A beer I’ve had for a little while now that I picked up in Tesco. A collaboration between Thornbridge and North Brew Co this beer is conveniently named ‘North Bridge’. This brew is a new style for me and perhaps a newer style for the wider world of beer in the form of a Mountain IPA. Supposedly a cross between the bitterness of a West Coast IPA and the soft mouthfeel of an East Coast to meet somewhere in the middle. I don’t think I’ve had a bad beer from either of the two breweries so I was looking forward to this one.

Visually the beer pours out a yellow, straw gold with a touch of haziness as well. A large, white head to accompany too. A rather fresh and aromatic nose to the beer with predominately grassy or piney notes. However, there is still a fruity pineapple chunk element to it as well. As advertised there is a soft bitterness from start to finish with the beer. Not a majorly impactful flavour but a nice mellow peach, stone fruit to the body. Dry and crisp finish.

A quick note on the can art: Both have quite abstract can designs typically and I really like how they’ve split the can in two and joined them together. Very funky.

I think the main takeaway from this beer is that it achieved what it aimed to do: marry the two american IPA styles into one beer. It’s got a lovely soft mouthfeel while still providing a good hop bitterness throughout. However, while it tastes good, nothing about the beer is exceptional. It’s solid with the stone fruit flavour and it masks the high ABV rather well. I think the idea of merging the two styles is great, the beer could perhaps do with a bit more fine tuning to provide something really punchy. As ever though, North and Thornbridge never disappoint and I’ll always grab one of their beers when I can!

Score: 7.5/10

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Additional Information:

• Hops: Citra, HBC 353, BRU-1
• Malt: Not Available
• IBU: Not Available
• ABV: 7.2%
• Gluten Free: No
• Vegan: Yes!
• Purchase Location: Tesco
• Purchase Price: £3.00