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Northern Monk Brew Co. is a Leeds-local stronghold showcasing an adeptness in pushing the boundaries of beer itself into new horizons, while remaining close to home in supporting local community efforts and partnerships therein.
Creating something new is their greatest goal, as Adam Lyle, lead brewer at the Old Flax Store site and a three-year Northern Monk veteran explains to me, and often that means dredging up traditional recipes from centuries past, and evolving those steps with newer knowledge in the brewing world. In celebrating the strong heritage of Indian culture of Leeds, they’ve created what they call a Mango Lassi IPA, which pushes the fruity yogurt drink’s flavour profile to a throwback to English culture. The Heritage IPA, a collaboration with Hareward House and Leeds City Council, was created by tracking down old brewing books and attempting to mimic methods within. They even went so far as to find a rare strain of barley that would have been used in this specific recipe from the 1700s, paired with brand-new English hops to accomplish the brew. Tom Plant, a newer addition to the team, agrees that the motto is ‘evolution of tradition’: “We take a very traditional standpoint and push forward from that.”
It goes even further than that, Plant explains, in that they are mixing things (like fruit and juice) with beer that perhaps would appeal to people who weren’t into beers beforehand, allowing them to reevaluate what they enjoy. In a collaboration with the Crete brewery Seven Islands, recently rated the best new brewery in the world, Northern Monk developed a twist on the Last Highways beer in that they ‘threw 80 kilos of fruit at it’, says Lyle, allowing it to come across as a fruit smoothie, but remaining very much a heavily dry-hop beer; and there’s the Victorian Lemonade beer, whose flavour surely one can take a guess at. Their goal, after all, as Lyle describes, “is producing not only great beer but stuff that causes a bit of a conversation, whether it’s a conversation about the art piece that we’ve used to wrap the cans, or it’s a conversation about the beer and what counts as beer nowadays.” And with a crowd-funding project that raised £1.5million for further development – 300% over their original goal – they definitely have the capital to continue their ridiculous amount of growth (explosion, really) onto the scene. Director Russell Bissett, head brewer Brian Dickson and production manager Colin Stronge are currently in Nashville attending the World Beer Cup, one of the most celebrated beer competitions in the world, and working on a collaboration with New York state’s King’s County Brewing Collective, in order to establish Northern Monk further in North America and increase the brand’s presence worldwide.
Even as a company that has grown from three small fermentation vessels at the Old Flax Store site, to twelve at the same plus eight at The Refectory down the road – which Lyle says are bigger than the entire building we’re sitting in – to distributing not only up and down bars and supermarkets in the UK but to twenty other countries as well, to growing the brewing team from three to eighteen, they’re still staying close to home in their work with local businesses and community groups. In the middle of the interview, Plant has to run downstairs to meet Gordon, one of two farmers who comes every day to pick up the spent barley, full of sugars and nutrients left over from tee brewing process, to feel to cattle and sheep, which in turn provide milk, meat and wool to the citizens of Leeds. Spent hops go off to a local flower nursery to be used in compost, and the yeast can either go off with Gordon, or be used to rise bread at Edward Street Bakehouse in Saltaire. Ciaran Shier, the warehouse manager at Northern Monk, is moving forward in green pursuits, especially in regards to water usage and how the brewery can more efficient and environmentally friendly. Local organisations hold their fundraisers in the events space just about the Old Flax Store’s bar and at the Refectory. Recently Leeds’ Junk Food Project took over the rotating kitchen with a pay-as-you-feel, using food that would have otherwise gone to waste, and with a menu that would change every single day. “There’s probably more that I’m forgetting,” Lyle admits, which is understandable, considering how quickly Northern Monk seems to be growing. “We’re currently going at about 110% speed, just always trying to do more than we can physically do, but it’s a better place to be than resting on our laurels.”
