FWIW, in my opinion the craft brewed cask beers I have purchased in my area (Philly area) have a low(er) carbonation level in the cask and the sparklers knock out too much (i.e., 41% reduction) carbonation. Maybe if these local breweries created casks with a bit more carbonation to compensate for this carbonation decrease the result would be a more pleasing cask beer in the glass (for my personal palate)? Cheers!
Matt – Author of ‘Modern British Beer’ (link at the bottom) – Just finalized his last piece on Cask, which covers: the misconceptions, the inadequate cellaring techniques, the disconcerting/data inconsistencies, the fashionable trends, the US influence on the UK landscape, shaping the preferences of modern-day pub-goers via campaigns, mass producers (e.g. Molson Coors) overshadowing… The Importance of Cask Beer, Part One: The Obsession The Importance of Cask Beer – Part Two: Should We Trust the Data? The Importance of Cask Beer – Part Three: Cask on the International Stage Some fragments below --- Cask Campaign Uncertainties: Interaction with Matt Brynildson (Firestone Walker) Interaction with Yvan de Baets (Brasserie de La Senne) The Detractors The Future --- --- Other Materials/Books from Matt Modern British Beer - CAMRA - Campaign for Real Ale An Opinionated Guide to London Pubs: Thompson, River, Curtis, Matthew: 9781910566817: Amazon.com: Books
You too can make a Real Ale An extract from the above post: “Beers like London Pride and Landlord were, in part, responsible for igniting the American craft beer revolution in the first place.” There is some truth to that since the many of the beers from the first craft breweries were ales with some being Pale Ales (e.g., Sierra Nevada Pale Ale). I suspect that every brewer has their own unique path to how they decided to become a brewer. My path was I fell in love with the Cask Ales I drank on my numerous business trips to Great Britain in the 1990’s. This love motivated me to purchase a homebrew kit and my first batch of beer was branded “Traditional Bitter Ale” as listed on the can of Muntons malt extract I purchased for this first brew. I have homebrewed a Bitter Ale annually ever since that first batch. Tomorrow I will be brewing my annual Bitter Ale (my 505th batch of homebrew). My target for a Bitter Ale is a beer that is flavorful and well balanced between the flavors from malt, hops and yeast produced flavors (i.e., esters which yield fruity flavors). For those of you who appreciate Bitter Ales and homebrew (or desire to make your own beers) below is a list of ingredients and some process decisions for this 5 gallon batch of Bitter Ale: List of ingredients · Thomas Fawcett floor malted Maris Otter Pale Malt: 10 lbs. · Simpsons Medium Crystal Malt: 1 lb. · Magnum hops: 0.5 ounce for bittering addition · East Kent Golding hops: see hop schedule below · Wyeast 1469 yeast (purportedly the Timothy Taylor yeast strain) Process decisions · Make a 1.5 liter yeast starter of Wyeast 1469 · Mash - single temperature infusion mash: 153 °F for 60 minutes · Ferment warm: 70 °F · Hop Schedule for flavor/aroma additions: o 1 ounce East Kent Goldings for last 10 minutes of boil (60 minute boil overall) o 1 ounce East Kent Goldings at end of boil & 40 minute hop-stand o 2 ounces of East Kent Goldings for dry hopping · Bottle beers with a small amount of table sugar to achieve about 1.5 volumes of carbonation I also add some water addition minerals to mimic the brewing water of Burton upon Trent breweries. You should tailor the above to suit your personal tastes. Cheers to Real Ales!
I don't know if there's any truth to the idea that sparklers are a direct result of Northern brewers using less hops because of their climate conditions, but the explanation smells of BS and the sort of thing Ron P. wouldn't totally agree with. @patto1ro - What do you think?
That Victorian engine is a thing of real beauty ... but it would probably be a pain in a very busy pub.
This is what Matthew Curtis was addressing/getting at per …This approach that Otter is taking seems to be analogous to the 'fake casks' here in the US
Perhaps it's prejudice, but if their 41% figure has any merit in the real world, then the CAMRA statement of "a little less" comes across as overly diplomatic.
