Another mild, for March - Odd Bird New Jersey, USA 1xActive Beer Engine (Hi-Gene) Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: Mar. 3rd, 2023 Visit: Mar. 4, 2023 English-style mild ale: Mome Rath Grains: Floor Malted Maris Otter, Rabbit Hill Caramel Rye Malt, Simpsons DRC Hops: Whole Leaf Fuggles Yeast: Omega British Ale VII ABV: 3.9% Breather: Yes (low/variable usage) Sparkler: Off Pints: 2 Visuals: 3 + The Lever The Lever --- --- Supplementary Data = A nice post from Adam on cask
Wonder where this stat originates? Since it say "commercial beer" (i.e., total beer sold) and not "beers" (which would imply individual brands), that would imply that the beer carbonated via the Kräusening process (including two of the largest US brands, Budweiser and Bud Light, as well many German brands and Samuel Adams Boston Lager), bottle-conditioned beers (SNPA) and beers from brewers carbonating via Spunding (Anchor, Sierra Nevada) are only 5% of the market discussed - unclear if Odd Bird means just the US or worldwide. John Smith is a brewery in Tadcaster (just down the road from Samuel Smith's) still in business and owned by Heineken. https://www.heineken.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tadcaster-VT-r2.mp4 Like other UK breweries, JS likely owned their own chain of pubs, including in Tadcaster itself, so that handle (one assumes the engine has been rebuilt) might have been used in the brewery or a local pub, obviously - just found the wording of "John Smith Pub" odd. But, really - "bung" and "real ale" are viewed as humorous/geeky terms? I guess today's small breweries get a lot of customers with little or no beer knowledge, which I guess is a good thing. (Plus, "firkin" is funnier than "bung" unless you haven't worked in an industry using materials that came in 55 gallon drums, I suppose?). When the weather gets a bit nicer, I gotta head up to that part of NJ with Odd Bird and Descendants so close together.
In the states & outside of online forums…this is common: “proper cask ale is a rarity in this country” = Places with a piston are not widespread, and so the average consumer walks into a place like Odd Bird (i.e. a place that serves cask-conditioned ale), and inquires: What is this, or -
Some details / explanation from the post. It was from a Instagram post that was directed at the general public, most with zero knowledge of cask beer (and not meant to make them experts in a hundred words). The "about 95%" stat is not meant to be be a specific break down on the methods of carbonation, but to show a point of "cask ale is very uncommon" in a simple and brief statement. We were not getting into spunding or bottle condition in that post (we will save that for later). I get that stat is off if you get into the detail, but it makes the point in this situation. A John Smith Tied-house or John Smith owned pub. Sorry if the wording is odd to people who know more about the history of British pubs than most of the general beer drinking public. The whole beer engine itself is original with the exception of the seals which have been replaced. Purchased in 2009 from a pub (owned by John Smith's brewery) that was closed after the sale to Heineken. For 99% of american brewery customers... yes bung is funny. Heard enough Beavis impressions to state that as fact. And Real Ale is only used (in my experience) but someone who is immediately going to tell me about CAMRA. So that is a bit geeky (not a bad thing). Firkin is more commonly known in this area because many brewery have a "Firkin Friday" (though the ones who just put carbed beer in a pin with weird stuff in it and call it a firkin..is outside of this conversation) Again,, not to downplay correct knowledge, but an IG post to get people thinking about what they are drinking, and be excited about it, doesn't need to have a pedantic level of detail / precision. That is what this thread is for (and I love it).
Some updates: Pete Brown, PoS Kits, Control Pubs… Pete Brown: PoS Kits: Control Pubs + Intention: Objective: --- Source: Drink Cask Fresh pilot scheme launches (morningadvertiser.co.uk)
More mild, for March - Forest & Main Pennsylvania, USA 3xActive Beer Engines (Angram) Cask Tapped: > Week Pub Visit: Mar. 11, 2023 English-Style Dark Mild: Dark Mild Grains: Maris Otter, Dark & Roasted Malts Hops: Fuggles and Polaris ABV: 3.9% Aspirator: Yes Pints: 2 Sparkler: Off Visuals: 4 Sparkler: On Visuals: 3 Munich Pub Ale: Stone Flower (Fall pubber) Grains: Munich malt Hops: Fuggles, Styrian Wolf Yeast: British ale yeast ABV: 4% Aspirator: Yes Pints: 1 Sparkler: Off Visuals: 2 --- Doorway Dark Mild (Off) Dark Mild (On) Munich Pub Ale (Off)
Recent article, from Pete Brown: The best British draught beers to try now (msn.com) --- While standard draught is included, Pete keeps the 'Landlord' to cask: --- Full List: Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter Rudgate Ruby Mild Timothy Taylor Landlord Utopian British Lager Thornbridge Jaipur
I have to give a shout out to Todd DiMatteo and Good Word Brewing in Duluth, GA. Congrats to them for obtaining their Accreditation from Cask Marque for serving quality cask beers. I had this tasty English style Best Bitter Digital Comforts 3.9% ABV this past weekend. Enjoying learning more about cask beers too.
