Northern Monk hosts two beer festivals a year - Hop City in May, and Dark & Wild in November.
As you can probably gather from the names, Hop City is more focused on hoppy beers, while Dark & Wild is more about stouts, porters, wild ales, barley wines and sours.
We attended Dark & Wild back in 2023, so this was our second time attending, and we got to try some sensational beers.
Dark & Wild is hosted at the Northern Monk Refectory. We’re lucky enough to live within walking distance, but if you are coming from further afield, the venue is only a 16-minute walk from Leeds station (10 if you use the south exit).
The event attracts breweries from across Europe, the USA and Canada, and each brewer has at least two beers pouring per session. There are also food vendors and live bands at each session.
We attended the Saturday daytime session (12 pm-4.30 pm). The price included a taster glass and five tokens. Pours are 100ml (although many were extra generous) and cost either one or two tokens (depending on strength). Extra tokens cost £2 each.
With 30 breweries pouring, it’s impossible to get around them all, and there are so many amazing-sounding beers on offer.
We decided to start with some wild ales, then move to the stouts, but we alternated throughout the day to break things up. In total, we sampled 13 beers, ranging from 5.5% to 13.98%.
There was not a single bad beer amongst the brews we tried, and in isolation, any one of them could have made our beer of the month.
What we drank
Druif Roussanne Blend No. 37 by 3 Fonteinen (Belgium)
Lambik with Roussanne grapes 9.4%
We had already decided to start with 3 Fonteinen, as they have an excellent reputation as one of the top lambic producers in Belgium (and we do love a lambic). We weren’t disappointed with our choice - it was funky, dry and tart with a slight sweetness coming from the grapes.
Brewer’s note: For this Druif, we macerated organic Roussanne grapes from Domaine La Baronne. This winery is situated in Corbières in Languedoc, in between Carcassonne and Narbonne. André and Suzette Lignères aim is to create intense yet balanced wines, safeguarding the biodiversity in their vineyards through low yields and biodynamic treatment of their vines. We macerated the full Roussanne grapes for more than eight months in an oak barrel. We then blended with some more four-year old lambik. The four-year old proportion makes up more than 60% of this fine grape lambik blend. The weighted average age upon bottling is therefore more than 31 months. The final fruit proportion is 307 grams of grapes per litre of Druif.
Brewer’s website: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Oak/Darach by Galway Bay (Ireland)
Wild Ale 7%
Sticking with the wild ales, we opted for this 7% barrel-aged apricot wild ale from Galway Bay (having never tried any of their beers before). It was another excellent ale with lots of tartness.
Brewer’s note: Barrel aged apricot wild ale. 3 years fermenting in barrels then macerated on apricots. Finished with a final conditioning in bottle for 2 years.
Brewer’s website: Galway Bay Brewery
Liquid Blueberry by One Drop Brewing Co (Australia)
Triple Fruited Imperial Sour Ale 10%
Something slightly different for our third brew with this absolutely decadent 10% sour ale. It lived up to its name, tasting exactly like liquid blueberries, but with lovely sweet vanilla just taking the edge off the tartness.
Brewer’s note: The fifteenth dip of our Liquid Series™ - a pure, unadulterated focus on complete flavour saturation. Introducing Liquid Blueberry – using every blueberry product and process available to brewers right now, we’ve laid down a brew in honour of one of our favourite fruits, something we love to work with here at the brewery. Over 750gm/L of Blueberries give this liquid gold a deep, rich, and bursting with jammy sweetness, with a touch of Papua vanilla to smooth it all out. Yum!
Brewer’s website: One Drop Brewing Co
Veer and Saison de Maison by Balance (UK)
We’ve been to the Balance blendery and taproom over in Manchester, and loved the beers we tried, so we decided to try both the beers they had on offer.
Veer: Beer and wine blend 8.4%
The Veer (the red one) smelled awesome and had an interesting flavour that built and grew the more you had. It had almost a savoury finish.
Saison de Maison (Blend #10): Bretted Saison 6.2%
The Saison de Maison was funky and dry - a solid saison.
Brewer’s website: Balance Brewing & Blending
Ārpus X Commonwealth Coconut X Hazelnut X Vanilla X Chocolate by Ārpus (Latvia)
Double pastry stout 12%
Moving on to the stouts and first up, this 12% pastry stout, which was so smooth and creamy. It was sweet and moreish with a lovely body - very easy drinking for such a strong beer.
Brewer’s website: Ārpus Brewing Co.
Unspoken (Blend #3) by Factory (Finland)
Imperial Stout 12%
We opted for this one as the brewer told us it was made without using any adjuncts - just a blend of two barrel-aged stouts. We’re so glad we tried it as it was one of the standout beers of the day. It tasted like alcohol golden syrup. Definitely a sipper, very boozy with a long finish.
Brewer’s note: The 3rd blend consists of the following barrels:
• 75% Imperial Stout aged for 12 months in a Wild Turkey barrel
• 25% Imperial Stout aged for 36 months in a Rye Whiskey barrel
The blend #3 offers rich chocolate, caramel, dark fruit and subtle roasty notes with a bold, punchy whiskey character. Expect layers of spicy cinnamon, vanilla and deep char from the oak. The 12 month barrel contributes sweet chocolate notes, while the 36 month barrel adds depth with complex barrel character, dark chocolate, and subtle dark fruit.
Double Barrel Liminal Space by Temporal Artisan Ales (Canada)
Munichwine 13.98%
This was another standout beer for us. It was absolutely divine. Another very boozy sipper that you just wanted to savour. It smelled sweet like syrup, but had Christmas pudding and coconut-esque flavours, finishing with notes of bourbon. It had the body of a stout (despite being a barley wine) and was excellent.
