North East Beer Review

A review I decided to do on a brewery from County Durham which is an areas where I was brought up in and currently live. I love seeing new breweries pop up in the area and seeing Foxcub, this was no brainer for me personally. Born from a garage in Spennymoor, this is not too far from where I live and of course I love to introduce myself to new breweries with my favourite beer style and this one is Solaris New England IPA. So during the course of this review I will cover the founding of Foxcub and Solaris, the pour, taste and aroma and finally my verdict on this beer.

Born in a garage

The history of this brewery is from the FoxCub Brewing about page but I have kind of reworded it. Foxcub Brewing is nanobrewery based in Spennymoor, County Durham. This was founded in March 2025 by Jamie Fox who is the head brewer and Director. This was born from a home garage as a passion project, in which through various goals of quality, creativity and community blossomed into a local brewery. Jamie has a hands on approach to each batch he brews to show a high level of dedication, care and craftsmanship.

Foxcub Brewing has four values comprising of Sustainability, Community and Local Engagement, Creativity and Innovation and finally Quality and Consistency. Foxcub appear to utilise small batch brewing insuring that each brew has a major level of care shown to it whilst also ensuring boundaries are pushed. By sourcing local ingredients, it helps support local businesses whilst also ensuring Foxcub gives back to community in terms of minimising waste and taking care of their environmental footprint. Furthermore, Foxcub is a welcoming space for those to unite over the cause of loving a good beer and as a North East brewery, I certainly love to support breweries such as themselves.

Solaris is a New England IPA which carries an ABV of 5.5%. It is hopped with Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic. It also includes the following ingredients such as Extra Pale Malt, Torrefied Oats, Wheat Malt and Dextrin Malt. Solaris is marketed as a brew saturated with tropical intensity and pillowy malt base. To view the full description please click here.

A bold and juicy pour

When poured, FoxCub Solaris is a pale yellow to gold colour which has the textbook hazy appearance you would expect from a NEIPA. The unfiltered nature gives Solaris an opaque look. A bubbly white head forms which did retain throughout the drinking experience and clung to the side of the glass leading to lacing. The carbonation was moderate leading to steady stream of rising bubbles. Overall, this is a soft and inviting juice like pour.

A tropical and hop lead flavour profile

Aroma

To begin, Foxcub Brewing Solaris really kind of stunned me with how aromatic the pour really was. I understand NEIPA is quite aromatic and frequent readers will know I say many beers are aromatic. This one was another level, leading with an immediate explosion of tropical fruits, think maybe pineapple and mango. A slight citrus edge was felt as well as a strong earthy aroma which really showed the hop forward nature of this beer. Overall, this was an extremely juicy aromatic pour which was unbelievably inviting.

Taste

When it comes to the taste of Solaris the aromatics pretty much mirror the taste and more. It opens with the burst of tropical fruits such as pineapple, mango and passion fruit followed by a citrus edge which I picked up on being slightly grapefruit like. Mid Palate, a resinous earthy feel was detected which gave this a pleasant and refreshing bitterness. To balance this pour a sweet malt base present which gave this a degree of sweetness as well as a providing the main bulk of the body which I believe is from the wheat and oats. The finish is clean and juicy leaving a pleasant bitterness which invites you for another sip. Overall, a top tier NEIPA which is not overwhelmingly juicy and offers the balance a lot of modern day Hazy IPAs fail to do.

Time for my verdict

I purchased this beer after seeing it on the Ale and Audio Instagram page and noticing Foxcub was based in Spennymoor. This caught my attention as I live in County Durham myself and there is not a lot of breweries in the region compared to other areas in the country. So supporting and reviewing local breweries is one of my favourite things to do and I really hope more breweries like Foxcub pop up and allow for a more vibrant scene in the County. When it comes to Solaris, this was a belter and the flavour of this beer was immense whilst also ensuring the flavours were balanced. You can tell the effort put into this batch of NEIPA ranging from the can design to the appearance of the beer. Overall, a top notch ale which I highly recommend. I rate this an immense 4.75 out of 5. I loved this and I will keep an eye for this gem of brewery in the future.

Where did I purchase this beer from?

I purchased this beer directly from Foxcub Brewing themselves and this was £3.50 which I thought was extremely reasonable in the modern craft beer scene. I messaged beforehand for availability and Jamie was friendly and incredibly helpful even offering a sneak peak of Solaris and another ale which I will cover shortly. Check this brewery out.

Thank you for reading this review. If you enjoyed this review you will love reading about another North East gem in the name of Thirsty Moose Brewing Co Hazy Hinny.