Just wait till I tell my friends here in UK that American beer geeks are queueing up for Greene King IPA and taking photographs of it! It is a much-maligned beer here, sometimes unfairly. It is pretty good when it's good, but that doesn't seem to happen very often. Most pubs don't care about cask ale. Most of those that do care about variety, the number of different beers they can offer, more than they care about coaxing the best out of a “boring” beer like Greene King IPA.
I thought much the same as you when I saw this, but it turns out there is some scientific literature that suggests certain types of EM waves can inhibit bacterial growth. I do agree that cleaning the lines would be cheaper and more effective.
If anyone hasn't seen it, here's a bit of background about @Ewebrew https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/hi-folks-intro.673541/
“Greene King knows you don’t like its IPA, you think it’s too bland, “not a real IPA” at 3.6% abv, and it doesn’t care at all. Not the tiniest drop. In fact it’s probably quite pleased you don’t like it. You’re not its target market – it’s after a vastly larger constituency” - Old piece, from Martyn Cornell (2015) - Why Greene King doesn’t care that the haters hate its IPA – Zythophile --- The tail end, of Cornell’s “small rant directed at all those idiots who keep chuntering on about how Greene King IPA is “not an India Pale Ale” and how IPA has to be “strong and strongly hopped”, so it would survive the long journey to the Indian sub continent, over 200 years ago” -
Any humour found would be a case of you folks not knowing how good you have it. It would also be a misread of the environment here. It's two people on BA talking about it. Generally speaking, nobody over here cares... including beer geeks. Having said that, beers seen as mundane on your side of the ocean can be very rare over here. Genuine cask conditioned ale from the UK is as rare as (speckled) hen's teeth over here (Greene King pun intended). I would imagine that if all cask ale in the UK vanished and then one cask of Greene King IPA was brewed a year later, beer fans in the UK would be queueing up regardless of how much they liked that particular brand in the past. Having said all that, I personally wish a brewer other than Greene King had their presence in stores in the US. Import choices are very slim here, and I have zero attraction to their packaged product that is still available here.
How many pubs use cask breathers? Does installing a cask breather help in maintaining the quality of the cask beer at pubs? In the past I had many tasty cask beers in the UK but also a few pints that were less than ideal due to age/oxidation. Drinking a cask ale at its peak (e.g., about 1-2 days after tapping) is a genuine joy but experiencing that is sometimes a 'luck of the draw' occurrence. Cheers!
Totally agree, I will say heavily hopped cask beers do seem to hold out a bit longer, which is why the original IPAs came about. On our Golden Ale it really needs to be gone in four days for our IPA you can get a good 7 days once tapped if cellared well and looked after.
Is there anybody (e.g., CAMRA) in the UK advocating for the installation of cask breathers in pubs to maintain (and hopefully increase) the sale of cask beers? I know that in the past CAMRA was "neutral" on their stance of cask breathers in pubs which I thought then (and now) was not a wise position to take. While I appreciated how a cask beer can 'evolve' for the better over a few days after tapping I was not a fan of being served beers that suffered from oxidation (or spoilage). I get that this is sort of a compromise thing but it seems to me that installing cask breathers is the wiser solution here. Cheers! Edit: If a cask breather system can be readily turned on/off maybe the pubs can ‘manage’ them depending upon market conditions. Perhaps when tapping a cask during an anticipated busy time of the week (e.g., Thursday) they can ‘disable’ the cask breather with the anticipation the cask will get kicked over the busy weekend timeframe. And if tapping a cask on a Sunday/Monday they could enable the cask breather for better preserving the cask during the work week.
