All - looking to see if anyone had any intel on American breweries focusing on cask ale. The only two I know of are Machine House in Seattle and Hogshead in Denver. anyone aware of any other American breweries focusing on cask?? thanks!
Away Days in Portland,while not cask focused, have a solid program. They focus on English style beers that work well with this serving method. They also do an annual cask fest. Upright, also in Portland, have 2-3 casks on, usually English-style beers. @John_M ,@sharpski - what was the place in Bend with a ton of casks?
Well, there's the cellar/Porter brewing company. I've never been, but I think they almost exclusively make and offer cask conditioned ale. Brewers Union 180 in Oakdale was another place that focused almost entirely on cask ale. The pub has now morphed into the 3 legged crane pubic house. They still tend to serve 4 or 5 cask conditioned ales at any one time, but also now offer a number of beers served on CO2.
@M-Fox24 basically created a blog on here of his travels in and around our area. I’ll wait for him to answer…
Primitive Beer in Colorado pulled the most amazing gueuze and lambic like cask beers I've ever had. Such soft supple texture and infinitely drinkable on top of their already complex profiles. They were really taking care to not just do it right, but perfectly, every single pull. I just Googled them and saw a bunch of concerning articles, but think they are moving locations.
As John mentioned above, Porter Brewing, originally in Redmond, OR but now in La Pine (and their The Cellar tasting room in Bend) is exclusively cask.
Thanks @jonphisher @moysauce where are you situated, before I dive into this further: Illinois? Tom Rau & Greg Brown are trying to perfect + build a ‘clean’ cask program in the Chicago area = They ae vocal about developing a ‘Pub Ale’ series & reenergizing cask ale via tradition v. extracts: Their emphasis is (correctly) on yeast selection + conditioning Beermiscuous is seemingly contributing to AH’s efforts, and have been emphasizing cask ale more frequently. Albeit, their marketing campaign is contorted, but the efforts might drive awareness -
I'm in Chicago proper. Beer Temple always has something on cask and they do a great job there. Art History and Roaring Table have been supplying some great cask ales. Would be awesome to see the equivalent of a Hogshead or Machine House pop up in the area. Or just an English pub pulling predominantly cask ales from Chicago(land) breweries that do make well.
Ya. Lane Fearing at Roaring Table trained under Greg Brown (AH): both have been pushing ‘live ale’ throughout the area. Nonetheless, Greg has pulled back on some accounts, as some venues were adding ‘additives’ via bunghole, which (rightfully) did not sit well with him Steve Hamburg is the stateside Cask Marque representative, and may be trying to revive the ‘US Real Ale Festival’ (RAF) in Chicago through other outlets…Steve occasional grabs a pull off Revolution’s engine Something else to consider is the Elmhurst location, where Phase Three has put an emphasis on Cask ale. Granted I have not been to this location yet (recently opened), but the setup & practice seems genuine - Post Date: November 2023 -
Slightly off topic but relevant to you, Coniston Bluebird Bitter just show up in NJ and it is very fresh for an import. I reached out to them and they got back on the bottle code...my bottes were just around 3 months old when I purchased. Said L26 039, the L part is the year plus 2 (why?? god knows) and the second set is day of the year. Hope you can find some, I really enjoyed it.
