It’s been a long while since I last had a Northern Monk beer. Some might argue too long. Thankfully there is an incredible new beer range landing in Morrison’s very soon including a couple of gorgeous sounding Northern Monk brews. In the meantime this is a Morrison’s staple ‘Rapscallion’ a 5.7% ABV Orange Zest IPA.

The beer pours a straw gold colour with a big head that maintained it’s body well throughout drinking. On the nose there is that instant hit of punchy, fruity orange. In the flavour it’s more of a tangerine or clementine than orange but still delicious nevertheless. A lovely light hoppy bitterness to the finish. The beer has a great smooth mouth feel making for very pleasant drinking.

A quick note on the can art: They are fantastic as always. An orange hued northern town with little details like a crate of spilled oranges in the street make designs like this.

I think I’ve said it before, but I will say it again: Northern Monk are just so consistently good at brewing beer. With supermarket brews the quality dips slightly simply for the virtue of having to hit those margins. However, the Northern Monk shop bought beers are always packed full of flavour. I believe this one was brewed with mandarins and it comes through to compliment this IPA really well. Citrus hops and citrus fruits unsurprisingly work well!

Score: 8/10

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

Additional Information:

• Hops: Citra, Simcoe, Comet, Centennial
• Malt: Not Available
• IBU: 30
• ABV: 5.7%
• Gluten Free: No
• Vegan: Yes!
• Purchase Price: £1.95
• Purchase Location: Morrisons