North East Beer Review

Northern Monkey was a brewery that was on my radar for a while. This was highly recommended by a colleague who frequents the Boaters’ Bar in Bowness on Windermere. I took a trip with my girlfriend to the Lake District and this was absolutely somewhere I was going to stop off. I tried 4 different halves of this brewery and I will do a mini review on each. To start I will cover the history of this brewery and then move on to the beer. So I hope you enjoy reading a different type of review from myself. Cheers

From the North East, trying the North West

Northern Monkey was founded by Ryan Bailey and Liam Convey in 2016 in Bolton. They started as massive fans of real ale and home brewing. They decided to create a brewery full time based on the ethos of traditional cask ales with more interesting craft keg beers. After one year of operation they expanded and in the same year won Gold at the SIBA Independent Beer Awards. In each of their beers they emphasise local heritage and being proud of their northern roots. In terms of market distribution, they mainly serve the North West.

Time for the beer

Patience is a virtue

As you can see this is a Double Dry Hopped Sabro Pale Ale. This had a hazy appearance with an amber to orange colouring. This was quite a lively beer with a moderate head. In terms of flavour, this gave off notes of tangerine and tropical fruits such as pineapple. This has an ABV of 5.2%. Overall, this one was my favourite as this had the deeper depth of flavour and you can definitely taste the effects of the Sabro hops. I rate this one 4.25 out of 5.

Boats ‘n’ Hose

This is a double dry hopped citra pale which carries a colour of pale yellow straw. It had a small head and again was a lively beer. In terms of flavour this had an extreme flavour of pineapple, orange and melon with a bitter finish. This was quite smooth when drunk and was quite pleasant to drink. Overall, I rate this a solid 4 out of 5 even it was the stronger of the drinks in this session with an ABV of 6.2%.

Frank the Tank

Of course, this wouldn’t be a North East Beer Review without a hazy ale review. This presented an even paler pour than the citra version which was hazy aswell. This was relatively lively and presented a decent head. In terms of flavour, this had an immediate blueberry flavour with many different aromas of tropical fruits which had a slight bitterness which lingered. Although this had an ABV of 4.2%, this was still packed with flavour. Overall, I will give this a 4 out of 5.

Northern Helles

This was a lager. I personally felt this was the worst of the quartet however this present a golden yellow colour which you would expect from a typical lager. However this was crisp and clean which I can imagine would be very sessionable. This had flavours of Pilsner and Munich malts with help add a gentle finish. Overall, I will give this a 3.5 out of 5. If I return to the Boaters Bar I will definitely have to try this one again as I had to practically down this one in order to make it for tea.

My Girlfriends Review of the Boaters Gin

My girlfriend tried the passionfruit and mango gin, alongside the raspberry ripple both made by Boaters themselves. She said both were very nice however the raspberry ripple was excellent. Mango and passionfruit was very fruity and packed a bit more of an exotic punch, however the raspberry ripple was definitely her favourite. (so much so she even enquired about buying a bottle) 

A definite contender for “best raspberry gin she has ever tasted.” For only having a single it had a very refreshing taste of raspberry and was incredibly smooth to drink. The aftertaste was a pleasant and subtle vanilla. It was a softer and almost creamier tasting raspberry gin due to the vanilla rather than tart sour raspberry alone. I have been told we will definitely need to return to Boaters Bar again. 

My verdict

Overall, I feel this is a really top quality brewery and I would never have heard of them had I not been recommended it. I feel like a particular amount of quality was put into each beer. My favourite was the Patience is a virtue, however none of the beers were bad to say the least. I am really looking forward to trying more of these during my future travels to the NorthWest. Overall, I will give this a 4 out of 5 as a review of the brewery on a whole.

Where did I purchase this?

I got these beers from the Boaters Bars in Bowness on Windermere. This was really a top notch bar which I definitely aim to visit in the future.

Cheers for reading this different review. I hope you enjoy this and I hope you manage to check out the rest of my reviews. Cheers