pithy bitterness that balances this Wit perfectly. Light, refreshing, and luxurious.

VEGAN / CONTAINS BARLEY + WHEAT + OATS

NORTH x CRAFT BEER CHANNEL

Style Double Triple Fruited Gose

ABV 6.0%

Hops —

Canned 6 September 2023

When The Craft Channel reached out to brew up a collab to celebrate 10 years, how could we refuse! And what better way to celebrate than taking our Triple Fruited Gose and doubling it!

We’ve taken our signature slick Gose base and packed it full of Blackberry, Gooseberry and Blueberry. Combining these fruits and heightened aroma and flavour profiles that even we weren’t expecting – the gentle spicy note from the blueberries with a hint of star anise on the nose and soft pepper on the finish. The Gooseberries provide a sherbet tartness and zesty aroma, beautifully balanced with a decadent dark fruitiness from the Blackberries.

The perfect sour to take you from those sunshine filled days into the Autumnal nights.

CONTAINS BARLEY + WHEAT + OATS +LACTOSE

NORTH x MKI MIYUKI ZOKU

Style Yuzu Pale Ale

ABV 4.1%

Hops Mosaic + Citra + Galaxy

Canned 30 August 2023

MKI MIYUKI ZOKU (M-K-I MEE-YOU-KEY ZO-KU) is a contemporary menswear and lifestyle brand from Yorkshire, known throughout the city of Leeds and beyond, that was inspired by a youth tribe formed during the summer of ’64 in Ginza, Japan.

This collaboration is part of a celebration, marking the end of summer and giving thanks to the local community that has supported us both. Not only have MKI created an exclusive apparel and accessory collection but what celebration would be complete without a beer?

This smooth and crushable Yuzu Pale Ale has a zing of sherbet and an enticing honeysuckle aroma. Each sip sings with notes of tangy lemon, bitter grapefruit, sweet orange, and is perfectly balanced with a gentle pithy finish.

VEGAN / CONTAINS BARLEY + WHEAT

PIÑATA

Style Mango + Guava Pale Ale

ABV 4.5%

Hops Citra + Azacca + Mosaic

Canned 5 September 2023

4.5%, juicy and hoppy, Piñata has got it all! It’s had a few recipe changes over the years but now we’ve got it right where we want it.

Unfortunately for us, it’s actually a very complicated process to make Piñata. We fill two separate tanks with the same base beer, one gets a steady dry hop of Citra, Azacca and Mosaic, the other gets pumped full of Kesar Mango and Guava pureé. Once each beer is nice and mixed, we chill the tanks down to settle out any solids, then blend the two beers into one big tank to make the supremely juicy party you’re about to experience. Tasty right? All that trouble is totally worth it in the end.

VEGAN / CONTAINS BARLEY + WHEAT + OATS

TELSTAR

Style Pale Ale

ABV 3.4%

Hops Citra + Mosaic + Galaxy + Motueka

Canned 22 August 2023

This super sessionable pale is pillowy soft, with a wheat heavy grist that creates a rounded base for the hops really sing. The most iconic hop duo, Citra and Mosaic make up the fore front of flavours for this Pale, with notes of bright tropical fruits and crushed citrus zest. Delightfully balanced with zesty Amarillo and spicy Chinook, bringing a satisfying light bitterness to finish. Your favourite IPAs made small, with a low ABV for those Summer sessions.

VEGAN / CONTAINS BARLEY + WHEAT

ULTRA PHASE

Style DIPA

ABV 8.5%

Hops Citra + Enigma + Simcoe

Canned 29 August 2023

A sumptuous smooth base of pale malt, wheat, naked oats and rolled oats with Citra, Enigma and Simcoe hops brings continuous blasts of flavour. A base note of tinned apricot halves and pithy zest springboards candied mango, white wine-gums and gooseberry with crushed pine needles, lemon peel and passionfruit finishing with a pinching bite.

Soft, fluffy, rounded and laced with dazzling fresh tropical fruit flavour.

VEGAN / CONTAINS BARLEY + WHEAT + OATS

SOUND OF JOY

Style Summer Sour

ABV 4.5%

Hops —

Canned 14 August 2023

This light, refreshing, summer sour has hints of tropical fruit that zings with sharp zesty notes and quenches your thirst. The perfect summer session sour.

CONTAINS BARLEY + OATS + LACTOSE

HELIOCENTRIC

IN THE TANKS

YOU VOTED

BUT WHAT FOR EXACTLY?

We asked for your suggestions and you gave us them... loads of them. It’s been an education!

So what did we learn? Firstly, you have a wide range of tastes. Not too surprisingly, IPAs, sours and stouts featured a lot but there was no clear overall consensus.

A clearer picture emerged when we looked for general themes in the suggestions. We saw that almost every suggestion could be categorised as either a traditional beer style, an interesting take on a pale ale (or IPA), or a dessert influenced beer. The majority of all suggestions had what could be considered a bit of a pudding theme.

Lager

Brown ale

Red ale

Trippel

Dubbel

Hard seltzer

Pale ale

THE BREAKDOWN OF SUGGESTED STYLES

THE GENERAL THEMES THAT EMERGED

Sour Gose

Sour IPA

Dark Mild

IPA

Double IPA

Triple IPA

Black IPA

Porter

Stout

FRUIT ADDITIONS DOMINATE

As the purple in the chart demonstrates, the use of fruit dominates... but only with sours and dark beer.

YOUR SUGGESTION INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS

STRAWBERRY PINEAPPLE CHOCOLATE

BLACKBERRY GOOSEBERRY MINT

BLACKCURRANT ELDERFLOWER CINNAMON

PEACH PLUM GINGER

DATE GRAPEFRUIT NUTMEG

RASPBERRY COCONUT JAM

BANANA RHUBARB SOUR SWEETS

PEAR ORANGE MALTESERS

BLACK CHERRY APRICOT COFFEE

APPLE PUMPKIN TOFFEE

MANGO CUSTARD SYRUP

OTHER (LESS PUDDINGY) INGREDIENTS INCLUDED SEA SALT, SEAWEED, CUCAMELON, TOMATILLO, CUCUMBER, BASIL, WHEATABIX, CHILLI, EARL GREY TEA

BASED ON THE SUGGESTIONS, SEB (HEAD BREWER) HAS PROPOSED ONE

OF THE FOLLOWING

Will it be a warm spiced fruit sour (like a delicious end of summer crumble) or will it be a cormforting (sticky toffee pudding) porter? These will go to a final vote.

By the time you read this, one of these beers will have been chosen (hopefully you will have had a final say).

The artwork for the beer is still being worked up but will feature the hands of North Beer Club members and will be informed by the final chosen recipe.

BREW DAY — FRIDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2023

With a recipe settled on, we need your all your help to make it a reality.

Come down to Springwell from 5pm on Friday

15th September to have some beers together and to talk through our approach to this recipe.

We’ll need your help preparing some fruit and spices to be thrown into the beer before it moves to the fermenter - the prime photo

opportunity for the friends who don’t believe you helped make the beer they are drinking!

We’ll try some beers from tank, and then the Taproom will be open as normal for food and beers for anyone who wants to stay after or dip out during.

No tickets needed, just rock up. +1s most welcome as always!

A FESTIVAL OF GREAT BEERS, NATURAL WINE, STREET FOOD, TALKS, MUSIC + MORE

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

FEATURING

FREE SPRINGWELL SESSIONS TICKETS FOR ALL NORTH BEER CLUB MEMBERS!

(WHILE TICKETS REMAIN)

SCAN

JUST ADD CODE NORTHBEERCLUB AT CHECKOUT

THANK YOU