“Cask…We had to draw on influences from around the world, and we had to showcase flavor profiles from around the world: I wish more people still did that, I wish more brewers still tasted those things…so many times people are coming out with a Rauchbier, or a Mild, or a Bitter…I just can tell that they never actually tasted those things” – Greg Engert (NRG) The Importance of Good Hospitality With Greg Engert | Heritage Radio Network --- Greg also covers Brewery St X, lagers/side-pulls + reviving Belgian beers
Hogshead is typically drawn via piston with a widge (i.e. not tilted), so for those in the vicinity…“4 beers on stillage, not our normal dispensing format!” STILLAGE AND PIG...AND MUSIC Tickets, Sat, Jul 22, 2023 at 4:00 PM | Eventbrite
…More on artisanal real ale, or “fresh-as-hell cask,” from microbreweries - The Article (briefly) touches on the following Parker Brewery Hop Vine brewpub Problem Child Brewery Clay Brow Nano Brewery “’an up-and-coming brewery – definitely one to look out for’. Their beers have been stocked at the Wigan CAMRA's Beer Festival” Citation: West Lancashire breweries demonstrate the variety of beer and real ale available | InYourArea Community
“The wait is over - the new Great British Beer Festival beer list is here and like never before! You can now create custom lists of brews you want to try at GBBF…The beer list is live and frequently being updated so make sure you keep checking back for all the latest info” - Drinks - Great British Beer Festival 2023 (gbbf.org.uk)
….returning to the source Dogwood New York, USA 2xActive Beer Engines (Angram) Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: July 18, 2023 Pub Visit: July 21, 2023 English-style Pale Ale (ESB): Winders ESB Brewery: Old Glenham Grains: Marris Otter, Crystal Barley Hops: Fuggle, EKG ABV: 5.5% Aspirator: Race Cask Ventilator (Natural Aid/CAMRA Approved) Sparkler: On Visuals: 2 English Ale: Weavers Pale Ale Brewery: Old Glenham Grains: Marris Otter Barely Hops: Fuggle, EKG, Celia ABV: 4.3% Aspirator: Race Cask Ventilator (Natural Aid/CAMRA Approved) Sparkler: Off Visuals: 3 ESB: Pale Ale ---
Avoided this among other/all US tapping(s) at NERAX per UK > US. Irrespective, not to be overlooked...an uncommon practice/firkin-conditioned, from FF that Greg Engert properly dispensed: Dave Adams to (inevitably) install an engine - The Grand Delancey (Cask Marque Accredited – VALID) New York, USA 2xBeer Engines (Angram) 1xActive Cask-conditioned Tapped: July 20, 2022 Visit: July 22, 2023 Best Bitter: Welly Brewery: Fox Farm ABV:4.6% Breather: Yes Sparkler: Off (Requested) Visual Restriction --- --- Supplementary - The (softly spoken) British program kicked off in 2020 with a Dark Mild – Post Date: May 2020
Pete is heading back to the UK (e.g. researching, analyzing…GBBF). Nonetheless, this is his interpretation of Greene King: An ale modeled after… Backbeat Massachusetts, USA 6xBeer Engines 5xActive Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: > Week Visit: July 29, 2023 English IPA: Monty ABV: 4.1% Aspirator: Yes Sparkler: No
“…handcrafted and brewed using traditional methods and the very best ingredients…” Deep Ellum Massachusetts, USA 1xActive Beer Engine (Angram) Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: July 28, 2023 Pub Visit: July 29, 2023 English Bitter: 49 SQN Bitter (Alias: 49 Squadron Bitter) Brewery: Ferry Ales (F.A.B) Lincoln, UK Grains: Pale, Crystal, Chocolate, Wheat Hops: English Yeast: English ABV: 4.9% Aspirator: No Sparkler: No Immersed: No Pints: 2
“Theakston Quencher is a new classic cask ale, and the result of combining high-quality raw ingredients with our nearly 200 years of brewing expertise. We’re very excited to be able to debut Theakston Quencher at the Great British Beer Festival and let fans experience it for the first time” - Simon Theakston Theakston targets low-ABV market with Quencher - Beer Today
“Theakston Quencher is a 3.4% ABV hop-forward cask ale, which is made from pearl barley, English-grown Sovereign hops, and El Dorado hops. This combination creates a deceptively full-bodied cask ale with a refreshing floral and fruit hop character.” I wonder if British brewing of Cask Ales will further utilize New World hops? I would posit that a Cask Ale brewed featuring Motueka hops would be a tasty beer. Cheers! @Dave_S
British brewers have been routinely using New World hops in cask ales for over a decade now. You see lots of beers with hop varieties such as Mosaic, Amarillo, Cashmere and of course Citra and yes, Motueka too. They do make tasty beer. More recently some brewers have been using the new wave of English hops like Harlequin, Jester and Ernest too.
