Today we have returned to the BrewDog collaboration series! This one is a collab with one of my new favourite breweries at the moment; Northern Monk. Together the two breweries have produced ‘The Vermont Sessions’ which as the name suggests is a session New England IPA. Based on the breweries involved I had some high expectations going in and was super excited when I picked this one up.

Visually the beer is super hazy with a nice straw colour to it. Produced a nice thick, white head as well. On the nose you get heavy aromas of pineapple and grapefruit. Flavour wise I feel like there is quite a bit going on. Initial hints of peach or nectarine at the start. Then the actual body has a decent hop to it with a slight citrus undertone. The finish is a lasting bitterness.

A quick note on the can art: As with the previous BrewDog collaboration they’ve kept the same style. The colours are really good combo again and super pleasing visually.

When tasting this beer I found myself instinctively comparing it to the BrewDog x Cloudwater collaboration which was also a New England IPA. While the beer has a great haze and smell and a decent hop to it I just don’t think it is as good as the aforementioned NEIPA. I feel like the flavours in the beer aren’t juicy or impactful enough compared to the Cloudwater collaboration. If you had to choose I’d say grab yourself a Cloudwater collab over this one but this isn’t a bad beer by any standard and as a session beer it is lighter drinking!

Score: 7/10

Additional Information:

• Hops: Citra, Columbus, Simcoe
• Malt: Flaked oats, Pale, Wheat
• IBU: 25
• ABV: 5.2%
• Gluten Free: No
• Vegan: No
• Purchase Price: £3
• Purchase Location: Morrisons