Ways Northern Monk continually taps into the zeitgeist

Northern Monk, one of the fastest-growing indie brewers in the off trade, is also now the third-largest in the UK. db looks at its methods.

In the wake of Spanish beer giant Damm taking on the UK distribution of Northern Monk’s brews, the Leeds brewery’s tactics for staying relevant amid the sector’s challenges have become a hot topic, especially amid the sector’s many challenges.

Showcasing its imminent success, and following the news of the partnership with Damm which will come into force in May, Northern Monk founder and managing director of Russell Bisset hinted that: “2025 will see Northern Monk’s brewing capacity increase by 20%” allowing the brewery to retain its independence while also having the ability to “produce an additional two million pints compared to 2024”.

But how has it navigated the past few years? Last year, Northern Monk launched a hop water after recognising how the trend had grown by 83% in the US in the 52 weeks ending 20 April 2024 and was already showing promise in the UK.

Assessing this shift and rising interest, Northern Monk head brewer and cofounder Brian Dickson told db that hop water was interesting because breweries could effectively “build the story and concept” around the name.

The previous year, Northern Monk also released a trio of beers inspired by the UK’s favourite pub snacks, which began as an April Fools prank and yet then launched as part of a Faith in Boozers campaign and included a Scampi & Lemon Pale Ale, inspired by the iconic scampi fries; a Pork Scratching Best Bitter; and a Dry Roasted Peanut Stout. Each of the beers gained traction online with column inches, but also encouraged trial and garnered additional support by tapping into consumer curiousity. The brewery had already released crisp-flavoured beer and Yorkshire pudding-flavoured beer.

Prior to this, Northern Monk also teamed up with the meme artist Chris (Simpsons artist) as he is known, on beer can design for its 7% ABV DDH IPA. This was then followed up by the brewery tweeting a backstory to the partnership in the style of the artist’s captions attracting attention on social media from the 1.4 million Facebook followers and fans of Chris’ creations, making the cans collectible.

Northern Monk is also on a quest to become carbon neutral in its direct emissions by 2030 and, although many of its ways to garner interest could be written off as gimmicks, the expansion of the business and its solid goals, achievements and prospects have not gone unnoticed by fiscal backers eyeing the sector.

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