Casks?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cask_ale

You're missing out! Try one anytime you can!

 

Agreed. Any chance you get to have a cask beer, seize the opportunity. Carpe the opportunity.

 

Yes, there is a huge difference. Seek them out.

 

http://www.expedia.com/Cheap-Flights-To-London.d178279.Travel-Guide-Flights

 

I certainly think it's the right way to serve British styles and it's a far superior experience to drinking those beers from bottle or can. If the beer's well looked after and has a good turnover then it should be a great drinking experience (assuming the beer is decent, of course). I'd guess that American ales influenced by British styles (APA, American IPA etc.) should do well in cask, as long as the strength doesn't mean they turn over too slowly.

Overall, I think cask conditioning is one of the best things in beer.

 

Yes, but with caution.
THe problem with cask beer is that it has a very short life. More than 4 - 5 days at the outside and you're looking at an oxidized mess. Some beers are better the day after tapping, but even this is rare.
If you see a cask offering at a bar or restaurant, I would certainly recommend trying it, but only after asking how long it's been on first.
Keep in mind that most of the beer drinking population considers cask beer "warm and flat." Not quite so. It is stored and served at cellar temps - mid 50's or so, and it is naturally carbonated and vented before serving, so it will have less carbonation than standard draft beer.
also, some places will use a CO2 breather to blanket the beer from oxygen. This is not cask, just gravity-poured draft. The effects of oxygen is part of the pleasure of cask beer and seeing how it changed over time.

 

Careful what you advise here. Cask in the US does not equal cask in the UK.

 

This. You can come across solid cask offerings in the US, but (IMO):

1. They often aren't handled well / sit out too long.
2. Beers that don't suit cask (DIPA) are offered in a cask version.

 

and...
3. U.S. "craft" brewers frequently (if not nearly exclusively) treat "cask" like a Randall and throw all manner of crap into it.

 

Cask beers should be enjoyed quickly after tapping, but are a superior product if you ask me. The natural carbonation is typically softer than draft and one served at cellar temp is always great. Many breweries tend to make their cask ales different than their standard beer, either by extra dry hops, fruit, herbs, etc.

 

I recently had a real cask ale on a visit to New York, and it was much better than other cask ales I've had that were loaded with excessive adjuncts. The beer was so smooth and voluptuous and creamy, and the flavors were amplified quite a bit.

It seems there's almost as much variation from "faux-cask to real cask" as there is from "cask to non-cask".

 

For the most part I have enjoyed the casks that I have tried. However, there is one place in Atlanta that constantly has casks of Allagash beers and they're absolutely horrible! I honestly thought I hated Curieux because of their cask. I finally had a non-cask version and thought it was really good. So, long story short, casks can go both ways.

 

That's exactly the type of beer that should never go near a cask.

To me, beers that are offered on cask should be ones with more subtlety of flavor (bitter, pale ale, mild etc). A bourbon barrel aged tripel? No thanks

 

I know but if interest grows there then US cask could get better.

 

Keg or bottle to cask is like instant coffee to fresh roast beans. I'm able here to buy many beers in both bottles and cask, the bottles are dumbed down with many of the nuances and flavour layers either muted or missing,even though many brewers brew to a higher strength for the bottled version.
The caveat is of course that you don't get something for nothing. It must be kept well and consumed within a few days.For two or three days the beer will generally improve as air works its magic , then it becomes lifeless before deteriorating.

 

Perhaps. But I would bet my life that the styles of beers that most benefit from being served on cask will never catch on among U.S. "craft" geeks. My buddy and I brew a couple of dark milds that are pretty spot on stylistically, and I can't tell you how many times I've heard a beer geek say: "Have you thought about amping this up a bit?" To which I typically reply, "Sure, if you would rather drink a brown ale." They simply cant handle that degree of subtlety.

 

No it isn't.

Cask suits the 3 to 4 % low ABV beers that are common in the UK and that you like.

Anything 7/8%+ is usually better in keg.

Give me a DIPA or Imperial Stout via keg dispense over cask almost everytime.