NERAX North November 12-14

What about UK ales or more sessionable styles?

Is there a list somewhere yet?

 

Exactly ... I don't go to NERAX for American cask ale. Though if an American brewer is trying something a bit more subtle or they have a stout or porter I usually give it a go.

 

I'm not sure if you attended the most recent event this past spring, but unfortunately this is the way the fest has been trending. It was apparent the list was more hop driven, with multiple US offerings, and less UK offerings.

I feel exactly the same way though, this is a nice niche event, and the only time during the year in which I can drink properly cared for UK cask ales in large quantities. Back in the day, it was a nice change of pace to see a Smutty Big A IPA on cask, which I'd sample, and then move on to more UK ales or maybe a bitter from a local US brewery.

Sadly, cask is oftentimes seen as a vehicle for brewer's to use for dry hopping or other random ingredients such as coconut...etc.

 

Even many of the UK casks have been hit up with American hops, unfortunately I was not able to make NERAX in the spring. If they have 8 or so really good UK casks then it is worth my time.

While I don't mind the dry-hopping, most brewers don't get it and dry-hop the beer to the point of not being able to taste anything else and usually the beer looks like shit. It completely missing the point and that is not opinion but fact. ;-)

As for the odd ingredients, I don't mind it though most don't know how to be subtle with that method of flavoring either. Give me a mild or bitter that is under 5.0% and I'm good.

 

I can't stand American IPAs on cask. The imperfections that are masked by heavy late hop additions tend to show up when the beer is served warmer and the extra hopping in the cask just adds vegetal notes that I find unpleasant. Agreed on finding quality bitters and milds. Just wish I didn't have to make a semi-annual trek to find them.

 

I prefer my hops on CO2. I too often find that in American casks the excessive/extra hoppings are wasted because the cask isn’t well cared for and dispenses flat beer. A beer with no head can’t release those hop aromatics the brewer’s trying to show off so what’s the point? As much of a hop head I am, I wish casks would be left for maltier (and of course sessionable) styles.

 

I like both US and UK hop forward casks and a traditional UK bitter or mild, not to mention the bomb UK ciders they bring (Gwint y draig).

My NERAX peeve is too many beers from average NE breweries, most from Maine. Thankful for the group and their efforts to keep the fest going.

 

I look forward to this event every year. Both the great local stuff as well as the UK brews. Neither I would call average.

 

We had to drop out at the last minute due to some unfortunate technical issues that left us without anything ready for a cask fill, so no Albatross. NERAX North is probably my favorite beer event, so I'm a bit bummed about that, though still looking forward to attending.

I've enjoyed quite a lot of nice American IPAs on cask (Sculpin w/Simcoe at Stoddard's recently was very nice), though admittedly less DIPAs.

 

NERAX in general is my favorite beer fest, been going for 13 or 14 years now.
Generally I try to stick with British styles, though there have been some fantastic American ones over the years.
A few times the best thing on, hasn't been beer at all, but cider (usually the Welsh ones) and once a mead.
I'm planning on going Saturday.
Mostly they haven't been posting the full list ahead of opening, often I don't know what's going to be there until I get there.
Sad that Medusa isn't going to make it, but I'm sure there will be plenty of interesting beers.
That said, I don't care for the ones that are usual things, with something weird in there, or dry hopped to heck. I want the base beer, so I can compare cask to non cask, or altered slightly and with restraint.

 

I don't agree with this completely. I attended a Friday night session at NERAX this year and there were a TON of U.K. beers and ciders. Yes, I think there were more U.S. offerings, but that's largely because cask beers and ciders are growing in popularity in the U.S. in the past few years. Some of the U.K. beers were definitely hop-driven, but take a trip to London these days and you'll find that trend is happening over there. I think there were still PLENTY of mild ales, bitters, porters, and other non-hoppy beers to please attendees.

(I'm not saying that you don't have a point about hops and dry hopping. I just think it's important to note that I found at LEAST eight non-hoppy U.K. beers that were pouring perfectly and very satisfying. It's still a great, great event.)

 

It's not that I think "Trillium meets London Pride" is a good or a bad idea. I don't mind having both traditional and American influenced bitters/milds for example. It's when there's fewer and fewer examples of the traditional, which I enjoy. Like with many US brewed pilsners, they're far too hoppy, and I get no pils malt character (my favorite part).

And with a more subtle style like a mild or bitter, they can only truly shine on cask. Whereas an American IPA can do just fine with CO2, and many prefer it an IPA delivered way to being cask delivered. Heck, many US brewer's won't even bottle their bitters, and you'll only rarely see them on cask, such as Notch's mild and bitter offerings and Victory's Uncle Teddy's Bitter.

I also only go Saturday during the day, perhaps there's other sessions where there are more UK examples on cask. I could see it making more sense to have less of these offering during the more popular sessions (albeit the organizers being at the mercy of the casks being ready).

 

I'll be there on Friday ... will be hitting up The Tap beforehand. Looking forward to a proper session. ;-)

 

Anecdotally at least, these are some comments from the NERAX festival this past spring that echo some comments above...

And below is the list from the entire festival. I counted 98 total casks.

28 being IPAs and 9 that were UK bitters and milds.

That's a bit deceiving though, because blondes, "golden", and many pale ales can be session strength. And if you include those, plus US versions of these and bitters/milds (not including US pale ales, which tend to be hoppier/higher abv) that would bring the number of more "traditional" NERAX styles to 30.

The starkest contrast to me was 22 casks labeled as some form of US IPA, and only 2 milds overall.

I'm simply mentioning this for completeness, and will finish by saying I still love this festival, and it still is unique. My original comment said the festival is "trending" this way, but this does not mean I won't be attending (the spring one, it takes me far too long to get to Haverhill from Somerville via commuter rail).

It's run extrememly well, and still maintains a relaxed pub-like atmosphere that I love.

 

Yup. Couldn't agree more. NERAX for the win. It's the best.

 

Looks like I'll be seeing a couple of you guys there for the Saturday afternoon session!

 

Is there a NERAX South? Or, better yet, a NERAX West? How can we make that happen?