Ah, that makes sense. Culture makes a big difference sometimes. That's sounds promising for us in that cask ale has similar profit margin to some of our craft beer. It may stick, if the consumer is better educated about it. Cheers Jack!
Not quite a Hogshead, but if you are familiar with NEARX then Pete @ Back Beat is planning to condition an ale via Kilderkin next year…trying to push for a countertop dispense Generally, ‘live ale’ is served via Pin, or Firkin. Granted, most utilize a Pin per turnover/freshness; however, restarting fermentation in a larger vessel usually outperforms the smaller vessel
Below is a video which was posted yesterday entitled “Is bitter disappearing from London pubs?”. The good news is that today you can still find a Bitter Ale served on cask at London Pubs. The less than good new (for me) is that the other handpumps are serving non-Bitter Ales; often described as being American (style) craft beers (e.g., Hazy/Juicy Pale Ales). I wonder if the Hazy/Juicy beer brands illustrated in this video had recipes which are “adjusted” to better suite cask delivery? Cheers! @Dethark
I suppose it does settle the debate about whether Bitter and Pale'n'Hoppy are the same style of beer, or two different styles. The "lump them together" school – to which I belonged until recently – argues: there have always been very dry, pale examples of Bitter, such as Boddingtons; brewers of Bitter have used American hops for 100+ years; Bitter is a very broad style ranging from sweetish, golden beers (Bathams) to dark, dry and astringent (Harvey's), so surely it can absorb some different hop varieties? Clearly drinkers regard them as different. You'll hear people talking about "trad bitter" when they mean the moderately hopped, golden to amber beer with Fuggles, Golding or Challenger. The cask Pale'n'Hoppy beers (which were most popular from about 2010 until juice/haze/sludge arrived on the scene) are in view a very successful hybrid of Bitter and APA. Typically they are lower in gravity, less aromatic and a bit more bitter than an APA, to fit British pint-drinking habits, and a bit fuller in body than a Session IPA in the US. The grist is generally something like Low Colour Maris Otter or lager malt. US hops are often used but also New Zealand hops. The "hazy" beers are much closer to the originals, I believe, but I don't know as much about those as I don't like them. But these too are usually brewed to a more pub-friendly gravity somewhere between 4–5% ABV.
The The American hops used 100+ years ago would have been Cluster hops and solely used for bittering. The flavor/aroma hops would have been British (e.g., Goldings, Fuggles). Contemporary American hops like Cascade, Centennial, Citra…are used as finishing hops to provide unique flavors (e.g., grapefruit). I am a BIG fan of ‘traditional’ Bitter Ales. I have yet to drink a contemporary Pale/Hazy Ale on cask. I have tasted a few contemporary American IPAs on cask and my personal preference is for these beers to be kegged beers since IMO they are best with full carbonation. Cheers!
The cask comes in a larger size glass, too, right? Yorkshire Square charges nine bucks for the full 20 ounce imperial pint of cask ale, which is alright by me.
forgot to mention that they are proper pints. 20 oz. Need to get my ass out there sometime . And visit Two Coast as well. You been there yet?
I still haven’t been to Two Coast, and thinking about it, I haven’t seen their beers out in the wild in a while. I may try to stop in there this week, I have some free time.
Jack this has been going on for years and is simply old news -- UK cask was quick to adopt new world hops in their pales/bitters/IPAs/ESBs well over 10 years ago - as well as new world recipes like black IPAs/NEIPAs - Golden Ales citra hops etc. Like the current state of craft in the US with its amazing variety and brewery competition - cask in the UK is the same - hard to imagine it can get any better - and the notion that the bitter is somehow threatened by this is preposterous.
I hope you are correct on your opinion that ‘traditional’ Bitter Ales is not “threatened” as you phrased it since I am a fan of the style. But according to the video it sure does seem that at London pubs there is a decline of offerings of this specific style of beer. Cheers!
The vast amount of the "craft beers" that were shown on cask in this video are only available cask at all. The Siren suspended in cask series is great in my opinion. Can't find anything about the Fell Brewery Tinderbox beer being a different recipe on cask to that of the keg and can. Same again for Vibrant Forest's Pupa.