Deven & Avara break down cask with an emphasis on ingredients – GBM - 123 Preserving The Real Ale Experience with Deven and Avara Roberts of Porter Brewing ~ Good Beer Matters Conversation touches on - The approach to reviving, preserving, and spreading the good work on Cask Cask phasing out in the US, and struggling in the UK The experience (temperature, feel) vs “draft - is just something you consume” The correct volume of CO2, and the variance over time per the reduction, when in service The quantity of carbonation vs. the quality of carbonation The lack of availability due to the work involved > the interest Festivals being a rarity: those that do exist often incorporate unusual/nontraditional concoctions Brewing to style, and the challenge behind tradition The history behind nitrogen, as to simulate Cask (e.g. Guinness’ influence, differing gas blends, Nitro + CO2 levels) Fake Cask throughout the states ---- Moreover - Porter Brewing, Oregon’s only all-Cask “Real Ale” Brewery is Relocating — New School Beer + Cider
...Anstichfaß High Point (Ramstein) New Jersey, USA 1xGerman Gravity Dispense Cask Tapped/Spigoted: Mar. 17th, 2023 Visit: Mar. 17th, 2023 Maibock: Bourbon Barrel Bock Grains: Imported Munich & Pilsner Malts Hops: Noble Hops Yeast: Lager Yeast ABV: 7% Immersed: Yes (marginally) Visuals: 5 Doorway --- ---
Odd Bird did a gravity pin of our stout yesterday. Blew through it, so we are doing a second one today. Our rye mild will be on hand pull also. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cp7qJLxgcD6/
...back to mild, for March + Couldn’t pass up/resist Adam’s first Gravity tapping @ OB: more to come - Odd Bird New Jersey, USA 1xGravity Dispensed Cask Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: Mar. 18th, 2023 Visit: Mar. 18th, 2023 1xActive Beer Engine (Hi-Gene) Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: Mar. 17th, 2023 Visit: Mar. 18th, 2023 --- Tavern Stout (Dark British Beer): Mumbletypeg via Gravity Grains: Floor Malted Maris Otter, Blonde Roast Oats, Chocolate Malt, Pale Chocolate Malt, Black Malt Hops: German Magnum Yeast: ECY07 Scottish Heavy ABV: 4.3% Pints: 2 Visuals: 4 English-style mild ale: Mome Rath via Piston Grains: Floor Malted Maris Otter, Rabbit Hill Caramel Rye Malt, Simpsons DRC Hops: Whole Leaf Fuggles Yeast: Omega British Ale VII ABV: 3.9% Aspirator: Yes Sparkler: Off Pints: 1 Visuals: 3 --- Gravity Piston
The importance of quality for the cask beer sector (morningadvertiser.co.uk) ---- "It’s not just innovation but questions such as"… How is cask presented currently? What do the pump clips look like? Can this be evolved? How does dispense work? How can this be modernized for the new consumer who is keen on trying some of the new keg beers? And, above all, the quality of cask beer ----
NERAX 2023 POSTPONED New dates April 19 - 22!! Due to numerous supply chain issues completely out of our control, the UK beer will not arrive until after the original festival dates so we are postponing the festival until April 19 - 22. The festival will be at the same location and have the same session times. We apologize and are incredibly disappointed to have to do this. We understand this may impact your plans and inconvenience many of you, but without the UK beer we will not have enough beer for everyone so we have no choice. We hope you can still make it and look forward to seeing everyone (finally) for the first time in years to share a pint of fresh cask beer/cider! Ticketholders will automatically have their tickets transferred to the corresponding new session they originally bought and will receive an email soon to be eligible for a full refund. Volunteers will also be contacted soon.