Brewer’s note: A blend of munichwines aged in Buffalo Trace and Brazilian Amburana barrels, further aged nearly two additional years in a fresh Buffalo Trace barrel.
This one is really special to me. I feel like it represents the growth of the Void Series perfectly, as well as the progression of beers over the past 3 years.
When I first blended the original Liminal Space back in April 2022 I was blown away by the wood character of the Amburana barrel. It was fresh in from @dornashavana in Brazil - via @northeastbarrelcompany - one of the only new barrels I brought in for this project. The wood character was so powerful. Intense aromas of baking spice, cinnamon, and something I can only really describe as "cake".
I paired that intense base, full of exotic wood character (to a point that was almost overwhelming), with a munichwine full of bourbon character. The resulting blend brought balance, with spice and bourbon harmoniously doing their thing.
Brewer’s website: Temporal Artisan Ales
Oude Geuze Golden Blend by 3 Fonteinen (Belgium)
Oude Geuze 5.5%
Taking a break from the strong stouts and barley wines, we couldn’t resist another 3 Fonteinen, this time opting for their Oude Geuze. Another excellent beer with woody, funky flavours. It reminded us of chewing fresh sugar cane.
Brewer’s note: For this specific Oude Geuze Golden Blend, we used lambikken from three different barrels and five different brews, and two different brewers. More than one third of the lambikken used is more than 48 months old, rendering the weighted average of the blend to more than 26 months. The oldest lambik was a 3 Fonteinen lambik brewed in the first days of 2018. Of the 3 Fonteinen brewed lambikken, almost half were brewed with Pajottenland sourced grains from our own cereal circle. And of the hops used in our brews, one third is of Belgian origin, and the average age was more than 15 years.
Brewer’s website: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Domain of Evil by Emperor's Brewery (UK)
Imperial Stout 13.8%
Another strong stout, and another excellent beer, this time from Emperor’s Brewery, who specialise in strong dark beers. We recently had fried date cakes in Malta, and the flavours in this beer reminded me of those.
Brewer’s note: Something is wrong...you feel...cold.
The cave in front of you is deep, dark and full of unknown threats.
But the cave, just like this beer, has to be experienced if you are to fulfill your destiny and become a jedi.
Are you up to the challenge of a no post-fermentation adjunct imperial stout, aged in rum barrel for an astonishing 52 months, with 8 months spent on 20kg of Deglet Nour Dates?
At 13.8%, you need to be ready to fight.
This is a fight only against yourself though...
Your weapons...you will not need them.
Brewer’s website: Emperor's Brewery
Slenderman by Tartarus (UK)
Imperial Stout 11%
Despite Tartarus being so local to us, we’ve never tried any of their beers - until now. And I have to say, they definitely live up to their reputation. This barrel-aged stout was sweet and creamy, oily and thick. Delicious.
Brewer’s note: Slenderman is a thick, dark, rich and sweet impy stout, flavoured with Chocolate, Vanilla and lactose.
Brewer’s website: Tartarus Beers
Grind & Funk by MadX Subsidiary of Mad Scientist (Hungary)
Sour Ale 7.1%.
Time was ticking, so we decided to head to Mad Scientist for our final sour ale of the day. It was funky and tart with the grape flavours coming through and almost a hint of apple.
Brewer’s note: BARREL AGED DRY HOPPED GOLDEN SOUR ALE WITH GRAPES
GRIND & FUNK is the 2025 hoppy version of our Barrel Aged Golden Sour Ale with Grape Must, the 6th collab with our friend Levente Major of LEVENTE WINE following following LEVENTE & FUNK we released in the May of 2022, SLUDGE & FUNK in the January of 2023, MAJOR & FUNK from July, 2024 and DOOM & FUNK in September, 2024
Brewer’s website: MAD-X - Mad Scientist
Caramel Fudge Stout Glenn Turner Edition by Kees (Netherlands)
Barrel Aged Stout 11.5%
We finished the day with this luxurious caramel fudge stout from Kees. It would have been sad to round off with a bad brew, and luckily for us, we didn’t. Another super smooth stout and a great beer to finish on.
Brewer’s note: The Caramel Fudge Stout has been aged for a year in Glen Turner whisky casks—and you can taste it. Soft vanilla, a hint of oak, and a subtle whisky aroma blend with the rich caramel and chocolate. Round, warm, and perfectly balanced. A delicious barrel-aged stout with an accessible Scottish twist!
Brewer’s website: Brouwerij KEES
A great event
We might not have managed to try beers from every brewery, but we were pretty happy with our choices. There was not a single bad beer, and we had a tough time choosing a favourite.
Our standouts for the day were the Unspoken Imperial Stout Blend by Factory and the Double Barrel Liminal Space Munichwine by Temporal.
Music & food
The music at Dark & Wild is pretty heavy with live bands on the ground floor and a DJ on the top floor. We’re not big on thrash metal, so we planted ourselves on the middle floor where the music was less intense.
There were three food vendors, and every food item that came in smelled divine.
Hop City
Northern Monk are very clever with their marketing, putting super early-bird Dark & Wild tickets on sale at Hop City and super early-bird Hop City tickets on sale at Dark & Wild. Clearly, this tactic works as we booked our 2025 D&W tickets at Hop City and left D&W with tickets for next year’s Hop City.
If you’d like tickets to Hop City 2026, get in early as the tickets fly out. There are three sessions to choose from - Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening - and you can book yours here.
