UK beers and lower abv

I love this thread, as I too love lower ABV beers. I don't know about beers below 4%, but as far as US craft is concerned, I consider anything under 5% pretty low and *ahem* "sessionable" ... One of my favorite brewers is Breckenridge. Most of their year-round lineup consists of beers under 5% (Agave Wheat, Avalanche, Oatmeal Stout). I don't know many craft brewers that have that many sub 5% beers in their main lineup. And like the OP, I think lower ABV beers are just as flavorful as higher ABV.

 

Uk kegged craft beer is exceptional
I just don't understand cask real ale I find it utterly dull
But each to their own I guess
Plenty beer geeks over here love it but there are a few breweries like the amazing beavertown who will only keg

 

I can understand why you might feel that way, but for me the opportunities I've had to have beer on cask were eye opening rather than dull. In a way part of what I liked about it was the opportunity to drink the same beer from the same cask over 3-4 evenings in the same pub and experience the changes that were taking place in that one beer.

Kegged beer is pretty much the same from day to day and Keg to Keg (and that's just fine). But cask seems to offer a bit more opportunity to explore the changes in the beer from day to day and the differences in the same beer that can actually happen from cask to cask, especially if it takes more evenings for one cask to kick that it took for another cask of the "same" beer to kick. I remember once saying for a couple of weeks in the same lodgings and having the opportunity to have a pint (or 3 or 4 :-)) at the same pub every night and from the same cask over a few days and it was a bit of an eye opener.

 

The sales volume of high ABV beers is miniscule compared to 6.5% and less. Of course, they make less and the tariff is higher, but still!

 

Go to England is all I can say.

 

I think you actually left out the number 1 factor. The industry is taxed by ABV over here. A pub can serve a 3.2% mild for a lot less than a 6.9% IPA. That severely limits what most pubs will serve, based on what people can pay. I ordered a Kernel IPA at a pub a couple weeks ago and the bartender warned me three times about the price before she would serve it. "That costs X pounds." "I have to charge you X for that one since it is 6.9%." "Do you realize it is X quid cause is really strong?"
I enjoy a good cask ale now and then, but most of it is unremarkable. 90% of the time I couldn't tell you the next day what I had ordered. Thank God for the new micro breweries here that are pushing the envelope a bit. And BTW, they are also producing some cask ales at the same time.

 

Agree the cost is the main issue here. On the other hand, the regular cask beer is also too expensive for what tastes almost exactly like every other beer at every other pub. Its okay for kicking back a few with the boys after work, but doesn't satisfy for quality variety.

 

Your taste buds develop as you get older.

 

I really don't think cost is as relevant as people think. First of all, the difference in duty between a session beer and a strong one should only be a few pence a pint and most people accept the logic of paying more for stronger beer.
Pubs want you to stay for a while and drink a few pints while you're there.That's the attraction (as if it were needed!) of session ales , customers can and do drink them all night. Strong beers, just two or three pints is enough.
It's actually quite hard for pubs in these parts to sell anything much over 5% ABV. Apart from the fact that there's plenty of splendid lower gravity stuff a lot of customers have to drive there.A village of 30 inhabitants and 43 dogs (we have one such with an excellent pub) needs outside customers!
For many years at Melton beer festival we priced all beers at £1 per half regardless of strength.There were wails from CAMRA's LADS committee that customers would go for the strong stuff. The first beer to sell out was usually Belvoir Mild at 3.4% ABV. We could see no evidence that strength was a factor in buying.
In my nearest town is a Wetherspoons where excellently kept beer (it consistently receives very high scores from members) is much cheaper than in the other pubs around.These other pubs aren't empty and I often flit from one to another.Does it bother me paying £3.20 a pint when the Spoons is about half this? I don't even think about it.

Cask beer is simply a way of getting it from the brewery to the glass. It doesn't affect the recipe or the standard of brewing.The only thing it allows is for the beer to actually improve on what it was like when it left the brewery.
I've had Beavertown on cask by the way.

 

3.20 is the starting point for undrinkable piss beer where I live/work (central London). If I have to pay 4-5 pounds a pint for something decent, I guess I'd just rather go for big flavor and stop at 2. It is also why I do 90% of my drinking at home. I rarely want 2 of the same style/flavor profile in a row anyway.
Again, I enjoy cask ale, but think the new wave of brewing from the US is a godsend.

 

But as I said before, whether beer is kegged, bottled or cask doesn't alter the profile or the recipe used.One of our local brewers (who were years ahead of most of the UK in this matter) does brew US influenced beers on both cask and keg. But as they tell you, keg beer stops at the instant of kegging and that's all you get.Why bother with keg when we have the infrastructure to serve beer at its best rather than fossilised?

 

I agree 100% on the first part. I think the answer to you question in the second part is that a brewer is picking the point at which the beer is at its best, and kegging it at that point. A fresh west coast IPA keg should be distributed, tapped, and kicked within weeks anyway. You could equally argue that cask beer (which again, I enjoy) is being served before it is at its best, at its best, and then past its prime as it ages. Ideally, I'd like to be able to have both. Fortunately, now everyone gets to drink whatever they like best.

 

More cask beers in the US! Not just on cask ale night.

 

No, the beer will be the same as it leaves the brewery. Ron Pattinson ( patto1ro ) went to a launch of one of his beers done both ways. He said that on the first night the cask and keg versions were pretty similar but after a day or two the cask one was out of sight. Try any beer sold in both cask and keg (there are plenty) and see for yourself why keg is a waste of time. Except for outlets which make cask impossible or difficult , perhaps because of poor turnover.

 

I'm sure many breweries put the same product into keg and cask. But "green" beer (typically off primary fermentation) is meant to go into cask for further conditioning. I don't think anybody should be kegging "green" beer and serving it. Great beers are fully conditioned prior to being served...either prior to kegging in secondary or after going into a cask. When I lived in Washington DC, Heavy Seas was promoting a lot of cask versions of their beer. However, they were absolutely not just sticking the same beer in a cask vs keg...for the reasons above and other more obvious ones (such as dry hopping requirements).
It is odd that the cask and keg versions you mention would have been similar on the first night of launch. After all, one beer has gone through the cask process, secondary fermentation, and rested to allow the yeast to drop. It should have had more subtle flavors and a very different mouthfeel. The change in that first day is from oxidation...of course also part of the cask ale flavor process. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, depending on the beer and preferences.
I will take you up on your suggestion and try to find some places serving both versions of a beer so I can sample them in the same sitting. Should be a good experience.

 

Yes to the Brawler. Its nice to have an under 5% brown ale alternative to Gose (sour) and Session IPAs (hoppy).

 

Yep cask makes the difference IMHO, very few brewers over here doiing it right that I've come across. But do not live in the places that would prove me wrong ( PNW, New England, ect ). Those British cask ales I enjoyed were supposed to best within 20-30 miles of the brewery according to all the old boys I drank with. I do believe they don't travel well...

 

When you're drinking a highly hopped 8% DIPA it's almost always better to let it 'stop' in a keg and know exactly what you're getting, chilled and carbonated to a level that suits the style.

Not all beer suits cask conditioning.

Some of us even like grapefruit flavoured beers you know!