It's the start of a Summer of Faith at Northern Monk brewery and beer garden in Leeds

Northern Monk is putting on a series of Summer of Faith events - aiming to tap into what the team expect to be a ‘hospitality boom’ this coming season.

Bringing something a little different than just beer and cheer, Northern Monk wants to offer its customers an ‘experience-led’ summer.

In its Saturday fortnightly events, there’s glassware on sale for charity, a specially brewed rhubarb shandy, beer-can artwork to take home and even some beer ice cream.

The alcohol and soft whip collaboration is served directly from a Northern Monk ice cream van and makes its debut today at the second of ten Summer of Faith events.

Sam Johnson bar operations manager, says he wants to touch on the social phenomenon - the Summer of Love - which occurred during the summer of 1967 in the west coast of America.

He told the YEP: “During the Summer of Love there was a boom of food, music and art.

“It’s now been around 18 months since people have been able to experience something unique and different so that’s what we want to offer.

“Our motto is to create the best beer experiences in the world so we’re trying to layer ideas on top of what you’d expect from normal bar service.

“We’ve created a brand around our core beer called faith which is our biggest selling beer and brand pillar.

“It’s quite suitably named considering all the challenges people have faced over recent times.”

The specially-brewed Summer of Faith beer is a hazy rhubarb shandy with a low alcohol level.

According to Sam, it’s refreshing and ‘fits the vibe’, just like the new blended beer and ice cream concept.

He added: “We’ve now launched a beer called flake and sauce which is raspberry and chocolate ice cream pale ale.

“That’s then blended with ice cream and served on a cone with raspberry and chocolate sauce and a flake as well.

“Our goal was to refresh things and think about how we can be different and the response so far has been exceptional.”