Yorkshire Day to offer a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ taste

In a unique turn for this year’s Yorkshire Day, Bradford Brewery and Leeds Brewery have joined forces for a first-ever collaboration to create a special regional beer.

The new brew will be unveiled during Yorkshire Day weekend celebrations, after being brewed on site at Bradford Brewery by Bradford’s Head Brewer Anthony Barrett and Leeds Brewery’s Assistant Head Brewer Will Warriner.

The very first pint of ‘Northern Powerhouse’ will be pulled at Bradford Brewery’s Yorkshire Day Beer and Food festival, which will take place the brewery off Westgate, Bradford, on Saturday and Sunday August 1st and 2nd.

Matt Halliday, managing director, said: “There has always been a cheeky bit of rivalry between Bradford and Leeds – including arguments about who can brew the best beer. But the truth is that the brewing industry is part of a proud tradition across the whole county – so, for Yorkshire Day, we decided to bury the hatchet and work together to create a powerful new brew which we feel sure will get everyone’s vote.

“For this weekend at least, we are all united behind one aim as beer loving Yorkshire folk, so we’ve named it Northern Powerhouse. The difference here is that you can be confident that our vision will be allowed to proceed to maturity!”

Venkatesh Lyer, Leeds Brewery’s head brewer, added: “When the idea was put forward by Matt at Bradford Brewery we were quite excited, as we’ve never done a collaboration brew before. We felt there was no better way to do a great Yorkshire Day beer than in a collaboration brew with Bradford - and the name Northern Powerhouse seemed very apt!”

Only 40 casks of the special edition Yorkshire beer have been brewed, half of which will be distributed across bars in Bradford and half in Leeds.

Anthony Barrett, Bradford head brewer, commented: “We’re using hops which we’ve never put together before, so we’re not 100% sure how it’s going to turn out. It’s already smelling and tasting incredible though. It has a reddish hue and, at around 5.5%, may emerge as an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) or a Best. You’ll just have to come along and try it over the Yorkshire Day weekend and, in the unlikely event that there’s anyone who doesn’t think it’s amazing, then we’ll just tell them it’s a Leeds beer…..!”