Keep Cask Alive #2 [February - April 2025]

Agree, I spent a few days in Edinburgh and found a pub that had Landlord on cask (shout out to our UK Beer Advocates who gave me lots of very valuable travel tips). Also found bottles at a gas station on Isle of Skye near town of Uig and had them in the evenings at our B&B looking out over the bay. Bucket list trip for me for sure.

 

Below is installment number 3 of the 2025 series. An interesting ‘subplot’ of this episode is Five Points Brewing producing a wet hopped (the Brits used the term “green hop”) batch of beer. There were some ‘ups & downs’ on which variety of hops would be used for this batch but you will see that the final selection was Goldings hops.

Wet hopped beers are quite the ‘thing’ for US brewers in the Pacific Northwest. Apparently, it is also a ‘thing’ in the hop growing region(s) of the UK.

Cheers!

 

Ridden by there many times as well and have always wanted to peek inside.

 

It's tricky. Rocketing energy prices mean that at the moment it’s very difficult for both pubs and breweries to make ends meet.

Ten years ago I was grumbling about paying 4 GBP for a pint of cask and now I am seeing pints at 5.50–6 GBP (7–7.75 USD). This is for ordinary strength ~4% ABV beer and remember we like to drink several pints over an evening.

The pubs and breweries need to charge more, but a lot of people are already priced out of drinking in pubs and raising prices would drive customers away even more.

Yes, people expect cask to be cheaper, although there is more work and more waste involved. On the other hand, cask needs to be priced to sell fast, or the quality suffers. I don’t really know how to square the circle.

 

I enjoyed the first in this series. Good to know they are following up on it. Got me interest in cask ale about the same time one of our Georgia breweries became Cask Marque certified. First time I tried one, it completely disabused me of my mistaken ideas of what cask ale was. Good Word Brewing & Public House in Duluth, GA serves up some tasty pints. Todd DeMatteo initially charged just $5/pint to kick off the first month. They are still only $7/ pint, which I find to be quite fair for the quality and service. Below is probably my favorite, the Dark Mild. I know it will never be big here in the U.S. but I hope it sticks around here. Cheers to Cask Ale!

 

They probably don’t make anything that’s worth dying over. I can’t wrap my head around how it’s easier for you to get to Van Nuys than Torrance. Barley Square is about 2 miles off the 110 or 405: Van Nuys is an absolute nightmare drive for me.

On quality, I’d say that the two LA cask breweries are pretty equal, I thought Yorkshire Square was better before the buyout, but their version of the Landlord was a really great memorable beer, I can’t understand why they don’t seem to make it anymore.

 

my momma lives 7min away from Macleod so that is a major factor in the whole drive thing.
I absolutely despise the 110 ,the section from adams to florence is sttaight from hell.

 

For folks who are interested, I received an email yesterday announcing the annual Yards Real Ale Invitational occurring April 27, 2025:

“About this event

Discover an array of over 40 cask-conditioned beers handpicked from the finest breweries from the Philadelphia area. Wander through our brewhouse and packaging facility, indulging in samples of these exceptional brews. Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of our brewery, surrounded by towering walls of kegs, cans, and bottles, while enjoying live music. This event will be held rain or shine and guests must be 21+ to attend.

What makes our Real Ale Invitational truly special? It's all about Real Ale – unfiltered, unpasteurized beer naturally carbonated inside a cask, a tradition that traces back to England. Yards Brewing Company proudly played a pivotal role in reviving this brewing method in Philadelphia 30 years ago with our renowned Extra Special Ale. Since 2008, we've continued to champion this authentic approach with our annual Real Ale Invitational, making it a must-attend event for beer enthusiasts everywhere.”

Tickets are on sale:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/yards-2025-real-ale-invitational-tickets-1272731246419

Cheers!

P.S. At past events they also had cask ales from the UK which were specially flown in for this beer festival.

 

Sounds like a great event, similar to our NERAX. It's less than a month away starting on April 2nd.

There are about 100 US and UK offerings (beer and cider) over 5 sessions (Wed.-Sat.) but not all will be available for any one session. Typically there are 35 - 50 offerings per session.

When ordering a beer you can get a 5, 10 , or 20 ounce pour depending on which you prefer, served in your own personal NERAX glass.

