English Ale appreciation

Just in my travels around the US, if you go to places that have an middle age / older demographic, you’ll find a lot more of the European traditional styles to go with the modern haze, pastries and fruited sour purée beers. It’s in the high denisity urban areas that trend alot younger that don’t have the style variety as much and just chase latest trends only mostly.

 

Honestly, two of my favorite local beers are: BKS's Rockhill & Locust and Apex Alework's English Dark Mild. Both are, shocker, English Dark Milds. BKS does R&L plain most of the time, which is fantastic, but occasionally injects it with some local coffee. I love it either way. Pathlight brewing recently dropped an English Dark Mild called Passe. It's also quite enjoyable, although it drinks a little thicker than the first two mentioned.

When I travel to Colorado, which is usually an annual trip, I always make a point to hit Hogshead Brewery to get some cask. Likewise, when I was in Seattle for a work trip, I made sure to hit Machine House twice to take advantage of having cask ale within driving distance.

 

Not always a good barometer, it depends more on the beer and/or the brewery. Many ales can actually get better with age.

Now, if it's down to a quarter inch above the sludge... well, you won't really know until they pull the pump.

 

Agreed. I learned long ago that when I see something on cask, I first ask how long it's been there. The most I've seen was at one place and the bartender didn't know, other than, |"a couple weeks, maybe?" YEah, I stayed far away from that.
Some places did (do, once things are back to normal) a firkin Friday, where they'll tap a cask friday evening. I used to go to one a ways back that alwys had something good on - it was a great way to kill some time to let rush-hour traffic get past.

Not really. Yes, some beers can age well, but the point of casks is that they are gravity or pump poured, and instead of being pushed with CO2, they're open to air. No beer will improve after a week plus in contact with oxygen. Most of the time it's 3 days, 4 at the outside. before they're done. (there are co2 blanketing devices to keep the air out, but that's not really considered true cask by those in the know.)
On the other hand,regular CO2 draft beers can stay on almost indefinitely, assuming packaging was done right.

 

Can't say I agree -- and yes, I know how cask-conditioned dispensing works.

See my above post about pub-hopping in London. My friends and I would deliberately look for the same beer at different pubs and ask the duration of the cask just to compare and contrast.

That said, sure -- it could definitely be a gamble, not all beers -- or publicans, are alike -- thus my comment that duration on tap isn't always the best barometer on how good a beer might be. Gotta take that leap and give it a taste.

 

Good insight.

FWIW, I was at a local when their cask kicked one time (sorry, I can't recall if it was an import or local pub-brewed). When I saw the remnants in the pint I asked if I could taste it.

As I recall, it was (obviously) very yeasty, but the overall character had just gone flat. Nothing to really taste.

 

In my experience it doesn't escape those final pulls.

This could be another indication of amateurish cask-handling, but the one local that used to be big into cask ales also had one of those devices that kept the cask at the right levels to keep the beer off the yeast. Their last pulls were always pretty gnarly.

 

I have not had bad luck with cask beers in the US and Canada the times I have had them. However, I have had draft beers that had definitely turned bad. I used to get growlers regularly. Even though those beers were not cask, I enjoyed them as cask-similar when they were near empty with lower carbonation and warmed up above refrigerator temperature.

 

Fair enough. But my point is that there's a limit. For cask beers, they may improve over a day or two, but once it gets much more than that, it'll start oxidizing and go bad. 4 days, maybe in extreme cases 5 is about the limits for cask that's still good.
|You won't see a cask that's been on for a couple weeks that's still good.

 

Most certainly.

 

Love me some ESB & English Dark Mild, I assume it lacks demand but nonetheless delicious. We have a few here in CT that pump out some proper ones ie. Lasting Brass & Fox Farm.

 

My experiences most likely align with @JrGtr ‘s since we’re both in MA. I’ve had quite a few pints of cask having attended NERAX every year (sometimes twice a year) for over a decade. Not to mention having it at reputable places like Deep Ellum (one of Ron Pattinson’s old favorite haunts, and one of the few he trusted with cask), Redbones, and Stoddard’s. Kind of sucks that two out of those three are closed, and Redbones is STILL take out only…might be a microcosm of this entire thread.

That being said, I know how well versed you are in this (among other beer styles and experiences), so this is intriguing to me.

Are their particular ways of caring for a cask/specific styles that improve beyond 3-4 days?

One thing to note, since we’re both in MA, that “leap” can potentially be an $8-10 “leap” where we are. Especially if it’s a place not known for taking care of cask like the one’s mentioned above…they’ll up charge cask a gimmick.

 

Improve? That may be a very objective observation.

Kept good enough to continue drinking? Yes, I believe so because I've experienced it.

The ales on either side of the street definitely tasted different -- a surprise to the uninitiated (me, at the time) since they were the same beer. Imagine Miller tasting different in the pub across the street -- okay, probably possible, but one probably wouldn't be enjoyable -- as both ales were.

To note, I wish I could recall which ale we were drinking, but I seem to recall Green King Abbott Ale -- a favorite of the group I was with.

 

Sorry, SUBjective. I do that all the time.

 

I concur completely. There are a couple of brewery’s near me that offer ESB but sadly when compared to Fullers ESB from the West London brewery they fall very short on taste and finish!
We need ACAMRA

 

Let's not forget customer input!

"Oi, mate -- this Bitter is drinking fine!"

 

Readily available- where?? Love “Old Speckled”