Cask and Nitro

This is the dreaded cask breather. Certainly it prolongs the life of the beer but as it's small amounts of oxygen which cause the beer to develop extra levels and nuances of flavour it does the beer no good.
Rather than the full flavour dropping off quickly cask beer improves for two or three days and then tails off before final deterioration.The problem is to judge things so some of the beer does reach its full potential but has been used up before going bad.
The notion that oxidation is bad is so ingrained that it takes a bit of unlearning when it comes to cask.

 

I went to my first cask ale fest last year and it was an eye opener. I think that's where my future taste preferences will be.

 

No, I have never made it to Litiz.

Cheers!

P.S. My wife is more excited about attending tomorrow's cask ale event then I am.

 

I like some stouts & porters on nitro, but that's about as far as I'll go. Tried a few of Left Hand's latest bottled offerings, not impressed...

 

Calm down

 

Nothing like cask ale, wish more brewers here did it.

 

I've always wondered why people on this site hate nitro beers. I mean that honestly, I'd like to know the reason because there must be a concrete one if so many people find it repulsive. Personally, I had an Epic Hopulent on nitro last year and I thought it was divine. Never had a double IPA on nitro and it was very tasty. I would actually love to try more and more styles with a nitro pour.

 

I really hope there are much less nitro offerings, I just don't understand the appeal at all...and am seeing more and more breweries go towards nitro on a lot of things. Nitro has the worst artificial taste and mouthfeel. I can't get around it. One of my favorite bars in Houston, the Hay Merchant, will often have 512 Pecan Porter on CO2, Nitro, and Cask. Have them all side by side, and it is clear as day which is inferior, and which is amazing. One of the best beers in Texas, and one that is made for cask condition is just a treat. On nitro it is completely dulled, flavorless, and artificial. Blah.

 

There is no reason to link them in the same discussion. There's nothing to compare between them. Cask conditioned ale and nitro dispensed beers are extreme opposites. What in hell do you find appealing in nitro cans and bottles??? In my long experience on this site, you are the first to link them in a "positive" development you would like to see for both. Nitro - ughhh!

 

Good god man. You've been a member for nearly two years and haven't read the discussions in many different threads on why many hate nitro??

This is the most recent. Read through it.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nitro-vs-non-nitro.156989/page-2#post-2218477

 

Nitro keg was invented to mimic cask hand-pumped through a sparkler, so I think the comparison is valid. It's not the same, but I think they are closer than standard keg and cask through a sparkler are. The carbonation and foam are similar, which is the whole point.

 

I'm not sure that this is entirely the case as the mouthfeel of cask ale is markedly different from that of nitro. But it was Guinness who introduced this crime because it was between a rock and a hard place. Old fashioned CO2 made it too gassy and overcarbonated , inappropriate for a stout , and cask , the only alternative,had long been abandoned.

 

Coincidentally, I was just at a place that offered the same beer via CO2, cask or nitro. Having tried the beer on CO2 before, this time I tried the cask and nitro. Enjoyed it both ways. I didn't feel that nitro "murdered" it, but I preferred it from cask - perhaps unsurprisingly because I love cask beer (but I also enjoy nitro). Other folks at the bar seemed to like nitro best.

 

The carbonation in cask ale is light and natural. I see no similarity at all with the tiny cascading nitro bubbles. Likewise, the head produced by a sparkler is light and airy compared to the synthetic looking, thick as shaving cream head produced by nitro. Sparklers are used primarily in the northern region of England and are far from universal in Britain or in our country. There is no comparison.

 

Here's a pint (at least it began as one) of Tetley's cask; notice that it isn't flat and the lacing rings show that I've had a couple of swallows already.Certainly doesn't look like shaving cream.Tetley's is commonly served with a sparkler though not a tight one;

 

Do they have Peroni on cask there?

I always hate it when you post these pictures, because I can't get these beers on cask anywhere in the US.

 

No Peroni on cask! Peroni do though supply the bar mats and beer glasses; have to say that a pint of Peroni looks a treat in one of them.Doesn't taste of much really but then it's Miller's in an Italian suit. Lots of people drink it simply because it's the dearest beer in the pub.You meet all sorts.

 

I read through it and it would seem that you REALLY do not like nitro beer, and that's fine although it does seem a bit borderline obsessive. Anyway, I suppose it is an 'unnatural' addition to beer post brewing. Yet I could care less what people are doing to their drinks, as long as they enjoy them. They can pour flavored syrup into a berliner weiss. Hell they can pour orange soda into a lager (actually a popular imbibe with the teenage crowd in Germany), or pour orange juice into their IPA, drop a ball of ice cream into their stout or pump nitrogen into it. If a person enjoys the taste at the end I suppose that is the only point. You obviously don't like the nitro route and that bothers me as much as the tea markets of China. I had a blonde ale on nitro pour a few nights ago and thought it tasted terrible if that lays down any condolences for you.

 

You and others are more than welcome to enjoy nitro and anything else you choose. It certainly doesn't bother me in the slightest.

The point of your post escapes me. You're taking me to task for expressing my strong anti-nitro opinion in a thread titled nitro vs non-nitro???
Why is that? Do you think only pro-nitro opinions were being asked for?

 

Cask - yes please
Nitro (in any form) - no thanks