Old Venue / New Live Ale - Spuyten Duyvil New York, USA 1xActive Beer Engines (Angram) Cask-conditioned Cask Tapped: May 25, 2023 Visit: May 26, 2023 English-Style Dark Mild: Tinytude Brewery: Wayward Lane Grains: English Hops: English (UK Grown Fuggles) Yeast: English ABV: 2.8% Aspirator: Yes Sparkler: No Immersed: No Pints: 2 Visuals: 6 --- --- --- SD Tapping, from the day before - --- Auxiliary – Gravity tapping at an esteemed location next week. They do not have an engine (being discussed/a possibility), but they do entertain the original method intermittently, along with the German dispense mechanism… Unfortunately, this coincides with another event
I detest sparklers. They have no positive function. If you have beer in absolutely perfect condition, the sparkler doesn’t do any harm – you just have to wait longer until the beer settles and you can start drinking your pint. But if the beer is slightly oxidised, as often happens with cask beer, the sparkler seems to emphasise the oxidisation and you get what I have come to call the “sparkler taste”. Flat beer pulled through a sparkler, as discussed above, makes it even flatter, but it looks OK, until you start drinking the pint. Cynics (like me) believe disguising flat beer is the major reason for their use. It bears repeating – well conditioned cask beer will form a good head naturally.
Part #2: “2008…2010…2012… brewers weren’t looking at cask ale as traditional English dispense real ale, they were looking at the cask as a method to put bullshit into the beer…it’s a cask, but it’s really more about the adjuncts that you’re putting into the cask…a vessel to put stuff into” --- Jimmy sits down with Steve Hamburg (Cask Marque Americas) Neil Callaghan (Brick Store Pub) Todd DiMatteo (Good Word Brewing) A Niche of a Niche of a Niche: Cask Ale | Heritage Radio Network ---- Interest in Cask Marque accreditation post-COVID + Steve is trying to get more passed in NY; however, he is reliant on word-of-mouth and those willing to put in the work Establishments that are dedicated/serious & willing to invest in the proper equipment Appreciating the time & extra skillset required More brewers doing cask right nowadays vs “a vessel to put stuff into” This is a factor of brewers throwing “bullshit” into the fermenter or mash tun vs playing around with a firkin. Thus, those still doing cask are doing it for the right reasons The desire to introduce more guests to real ale: to educate them on the experience Importance of cellar temp, and maintaining cellar temp via beer line (i.e. chilled siphon to the piston) Cellarman/Handler knowing about maturation (often overlooked): knowing when to dispense, as opposed to rushing through the process Brief discussion on dispensing a California Common and the fermentable similarities to British culture Pubs assuming ‘cask’ is a simple cool/attractive process, and not understanding what is actually entailed vs Breweries who are more likely to handle/understand ‘cask’ better Greg Engert’s new spot in LA: Brewery Saint X Cask Marque failures mostly due to warm temperatures, as cooler temperatures are given a bit of leniency (e.g. letting the ale sit) Bluebird accessibility and Landlord rarity: Neil is trying to get Landlord stateside (e.g. building a relationship) UK Pubs: Whitelock's Ale House and the connection to The Turk's Head Best pups being those with few options In some cases, atmosphere takes precedence > quality (e.g. Sam Smith) Todd is working on an English beer festival with Track Brewing (Manchester, UK) among others, which is likely to take place in September/October
Did Northern brewers use fewer hops? As with anything, that;s a really simplistic view. Te North and South were not homogeneous regions. Recipes, hopping and strength varied within them. Just had a quick comparison of Whitbread (London) and Lees and Boddington in the mid-1950s. The hopping rates are very similar. They just liked a creamy head in the North. Nothing to do with hops.
Made a visit to Forest & Main yesterday. Had pints of their cask conditioned Best Bitter and Porter. Both very tasty
This seems to be the case… --- The article goes on to discuss the reasoning behind the creation “in modernising British beer," which is greeted through uncertainties. Irrespective, McCaig’s approach appears to be twofold with one objective: “getting people to drink in pubs and not at home” Patrick McCaig looks to be optimistic, but this is another campaign that could be
This sort of reminds me of how the New England IPA indirectly lead to a lager revival (and beyond) within the US (in my opinion). That style brought people into tap rooms, and got them interested in better beer. This gave brewers a bit more leeway and more importantly, money, to explore styles they were actually more interested in.
