English cask ale

I sure hope it does. I think it will eventually, but probably only in the hip parts of big cities, so, I'll be lucky if I ever get to try it.

 

I would love if more breweries in America cashed in on English cask ale and 'real ale'. Unfortunately, the demand in America is high for hoppier and stronger beer. Another bad thing is cask ale is good only for a few days. People don't know what they're missing.

 

Yes I've seen it in the US. Not necessarily as regularly as in the UK where its easy to find, but we have several places in SE PA that will offer beer on cask, and the restaurant at Victory Brewing always has 3-4 beers on cask every day of the week. I'm also pleased that one of the places my wife likes for dinner does cask ale 3-4 times a year and it always sells well (this is where I got to try Nugget Nectar on cask). I can also think of at least one other place that makes a point of having occasional all cask events that are always well attended.

However, since it's very important that the person who cares for the cask(s) knows what s/he is doing you won't see much of it outside of areas with strong beer culture where it willl sell in reasonable period of time for the beer.

I would expect that if he chimes in @JackHorzempa knows several places that have beer on cask as well.

 

We're getting there, but it's going to take a few more years of education and drinking to do it.
I first encountered cask ale shortly after I moved to Chicago back in the late 90s. An old Chicago drinking magazine called Barfly had an essay which talked highly of the way real ale handled and mentioned the places in the city which offered it, and a bar an old co-worker and I started to frequent for post work beers had a hand pump that they liked to always try to have some beer on it. The smoothness of the mouthfeel is something I really enjoyed with it, and the temperature could make a good beer like say a Bells Two Hearted (which I've had) really sing when served on cask.

 

There is a bar close by me in Philadelphia that always has English cask ale (usually bitters, sometimes IPAs, had cider once which I didn't try but thought was interesting). I have been really getting into it lately, and hoping it catches on more. Other bars in my area have beer engines that often feature local ales which is cool....Stoudt's Mango Four Play IPA was particularly delicious on cask

 

As @drtth made mention there are a number of outlets for cask beer in Southeastern PA.

Last Friday I had a British Pint of Victory Uncle Teddy’s Bitter Ale served via cask (hand pump). That was a joy to drink!

The Sly Fox Brewpub (Phoenixville, PA) frequently has Chester County Bitter served on one of their 2 hand pumps. They will also serve other beer styles on cask like Stouts, Brown Ale, etc. I even once had the pleasure to drink their Keller Pils on the hand pump; that beer was yummy!!

Yards Brewing in Philadelphia produces English style ales on cask that is distributed to local beer bars. I like the ESA (Extra Special Ale) on cask and once in a while they will provide their Mild Ale (Brawler) on cask as well.

Every year Yards has a beer event they call the Real Ale Invitational where they serve something like 30 different beers on cask including beers from the UK. That is a tasty event.

I homebrew my own Bitter Ales and since they are bottle conditioned they meet the CAMRA definition for a Real Ale. I just put a bottle of my Bitter Ale in the refrigerator for drinking later today.

Yep, beer styles like Bitter Ales, some Stout styles, Brown Ales, Mild Ales, etc. can really ‘shine’ when served on cask.

Cheers to Cask Ales!

 

From the recent Serious Eats article about 40 bucket-list beers:

Real Ale:
"A properly brewed, conditioned, dispensed and presented pint of 'Real Ale'—this is an experience that is nearly impossible to find in the states. Two British styles, Bitter and Mild, are so drastically improved by proper cask-conditioning and dispensing that the lack of Real Ale infrastructure in the US has all but rendered them extinct here. Many of you may have come across 'Cask-Conditioned' or 'Cask' beers before. Sadly in this country these beers are almost always improperly presented. More often than not what you end up with in the glass is simply a flatter, warmer version of the beer probably better suited for typical draft. To properly present real ale, each cask of beer should actually finish its fermentation and conditioning processes inside the same vessel from which the beer will ultimately be dispensed. This condition process should always take place on the same premises where it is to be served. This requires an intimate collaboration between the brewer and the publican that is quite rare. When it is done properly, however, this process gives the beer a unique creamy texture and allows low ABV styles to come off much more nuanced and full-flavored."

 

Below is a nice write-up (but somewhat dated) concerning Yards Brewing of Real Ale:

“John Bovit, president of Yards Brewing Co. in Philadelphia, says real ale is so wonderful because it’s served at its absolute peak. “Freshness is key,” Bovit says. “Especially when you allow the primary fermentation to finish in the cask, the freshness really comes through and contributes to better flavor. You drink the beer when it’s at its best. Even a stronger style, like IPA or barleywine, that requires more aging will taste better cask conditioned.”

Bovit produces only naturally conditioned beer from his three-barrel brewery in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia. “We don’t even own any force-carbonation equipment. When we want to force carbonate something, usually for testing, we put it in a Cornelius keg, chill, and shake, just like homebrewers do,” Bovit says.

