North East Beer Review

Northern Monk is an independent craft beer giant here in the United Kingdom. Known for brews such as Faith and Heathen, they have garnered quite the reputation over the years. This one is an enhanced version of Northern Monk Beyond (Still yet to try) called Further Beyond which is a Bold New World DIPA carrying a mega 8.4% ABV. During the course of this review I will cover the history of this brewery and beer, the pour, the taste and aroma and finally my verdict.

Pride of Yorkshire

Northern Monk is an independent craft brewery based in Leeds, United Kingdom. It was founded in 2013, by Russ Bisset and Brian Dickson whom have a love for beer and an aim to bring something to the UK craft beer scene. The origins are humble and Bisset received £5,000 from his Grandmother which helped finance his experiments in a cellar. Their first brews were contract brews at other breweries but eventually, they found a home at The Old Flax Store in Holbeck Leeds in 2014.

Since 2014, Northern Monk has become one of the fastest growing breweries known for creative beers and its iconic branding. It is famous for its Patrons Projects in which they team with artists for their brews and the Faith in Futures campaign which is their charity work.

Northern Monk Further Beyond fits into the tradition of the brewery evolving core beers and amplifying them. Further Beyond is Double IPA which carries an ABV of 8.4% and is described as a “New World Style IPA”. Similarly to other Northern Monk brews it centres around adventure themed beers that lean almost into an outdoor theme.

A pour too lively

To begin when I opened this beer, it decided to explode all over my kitchen so minus marks there. Anyways, Northern Monk Further Beyond offers a deep golden to amber colour which has an ever so slight haze to it. The carbonation is lively and you can see bubbles travel to the top of the glass. A bubbly white head formed which did hold up well when the session continued however I observed minimal lacing down the glass. Overall, a west coast style pour which was golden and lively.

A West Coast inspired Pour

Aroma

The aroma of Further Beyond opens with a herbal and dank aroma which is similar to a West Coast IPA. This is followed by a citrus nature such as orange and grapefruit zests. Further into the aromatics tropical fruits come forward such as a passion fruit or mango. A sweet caramel like malt base aroma gives this balance. Overall, a balanced but I felt quite restrained aroma.

Taste

When it comes to the first sip it opens with its hop forward nature which is bitter with flavours of grapefruit and orange dominating. Mid palate, a moderate sweetness presents itself which is biscuit and caramel like. This balanced but also I feel restrained despite its ABV. A tropical fruit note was observed but this was faint. The finish was dry and bitter. This beer was lively and full bodied. Overall, a beer that had so much potential but I felt this was quite a let down in terms of depth.

Time for my verdict

There haven’t been many beers from Northern Monk that I dislike. I feel it’s a brewery that consistent in bringing out good beers but nothing brilliant. I honestly was left quite disappointed with this brew, from it exploding across my counter to the flavour really lacking which is unusual. I don’t know if I had a bad batch or if it genuinely just isn’t too good. Overall, I rate this a 2.75 out of 5. Its drinkable but not the best.

Where did I purchase this beer?

I purchased this beer from Tesco.

Thank you for reading my review. If you enjoyed this review you will like my review of Northern Monk Infinite Fog.