Northern Monk – Patrons Project 20.03 // Mark Newton // West Coast Routes // Apex Brewing // West Coast IPA

APEX ARE ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING YOUNG BREWERIES COMING OUT OF SCANDINAVIA RIGHT NOW SO IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BE ABLE TO WELCOME DANIEL TO THE OLD FLAX STORE TO PUT A COLLABORATION TOGETHER.

Being the hop-heads we are, we were always going to brew an IPA, but to mix it up a bit from current trends we decided to revisit the piney, resinous bitterness of the west coast style.

For the grist we went with an extra pale base malt and bulked this out with some light Munich malt. Under this, a touch of light crystal malts to add a touch of colour and that sticky sweetness which accentuates and supports the resinous hops.

For the hops themselves, we went with a couple of classics of the style. Amarillo is one of the most underrated varieties these days, but when on form delivers an unrivalled level of tangerine zest. Alongside this the OG west coast variety, Simcoe, a multi- purpose classic which delivers plenty of pine alongside berry, passion fruit and citrus.