Northern Monk + J. Wakefield Blues Run The Game

Our recent experiments with fruited, lactose-infused sour IPAs have to a large extent been inspired by the work of brewers such as J Wakefield and others out in Florida USA. In fact, they have made such impacts in this area, that many examples of this style have since been christened as a ‘Florida Weisse.’ Consequently, it was great to have the opportunity to collaborate with Johnathan with a transatlantic take on this style in the aftermath of this year’s Dark City.

In the ‘dark’ spirit, we chose to lead with blueberries as our fruit of choice, with 600L of the pureed fruit added to the beer at the back end of fermentation. For hopping, we went with Mosaic. This variety is incredibly versatile, not only brimming in the tropical fruit notes that make it a must for IPA dry hopping, but it’s also full of dark berry notes which sit so well alongside the headline blueberry flavour.