I'd be curious to know how they sell as well. I'm not aware of anywhere I could get a beer served on cask that didn't call for a 5 or 6 hour drive. Perhaps somewhere in Santa Rosa (about 4 hours drive) but otherwise I think I'd be looking at driving to Eugene/Salem or the SF bay area.
Cleaning the lines and being anal about using either strict time parameters and/or cask breathers do the most for real ale quality and success at the pub level. The publican also has a responsibility to educate their patrons on what real ale is and what sets it apart from other forced carbonated and CO2-dispensed draft beer. From the brewer's perspective, and admittedly I'm not totally objective here, style selection matters when making real ale. Respectfully, pastry stouts, hazy IPA's and sours have no place in this realm, whereas beers that showcase the elegance interplay of superior malt with fresh hops and cask-conditioning (bitters, pales, porters, browns, etc) can be offered and presented magnificently when all those parameters are in alignment.
FWIW I agree with you here but the challenge in today's craft beer scene is that beer styles like Bitter Ale, Mild Ale, Brown Ale, etc. are simply not preferred by the vast majority of craft beer drinkers. In the past I was a BIG fan of Yards ESA (which is/was a Bitter Ale) served on cask (e.g., Dawson Street Pub which had 3 beer engines always going). For the beginnings of Yards Brewing this was their flagship beer. Yards discontinued their ESA as a packaged beers a number of years ago. You can still find ESA on tap at the brewery's taproom but more often than not served via regular draft. It is financially challenging for craft breweries to produce beers like Brown Ale, Bitter Ale, Mild Ale even in non-cask format if craft beer drinkers prefer to buy 'popular' styles like Juicy/Hazy IPAs, etc. Cheers!
I'd agree if you're talking about the flavored monstrosities that have acquired the sour moniker lately. But traditional sour beers seem like excellent candidates for the cask.
Cask or real ale has forever been an acquired taste for Americans, and a relatively small segment of beer drinkers, regardless of whether it came from a Craft or large brewer from the UK. As a matter of style integrity and original intent, I remain a traditionalist relative to the styles of beer appropriate for real ale enjoyment. Respectfully, those would not include any traditional sour styles (including kettle-soured styles) because of the cross-contamination concerns that go hand in hand with cask-conditioning and dispensing the same in beer lines and through beer engines that will thereafter serve non-sour styles.
And it seems to be becoming an “acquired” thing in the UK. The Craft Beer Channel blokes did a muti-part video podcast in an attempt to re-invigorate cask beer in the UK – making it look like it is not just a grandfather beer. Here is a trailer for their series “Keep Cask Alive” Cheers! P.S. I for one hope that this CBC 'movement' was (is) helpful.
Recent release/update on the UK initiative: “The Drink Cask Fresh campaign” – --- A cross-industry initiative to modernise the cask beer sector and attract younger drinkers to the product is well underway, with a pilot launch scheduled for 13 February 2023. The Drink Cask Fresh campaign is an opportunity for brewers, publicans, and industry bodies to come together to support the cask beer sector, which is in serious decline. It utilises a range of eye-catching point of sales materials to modernise the look of cask beer in pubs, such as handpull wraps, glassware, and promotional materials. This is accompanied by a digital experience to help customers learn about cask beer’s USPs – such as the fact that it is artisan, fresh, handmade and usually locally produce. The campaign successfully fundraised to launch the project in 30 pubs across the UK – all of which will be “twinned” with a control pub – for a 10-week research project to assess the impact of the new look of cask on sales data and consumer’s perceptions about the freshness of cask. Organisers hope the pilot will encourage significant backing for the campaign across the industry, with a national launch planned in June 2023. Drink Cask Fresh co-founder Neil Walker said: “When we undertook the initial research for this project, we were astounded to discover that most pub-goers believe bottled lager is the freshest beer in pubs – despite the reality that it was almost certainly brewed much longer ago than the cask beer. A major goal for this campaign will be to highlight to consumers that cask is the freshest, most hand-crafted, and naturally carbonated beverage on the bar.” Co-founder Katie Wiles adds: “We know from our research that the unique selling points of cask beer really resonate with young, discerning consumers – the challenge is getting them to try cask for themselves. We believe that by catching consumer’s attention at the point of sales we have a real opportunity here to change cask’s perception and help people discover a new love for fresh, cask beer.” To date, the campaign has received the support from CAMRA, SIBA, BBPA, IFBB, Lincoln Brewery, Robinsons Brewery, Asahi, Greene King, Hog’s Back Brewery, Timothy Taylors, Arkells, Harvey’s, Shepherd Neame and Wadworth. Organisers are still seeking pubs to take part in the pilot study – please contact [email protected] if interested. --- Sources: Campaign to modernise cask beer set for test launch | Cask Marque (cask-marque.co.uk) Campaign to modernise cask beer set for test launch | The British Guild of Beer Writers (beerguild.co.uk) Campaign to modernise cask beer set for test launch – The Brewers Journal
I 100% agree with the "traditional styles appropriate for real ale / cask", but Traditional sour ale being on hand pull is a bit of a different animal but 100% appropriate in the correct setting. I am going to ignore the abomination of kettle sours..(along with the horrible trend of putting dumb shit in casks...) but young Lambic (or the non-Belgian equivalent) served via hand pull is done in many Lambic focused pubs in Belgium, and at both Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen. Cross contamination is less of an issue with those spaces, but it really doesn't matter because as long as you maintain your lines and pump (rigorous frequent cleanings). Also, one of the main reasons it has been an acquired taste for the US, is in the 90s early craft boom many places had hand pumps and cask set ups and zero idea how to use them properly. This led to way too many experiences of a terrible pint, and the misconception that cask beer is "warm and flat".. (this also happened a bit in the UK as best practices started being ignored, and cask dropped off significantly.. leading to the CAMRA push for bringing back real ale). So many early US craft breweries were doing British styles, and the pubs were mimicking UK pub culture, but without the generational knowledge of how to to it properly, proper cellars at the correct temperature, or the high turnover rate of beer that is needed to keep cask ale fresh. The internet, the Cellarmanship book, and many more small breweries that are willing to go the extra mile and really focused on doing it well is starting to change that. It will never be huge in the US (it is way too labor intensive and really a pain in the ass), but I love the fact that this post / thead exists.. especially because the surprise of seeing the gorgeous picture of the Odd Bird beers at the beginning!)
Hey now, that sounds like a well thought out campaign to promote cask beer. Very curious to see how it plays out and what impact it has.
JWF (Cask Marque Accredited) New York, USA 2xActive Beer Engines Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: Nov. 17th, 2022 Pub Visit: Nov. 18th, 2022 Beerocracy Bitter Ale: Ordinary Bitter (‘The quintessential British session pale ale’) Brewery: Seneca Lake Grains: Erie Canal Pale & Excelsior Pilsner Malt, Crystal Light, Chocolate Crisp Hops: NYS Fuggle ABV: 3.5% Breather: No Sparkler: No Visuals: 5 Banana Bobana: English Brown Ale Brewery: Seneca Lake Grains: Erie Canal Pale, Excelsior Pilsner, Crystal Light, Chocolate Crisp, Honey Malt & Special B Hops: NYS Chinook Additive(s): Maltodextrin ABV: 6.2% Breather: No Sparkler: No Visuals: 5 --- Sidenotes: Banana Bobana was an Anniversary beer that has gone through a discreet/camouflaged alteration, from 4.8% Seneca Lake operates “on an 8 barrel brewing system imported from Lancashire, UK” with a vision “to become the leading provider of Cask & Bottle Conditioned Real Ales in New York State” + they host an annual festival devoted to Real Ales: BRAF, also mentioned/linked in the OP About BRAF Festival | Seneca Lake Brewing --- Bitter Ale - Brown Ale -
Below is a cool video about Seneca Lake Brewing Company. You will hear the owner (Bradley Gillett) mention whilst discussing cask ale: "...some people coming in here are just not gonna get it..." My favorite part was watching the cat drink spilled beer on the bar. Cheers to cask beer!!
Regardless of the cask ales, the pictures of the interior of this place makes it look like the quintessential English pub, and I'm putting it on my list to visit if I'm ever in that area. Regardless that I said regardless above, I'll have one of everything, please.
Wouldn't you call holding the spout in the beer unsanitary -- time after time? Not like they're doing a thorough cleaning in-between fills.
You guys can go on all you want about what's "proper" or boast about your vacation, I'm not drinking a beer if they're dipping the spout into it. Sorry. End of.