 

I discussed last year's event in a thread:

"For folks who appreciated drinking Cask Beer in Philly there is the Yards Real Ale Invitational which occurs annually:



I attended this year’s event (May 19th) and had a great time. This year was special since it was also a celebration of Yards 30th anniversary and they served a special firkin of Yards ESA which was dry hopped in the firkin with East Kent Golding hops and this firkin was tapped by Dave Wilby of Dawson’s Street Pub. I discussed this in the Mild Ale thread:

“I recently attended the Yards Real Ale Invitational at Yards and this year’s event was also a celebration of their 30th anniversary. They had a ‘special’ cask of ESA there (dry hopped in the cask with East Kent Golding hops) and they let Dave Wilby who is the owner of Dawson Street Pub tap that cask.”

There was a total of 40 Firkins from a variety of craft breweries including lagers from Human Robot and Mainstay.

I discussed the Yards Washington’s Porter with Bourbon in the Porter thread:

“I attended the Yard's Real Ale Invitational last weekend with some buddies and they had a version of Washington's Porter on cask that also included bourbon-soaked charred wood chips. That beer was excellent. At the end of the event they even had some left so my buddy Phil bought a growler (5 bucks) and got it filled with this beer. He invited me to join him the next day to drink that growler but unfortunately I already had plans that day so I could not join him.”

Cheers to Real Ales!

P.S. Mark your 2025 calendars for next year’s event."

There is unlimited number of pours. I purposefully request small pours so that I can drink as many of the various brands on cask. Needless to say but I do not drink every brand and for those beers I really enjoy drinking I go back for seconds.

Cheers to Real Ale (and Lagers)!

 

That makes sense, I thought you knew a secret route to Van Nuys. I just mapped it and it’s a 66 mile 3-1/2 hour round trip drive to Macleod for me, so I’ll pretty much also have to be in the area for another reason to make a visit.

 

These days i rarely even drive farther than Firestone Walker for beer.
el segundo and smog city were places id frequent ,but not worth the time investment.
Maybe before the buyout if i even knew it existed I'd have visited, but driving back half drunk is a MAJOR risk on the 110fwy so glad i didnt
Macleod on the other hand ...

 

That event at Yards looks like a lot of fun. However I was surprised to see the casks just on the counter apparently without any cooling system in place. Am I missing something?

 

Lucky Penny ESB on Cask at Macleod, who also have their Cask Marque

 

The tasting event lasts just a few hours (this year's event is 12 pm - 4 pm). The casks are chilled in the brewery's cold room(s) prior to being placed in stillage. At the beginning of the event the beers are likely a bit more cool/cold than you would prefer but by the end of the event they are squarely at cellar temperature.

FWIW my 'method' is to wrap my hands around the glass at the beginning to warm the beers up a bit but between 3-4 pm I just drink them as is.

Cheers!

 

Latest Episode:

 

Got an interesting email from Hogshead in Colorado:

 

As luck would have it, I was able to drink a cask ale yesterday at Triumph Brewery (New Hope, PA) and I discussed this beer in this weekend’s NBW thread:

Serendipity!

My wife and I had to conduct some business in New Jersey earlier today and on the way home we decided to stop at Triumph Brewing (New Hope, PA) for a meal and beer(s). As good fortune would have it, they had a cask ale available served via a handpump. As the beer was detailed in the beer menu:

“English Bitter: 5.5%

Triumph proudly pours unfiltered “real ale” finished and dispensed in the traditional British style, served at cellar temperature (50-55 degrees). This naturally conditioned bitter in the Burton-on-Trent style brings you the authentic flavor of an English Pub.”

Served in a tulip glass (two photos below showing the cascading beer and then later the ‘settled’ beer):

Appearance:

Amber colored with a billowy white head.

Aroma:

A fair amount of caramel/toffee aroma with just very tiny hint of earthy hop aroma.

Taste:

The flavor is dominated with malt, mostly caramel/toffee but a bit of breadiness as well in the background. A low - medium bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

I thought this beer was good. It went well with my meal: a burger & fries (or chips in the parlance of an English Pub).

For my palate/preferences this beer would have benefitted from more hop flavor to provide some balance to the overall flavor profile.

My wife made the decision to order a pint of the Keller Pils. I had the pleasure of drinking a couple pours of this beer a week ago while attending the annual Bucks County Beer Bash. Keller Pils is an excellent beer.

Cheers!

P.S. This beer ‘reminds’ me that I need to order the ingredients for my annually homebrewed Bitter Ale that I make every spring. That beer will also be a “real ale” since it will be bottle conditioned.

 

In Bend, OR for the weekend and made sure to get my pint of cask Mirror Pond at the Deschutes pub downtown. Just a few blocks away is cask-specialist Porter Brewing's pub, one of my top recommendations for beer visitors.