First Fifteen: Celebrating North Bar

North Bar is 15 years old, so it can finally rent Air Force One on DVD, which came out in the year of its birth. North Bar opened in Leeds at the same time as British rule ended in Hong Kong and since then has become an integral part of the renaissance of the UK beer scene. You can read a more indepth article about North’s founders and history from The Good Stuff’s Leigh Linley on Culture Vultures here.

North’s official birthday is Sunday 1 July 2012 and I’m looking forward to going to the party. In the run up that, They’ve been putting 15 very special beers on the bar, a new one each day, many of which were brewed specially for the event and some even with manager Matt Gorecki and the staff. You could almost put them to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas. Except it would have to be the 15 days of Northmas. Hmm…

On the first day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Roosters North Pale Ale ,

On the second day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Lindeboom Special Pilsner,

On the third day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: BrewDog Belgian Pale Ale,

On the fourth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Thornbridge General Sherman Imperial Red Ale,

On the fifth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: FLYYYYYYYYYYY-ING DOOOOOG! Kujo Coffee Stout,

On the sixth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: O’Dell Milk Stout,

On the seventh day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Nøgne Ø Oak Aged Sunturnbrew,

On the eighth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: FLYYYYYYYYYYY-ING DOOOOOG! In De Wildeman Farmhouse IPA,

On the ninth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast,

On the tenth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Marble Aged Little Jim,

On the eleventh day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Cantillon Gueuze on Cask,

On the twelfth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Sierra Nevada Solar Storm,

On the thirteenth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Kernel IIPA,

On the fourteenth day of Northmas, the barman gave to me: Gaffel  Kölsch from the wood…

 

That’s the makings of a veritable first XV from some of the most exciting British, European and American breweries, especially considering the strength of some of them. In the interests of surviving until North’s 30th birthday, I’ve managed to be fairly restrained and have tried just four so far: the O’Dell Milk Stout was lovely, the cask Cantillon was a wonderful experience (acidic pear/apple clean sourness, oddly drinkable), the Thornbridge General Sherman stands out as a superbly fresh hopmonster which tastes a lot less than 8.3% and the Gaffel Kölsch from a wooden cask had a wonderfully smooth mouthfeel and a crisp herbal bitterness.

North is a bar worth celebrating and these beers are worthy of toasting it with. What’s more, there’s still at least one more to come. See you there!

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