What happened to cask conditioned beers?

In Ohio, we have a cask-only brewery called Laxton Hollow (http://www.laxtonhollow.com/index.html)

The beers are fantastic. They literally only have 4 beers on tap (Porter, Bitter, Golden) and a seasonal. Naturally carbonated, hand pumped, traditional style English recipes.

We enjoyed the place immensely. Don't hear much about it, but I would highly recommend to anybody who enjoys these types of beers to stop in. Much better than most cask ales i've had at other breweries, which doesn't surprise me as they specialize in them.

 

They figured they could make more money if they changed cask to barrel and then passed it through a brite tank.....

 

Rock Bottom brewpubs still always have one available (rotating style). It's always nice to have one every time I make a visit.

 

We went to the "Real Ale Festival" in Chicago a few times before it was discontinued, and it was a great time. Perhaps this is a reincarnation of that? Thanks for the info.

 

I love cask ale. It is almost always my 1st choice when available. The wife and I did a beer tour of England for our 25th-using the CAMRA guide. Great time !

 

Great Dane in Madison usually has a cask beer.

 

One of only a handful in the entire US.
Don't call yourself a beer geek if you haven't been there.

 

I haven't been there. I live 335 miles away & have never heard of it.

Does that really mean I'm not a "beer geek"?

You can't know everything!!

 

I hate cask beer. Flat and warm.

 

Yes, unfortunately.
But you can remedy that. 335 miles is only a 5 hr trip...one way.

 

Most consumers don’t get it and very few breweries know how to handle it. Cask conditioning can do incredible things for certain beers, but when done wrong or treated like a Randall, the results are usually atrocious.

 

Lol, I think you don't really know what we're talking about.

But thanks OP for asking this question. I haven't even heard of Laxton Hollow and I'm under an hour away. I definitely need to go. Had this place existed 10 or so years ago it would have been very popular. Now its all about gross NEIPAs and pastry stouts and no one wants to actually drink a beer while sitting at a bar.

 

Vintage Brewing usually has one as well. At least the one in Madison does, haven't been to the new Sauk location to know if they do it there too.

 

Link's usually has a cask beer on tap

 

My guess is that some of the same people are involved. I know one guy who loves cask ale, and was involved worth the old festival.

 

Absolutely try to make it there! It just has a real cool little vibe in the pub area (it's connected to like this wine bar/restaurant, but the beer bar is in it's own little room). We really enjoyed each beer they had, completely unique to what everybody else is doing anymore. I thought the beers were very well made. Carbonation, while lower of course, were not flat at all and served at a very good chilled temp. Service was exceptional the day we were there and it was just a good time all around.

The day we were there they had the Bitter, Porter, Golden Ale and ISB (India Special Bitter...) on tap. The Bitter was my favorite, absolutely delicious. I could drink pint after pint of those, no doubt. The porter was solid, more roast heavy than I had expected but not astringent or anything. The Golden Ale I recall had a vivid, doughy pretzel aroma and flavor which was actually a real standout in a good way. It complimented the food we got there very well. The ISB I don't remember, but I don't recall it being anything too worthwhile.

Now I want to go back after talking about it some more... On a side note we went to Phoenix Brewing right after and I really wish we just stayed at Laxton, FWIW!

 

I haven't been there before, but I believe Union Brewing in Carmel, Indiana is a cask-only brewery.

 

Not Great Lakes, but if you ever make it down to STL then hit up Civil Life. They usually haveat least one great cask beer.