Field Recordings is a new venture into brewing.
It’s a place where we’ll be taking pieces of what we have seen and done, and interpreting them into experimental drinks styles.
North has been making beer since 2015, and pioneered some incredible styles in the UK including our Triple Fruited Gose series. However, the size of the brewery has meant we’ve always had restraints on how far we can explore. The opening of Springwell has given us space to play.
Our original brewery at Taverner’s Walk will be home to Field Recordings.
We will be barrel ageing beer, experimenting with different strains of yeast, exploring the use of locally grown ingredients, looking at historic brewing techniques and seeing how we can translate them into modern styles.
We will look at how other fermented drinks are made, applying and blending those techniques into our beers. Who knows, we may even make some wine, cider or mead.
Field Recordings is an opportunity to look back through our entire relationship with beer, the many years we’ve been involved with it and begin to piece together a collage of what we know and what we’re excited to explore. We are creating new beers that represent our interests and passion to the fullest.
No beer will stand alone, each will inform another and they will all begin to build a picture.
We will take what we learn and apply it to another beer, cutting and pasting into a random yet configured pattern. We aim to bring you new releases monthly, however, due to the nature of these beers, the value of time, process and experimentation, some might take longer than others. This is a journey of learning for all of us, yourself included and we hope that you gain as much from it as we do.
A Hymn for the Fields
This is where we begin. Our first beer calls back to our origin. Back to 2000 when we were first introduced to Belgian beer through North Bar.
We started with a target of how we wanted our saison to be, aiming more towards a dry and fruity style, but with vinous and more wine-like characteristics. Pilsner Malt and a large helping of wheat make up the grist of the beer making for a vibrant golden beer with a foggy haze.
We mashed the malts with water at a low temperature, creating shorter and more fermentable sugars, resulting in a thinner and dryer beer. We chose to use a hybrid farmhouse saison yeast, known for its acidic properties that balance with spice and tropical fruit flavour. We co-pitched with Sauvignon Blanc yeast stimulate, a yeast traditionally used in wine making, to accentuate the delicate flavour of the grapes used to make wine.
Research into the use of this yeast in beer has found that there are similar compounds in New Zealand hops and New Zealand grapes, meaning that it can be used in a very similar way to interact with the New Zealand hops in this beer, highlighting their vinous flavour. A gentle dry hop of Nelson Sauvin and Hallertau Blanc impart a soft and sweet white peach flavour, with grassy tones, vanilla and a clean minerality.
A small addition of Talus was added during the whirlpool process to bring a tone of lime and tropical fruit, something familiar. The finished beer has subtle sweetness, vibrant tropical and vinous flavours that sit atop a dry and rugged base. We think it sits somewhere between a saison, a NEIPA and a fruit wine.
A Hymn for the Fields launches internationally on Wednesday 13th April
Presentation boxes will be available on our webshop at 12pm.
North Bar
Leeds
North Taproom – Sovereign Street
Leeds
Ghost Whale
London
O’Briens Beer Café
Holmfirth
Vessel Beer Shop
Plymouth
The Draughtsman
Doncaster
Dead Crafty
Liverpool
Bundobust
Manchester
Small Bar
Bristol
Free Trade Inn
Newcastle
The Wolf
Birmingham
Koelship Yard
Glasgow
Salt Horse
Edinburgh
All Good Beer
London
Shakespeare’s
Sheffield
The House of Trembling Madness
York
Thirsty
Cambridge (Tuesday 12th)
Springwell
Leeds (Friday 15th)
Billie’s Beer Cafeteria
Antwerp (Thursday 14th)
The Triangle
Shipley
Bottle & Bean
Wetherby
Fuggle & Golding
Ilkley
Real Ale
Shrewsbery
Wee Beer Shop
Glasgow
Premier Hop
Leeds
Raynville Superstore
Leeds
Bottle Chop
Leeds
Latitude Wines
Leeds
