NERAX (2018)

I also fear that one year NERAX will be canceled due to today's market. Or, that traditional cask styles will be minimal, or extinct from their tap lists.

So far it seems like there's always a decent crowd there, and still plenty of traditional English styles to pique my interest.

 

Do you think the percentage of non-traditional stuff has changed a lot over the time that you've been going? Or have they always had it as part of their intention to mix things up and try to stretch the limits of what "belongs" in a cask?

Like you mentioned, I was surprised not to find any milds which I thought were almost sort of synonymous with cask ales, but also as you mentioned, there were plenty of otherwise traditional things to be had too.

I was assuming you'd have several of the one kind of beer you liked and thus pro-rate that $10 down to a reasonable level ​

 

I want to say there were far more years ago, but honestly it's hard to say. I've been going for about 10+ years I think. I think there were definitely more Milds in the past. You'll still see plenty of Golden Ales and low ABV pale ales from the UK...of course some of these might use non-traditional hop strains as well, sort of making it a moot point.

It could also be a function of there simply being more IPAs overall, and therefore, more IPAs at NERAX.

Good point!

I tend to stick to 4 oz. pours so I can try a wide variety. I'll also throw in some 8 oz. pours of the 4% or less ABV stuff.

 

Thanks for the perspective. And I love the 8 oz. pours myself. As a helpful chap at the glass table told me - 'even if you plan to only have half pours, get the bigger glass because it's not possible to overfill the smaller glass'. Sure enough those "half" pours were always on the generous side

 

I'll be there - can't wait. Easily one of the better fests you can go to. Seems like Nerax North in Salem was about half UK and half US beers if I remember correctly. Sadly I think only one German cask which is a bummer. All the same, that's a very small complaint. I do not miss the crazy lines of hazebros from most festivals.

 

Oh yeah, I always get the full glass. I think a year or two ago I stopped taking them home with me though. I probably have about 60+ beer specific glasses at home, and I barely have room.

Who needs bowls and plates anyways?

 

Keep in mind that the non traditional cask offerings are cropping up all over the UK so the changes at NERAX are in many ways reflective of what is happening “at the source”. This is being driven by all of the innovation coming from the booming craft scene over there and the desire to showcase all the incredible new variety. Not very long ago London was primarily a two brewery town - Young’s and Fullers dominating the pub/cask scene — now the variety is incredible — and number of free houses able to serve whatever brands they want expanding constantly. For me personally I love a good dark ruby mild or 3.2% bitter - flavors are sublime and you can drink the stuff all day long without the slightest buzz— but I also love a citra/mosaic dry hopped beer like Fyne Ales Jarl or Thornbridge Jaipur. My mouth is watering getting ready for NERAX.....

 

Ha, I hear you on glasses in general. Though in this case I'm looking forward to bringing my Nerax collection up to an even pair. I actually find that I like the one I have more than a lot of my "fancier" glassware.

 

I'll most likely be there on Wed. the 11th ... Wish I could do more.

 

Year #8 for me. Saturday day session. Can't wait!

 

I've been going for probably 15 years now, and I have to say that yes, non-traditional (whatever that means...) is definitely higher percentage that it used to be. You mostly had bitters and milds, with a few stouts and a a couple oddballs, like the year that Stone sent a cask of Ruination...
Now there's a lot more IPAs and so forth, and the bitters and milds and such are fairly few and far between. Even the British casks are a lot more IPAs, though not the hop-bombs we think of generally.
There's always some stouts, and more recently ciders and sours and even a kombucha or 2 thrown in the mix.
If I had the inclination, I could find my old booklets going back most of the times I went and start playing numbers and see what comes up...

 

Awesome first night tonight w/a larger than expected crowd and typical great mix of brews. Some favorite UK beers for me - Darkstar Hopehead, Brass Castle Emergency Bitter and Thames Side Mallard Mild — all under 4%. Also had a cloudy Brick and Feather beer w/German hops that was tasty and juicy. Edward did not make a showing but is rumored to be going on tomorrow night. Cheers to the NERAX team for another killer fest!

 

Weirdest beers last night that I sampled — a tequila barrel aged cider —little bit of tequila in the nose and then dry, still, slightly sour flavor - interesting. Beer’d had a 9% DIPA that literally tasted like grape juice..and lastly a NEIPA from Zero Gravity that has juicy NW hops and a new variety that leaves a faint coconut flavor in the aftertaste. Something for everything this year .....

 

Those were two of my favorites also! Congrats to NERAX for pulling together another stellar event. I'm looking forward to sampling more on Saturday.

For the NERAX curious, here's the cask list from the program. Seems like a fantastic variety this year. A little heavy on the IPA, but plenty of UK styles, dark beers, and oddballs

 

Oh man I hope Notch's dark mild makes it to Saturday. That was the beer that made me determined to go to Nerax last year. I know everyone says this about whatever style they like that isn't very popular, but it seems like dark milds would be a perfect fall/winter beer in New England at least. I read on the main board that they use caramel and dark sugars rather than roasted malt to get their appearance and flavor - is that kind of a pain and/or an unfamiliar process to your average U.S. brewer perhaps?

Anyway, looks like a great list. Thanks for posting!

 

I had to import brewer's caramel from a homebrew shop in the UK for a recent dark mild I brewed. It is not common here. Traditionally a dark mild was not a session porter, but it seems to be brewed that way (if it is brewed at all!) by American brewers. I am very much looking forward to drinking these milds tonight.

 

Didn't one of the SN Experimental IPAs have a coconut hop note to it this year? And Beer'd can get lost with that 9% DIPA on cask nonsense. Cool list, wish there were more milds. Might have to check this out on Friday night. But not always easy to find a friend to go drink cask beer with these days.

 

I could never understand many of the UK home-brew recipes for Dark Milds that call for 100% Maris Otter -- I just assumed there was a caramel coloring being added that wasn't mentioned in the recipe. But...I had a recipe for a bitter this winter that called for boiling the wort for an hour and half..and whoa if the color didn't got way brassy and close to ruby on me. Where did u get the brewers caramel?

 

Colchester Homebrew Supplies:
http://www.colchesterhomebrew.co.uk...473-Brupaks-Brewers-Caramel-Liquid-100ml.html

£2.59, but the shipping was going to be £20. I had it shipped to a friend in London and she mailed it to me for around £5.

Another product to consider and available in the US is Liquor Quik distillers caramel
https://milehidistilling.com/product/distillers-caramel/

It says it is also for dark beers. I bought some but haven’t tried it yet.

BTW, I did have the Thames Side Mallard Mild at NERAX tonight and thought get it was delicious. The Notch wasn’t on tap so might be tapped later in the week.