I've had quite a few cask beers this month as part of March Mildness. But tonight at Cartesian Brewing (Philadelphia) had a glass of their British-style IPA from their beer engine.
Stopped at Bespoke Brewing in Strasburg, PA this afternoon. They had two hand pumps for cask beer, although one was kicked. Had a pint of their "Premium Pub Ale" which at 5.5% abv I would guess you'd have to categorize as a Brown Ale rather than a Dark Mild. Nice flavors of bread crust, light caramel, earthy, drier finish. Great feel from the conditioning.
Funnily enough brown ale was almost always a bottled product in the UK. Nowadays you very occasionally see one from cask here but it’s probably a hoppy US-style one.
Yesterday in “The Cask Quandary” thread I posted a video on the Tweedy Pubs channel and there was lots of discussion on how many of the cask taps are now dominated by American (style) beers at London Pubs. Cheers!
I enjoy drinking cask beer! My wife and I were in New York City (Manhattan) yesterday. We were looking to obtain some lunch and I used my iPhone (Map app) to look for a place to eat. One of the suggested places was Jones Wood Foundry. The photos of the place looked nice and upon seeing those photos my wife approved. I then took note of the description (with some emphasis in bold by me): “Jones Wood Foundry is a British gastropub on Manhattan’s Upper East side, offering classic British dishes for lunch, dinner and brunch…” I was thinking rut-roh since the British are not world renowned for their cuisine (but in the back of my mind I hoped I could at least get some good beer). As we entered the place the first thing you see is a long bar and to my delight, I saw two handpumps right away: Upon being seated the server asked if we wanted anything to drink and I asked what they had pouring on the handpump and she replied “We have a Bitter Ale and..,” and I stopped her right there since I am a BIG fan of Bitter Ale served via cask. When the beer arrived, I had the wherewithal to ask the beer brand and she replied “The beer is from Strong Rope brewery.” I have never heard of this brewery so when we returned home I did a bit of web surfing to find it is a brewery in Brooklyn with two locations. Some history of this brewery: “Jason opened Strong Rope with his wife Christina Quintero in 2015, in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 2019, an Adirondacks location upstate joined the family, followed by its waterfront digs in the Red Hook district of Brooklyn in 2021. Jason’s original ambition was to run a cask-only brewery, but he knew he would have to temper his love of traditional beer with realism regarding consumer demand.” https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/20...-rope-brewery-and-the-east-coast-cask-revival As a lover of cask beer I admire that Jason had desires to have a “cask-only brewery” but he made the wise decision to also produce non-cask products as well. So, how was the beer you might ask: Served in a British Dimpled Mug: Appearance: Amber colored with a one finger white head. Aroma: A pleasant combination of fruity/floral aromas and biscuity/toffee malt aromas; nicely balanced. Taste: The flavor follows the nose with a balance of fruity/floral flavors and biscuity/toffee malt flavors. There is a low-moderate bitterness. Mouthfeel: Medium body, smooth mouthfeel (ah, cask!) with a dry finish. Overall: I think this beer is very – good to excellent. I enjoyed the flavors of this beer and its great balance. It was served perfectly at cellar temperature with a light amount of carbonation. Cheers! P.S. Back to the food aspect. I ordered a Prix Fixe lunch with fried calamari which came with two tasty dipping sauces and for the main meal Roast Chicken accompanied with a chestnut apple & sage stuffing, a banger (sausage), mashed potatoes and natural jus (which was outstanding). The whole dining experience was excellent!!
I travelled a lot to the UK in the past for business and as regards British cuisine my favorite meal was breakfast (e.g., the full Monty). For the evening meal, while in London, I often went to Indian restaurants. Cheers!
Full Irish>full English Indian food is now as much a part of British cuisine as Italian-American or Tex-Mex is to American.
A full Irish has white pudding, but except for this full Irish=full English=full Welsh=full Scotch=Ulster Fry. This doesn't include the Isle Of Man and the Channel Isles
I need the white pudding, though. Wish we could get the real deal in the US that includes "lights" (lungs). Really been craving all the different blood/offal sausages of the world recently. Still haven't decided if I prefer Portuguese morcilla or Polish kishka. Maybe I have some sort of deficiency that organ meat fills.
You may be confusing haggis and white pudding. Haggis has heart and lungs – white pudding is mostly just oats, fat and onions.
Jack, if you didn't interrupt the server, you would have likely heard that they had a bitter from Old Glenham on the other pump. You picked a good spot to eat. If I was looking at a choice between those two ales, I would immediately choose Old Glenham over Strong Rope, but that's just a matter of personal taste. The important part is that you enjoyed the beer, and it's possible that you got the beer that you would have personally enjoyed the most in this case anyway. Just prepping you for your next visit.
Could have sworn I read somewhere that it traditionally contained offal, including lungs. Maybe I just need the extra fatback calories.
Finally made a trip out to Stampede tonight. Had mugs of the Brown and the Dark. Both solid beers, great mouthfeel
@jmdrpi - Evan is actually going to take over the cask program at Reading Liederkranz, if you are out that way again: German Lagers + Live Ales - ---