According to Bovit the differences are particularly apparent when the ale is hand pulled using a beer engine. “Hand-pumped ale has a fuller, creamier mouthfeel that makes the ale much smoother than beer dispensed the usual way. The difference is night and day between hand-pulled and CO2 dispensed,” he says.

Bovit says another reason he loves real ale is the fact that it is not always the same. “I tell brewers real ale should always be great but it does not have to be the same every time. I think that’s an important aspect of the style, and it makes the style more approachable for the average homebrewer.” Real ale is a living, organic beverage, and it is reasonable to expect variations from batch to batch.”

In the article John Bovit discussed serving IPAs on cask. More often than not I prefer to have my IPAs served via regular draft vs. cask since the cask delivery can sometimes mute the hop aroma. I have had a few IPAs that were generously dry hopped within the firkin which tasted great via the cask delivery.

The article that included the quoted material above can be found here: https://byo.com/stories/item/594-enjoy-the-real-thing-cask-conditioned-ale

Cheers!

 

How it's dispensed from the cask also affects it a bit too, whether its just by gravity, through a handpump with or without a sparkler or through an Aitken tall font which you can still find in a few pubs in scotland

for example the Moor Beer company who make some very tasty beers advise that publicans shouldn't use a sparkler if they have hand pulls as they feel it knocks out condition from the beer

I find it depends on the beer

 

We were in England and Scotland a couple years ago and tried as many cask ales as we could. My wife and I stuck to half pints so we could try more, but the low alcohol made them easy to drink. Although the English cask ales don't have the punch of American stronger beers, they're fun to try, and very tasty, too. The English and Scottish bartenders certainly don't mind giving out samples while you're deciding what to order.

 

Indeed!

Had a glass last night!

Cheers Jack!

 

And Cheers to you Mr. Zid!

 

I don't think cask beer will ever become truly popular in the U.S., simply because it's a method which typically lends itself better to British styles, which are warm, flat, and boring to the American palate.* With that said, I do see a few beer engines here and there, or even bartop gravity-fed pins and firkins. I remember drinking the piss out of Goose Island's "English Bitter" (not Honker's Ale) when I was in Chicago at their Clybourne Brewpub a couple years ago. There is one brewpub here in St. Paul with four beer engines that are always in use, but unfortunately their beer is mediocre at best. At this point and for the foreseeable future, I think cask beer is going to be simply a novelty here in the States for the overwhelming majority of beer drinkers.

*Gross generalizations. I love cask beer and my favorite styles tend to lean towards English, but most people I know do not. I also think American IPAs are great on cask, but this seems to be a point of contention as well.

 

Handpumps are somewhat plentiful here in NYC - probably more here than anywhere else in the US. Good for me because I enjoy it! As mentioned in the article quoted earlier, they need a certain attention to detail that they don't always get. In addition, much of the cask offerings from US brewers leave me wanting, and much of the cask beer that comes in from the UK doesn't taste like it's at its best. I still enjoy it very much nonetheless. The natural carbonation makes it go down sooo easy.

Sometimes it doesn't go over so well. I recently visited a bar that used to have a handpump but it was absent. I asked what happened and they informed me that they got rid of it because it wasn't selling.

Two weeks earlier, I was at a bar and I ordered their cask beer. The bartender insisted I try a sample before pouring a pint because he's used to customers rejecting it. Guy sitting next to me was intrigued by my drink and asked the bartender to give him a sample. That customer went on to tell the bartender that it tasted like horse piss, had no head, and was warm. I thought it was delicious, but in all fairness to the other customer, that beer wasn't as good as it should have been. That particular beer was in fact an embodiment of the negative stereotype of cask beer. For me, there was a great beer somewhere in the glass that wasn't at its best that day, and for the Stella drinker it didn't have a chance (no offense to Stella).

 

In SLC, Utah they have what they call "firkin Friday". This is where one brewery shares a beer on cask with another participating brewery. The beers on cask essentially become, in a way, English type/mild ales because of the law in Utah that doesn't allow any beer on tap/cask to be above 4% ABV (3.2 % ABW). It is a lot of fun on Fridays because, for example, Uinta (or Squatters, Epic, etc.) brewery will share one of its beers (i.e. a common beer they have produced for a long time, but they "tweek" the ingredients by adding an extra ingredient). This fact combined with it being on cask really creates some interestingly good flavors. I love cask ale and it would be great if it became more popular in the US.

 

There's more cask ale in the UK then there's been in quite a long time but be aware that many new brewers and new drinkers of the latest craft beers are pretty indifferent to cask ale here. It will be interesting to see how this new reality plays out over time.

 

Hopefully without a loss to tradition nor new vitality.

 

Middle Ages Brewing in Syracuse does English cask ales incredibly well. They always have something on cask at the blue tusk.

 

Preach brother!