Cask Ales: I just don't get it

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

fastricky

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
827
Reaction score
20
Location
NYC
I love most things UK. Man, if I could live there, it'd be a dream come true.

Now, having said that, I love North American style bitter I reckon. ESB's especially.

So, what I'm getting at is this: whenever I go to a good craft beer pub, they'll generally have some UK cask beer available. And I will always try one. And the reaction is always the same: Put this in front of me as well as a well-carbonated ESB beer (or the equivalent) and the carbonated one will win EVERY time.

Someone help me understand the fascination with this whole flat-as-Kate-Moss-UK-cask ale thing??????
 
It's about the natural process of "live" beer and the changes that short term oxidation make in it. The flavor continues to change in the cask. Also if you can try tasting the exact same two beers one carbed and the other on cask it may help you appreciate the differences. It just may not be something you like.

The local brewery here (Marshall Brewing) has a couple of their regular beers on cask at a local pub and I think they are actually a bit better than the full carbed versions. Then again it's not for everyone. :)
 
I'm with you; I just don't get it either. As with most things British, I love the concept, but prefer the American interpretation.
 
See, the pub I was at tonight had Green Flash's IPA on cask, but it was out... so I don't know how great (or not) I would have thought it was!
 
It really depends on the beer and how well the cask is prepared. Not all of them are flat. Some of them are pretty amazing, but they can be hit and miss.
 
I hear ya for the most part.

I just think that certain beer styles - like bitters and even IPAs - would be better if they were simply carbed to style. Pubs generally just carb everything the same way whether it's BMC or a great local microbrewed English bitter.

I always carb my English style beers to style and, man, they taste great. The cask ales that I have had certainly have been complimented by the lower carbonation level that cask conditioning causes.
 
It shouldn't be flat. There should be less head and more subdued carbonation, but not flat at all. I don't like those "Big bubbles" for want of a better term that force carbing produces. It gets in the way of the beer. Each to their own though, I suppose. We all have differing tastes. Many of those tastes are still coloured by earlier preferences even though they may have altered.
 
Well,.... since most bars use beergas, it's the brewery that carbs all the beers the same. Many european breweries carb there beer for NA export higher than they do for local distribution.

Sad really, but I guess the NA standard is high carbed fracking freezing no taste beer.
 
Maybe it's the Englishman in me, but I love a low carbed cask ale. I was just there in march and I drank as much as I could manage to get my fill :)
 
I adore a gently carbonated real ale served at cellar temperatures. Too much carbonation and even the most finely crafted English ale will seem insipid.
 
I adore a gently carbonated real ale served at cellar temperatures. Too much carbonation and even the most finely crafted English ale will seem insipid.
It's only 7:00AM and you guy's are making me thirsty! Got to get back up to the Ship Inn. Their cask conditioned Best Bitter served with a hand pump is wonderful.
:mug:
 
It shouldn't be flat. There should be less head and more subdued carbonation, but not flat at all. I don't like those "Big bubbles" for want of a better term that force carbing produces. It gets in the way of the beer. Each to their own though, I suppose. We all have differing tastes. Many of those tastes are still coloured by earlier preferences even though they may have altered.

I agree with this. The cask ales I've had have NOT been flat, not by any means. Are they less carbonated than the normal draft? You bet. And they should be served at a somewhat higher temperature, too, as I understand it. My personal view of all this is that we like what we're used to. If we're used to drinking a more highly carbonated beer at a lower temperature, then other "interpretations" are going to taste weird.
It took me a while after "getting religion" and moving away from BMC beers to good craft / micro, and then getting into homebrew, to realize that I liked the way a lot of beers tasted a whole lot more if the temperature were in the low '50Fs, rather than in the high '30Fs.
 
You guys are making me think twice. Maybe I just haven't had good cask ale. I've had several (in various pubs in Minneapolis and Boston), and not one struck me as anything special. The Old Speckled Hen at Brits Pub in Minneapolis was the best English ale I've ever had, by far, but it was not on cask. I'll give cask ale another chance the next time I run across it.
 
I've had one in Ann Arbor I think and I don't remember it being all that bad. But I do tend to prefer all but the heavier beers well carbonated, myself.
 
Find a good porter cask, porter is best warmer and less carbed. Any darker beer is typically better warmer.
 
I think it's revealing that several posters have commented on drinking local American beers on cask and finding them very good, while the experience of trying British ales has been mixed at best. This stuff just doesn't travel well, and was never intended to.

A couple of months ago I tried Fuller's London Pride on cask at a craft beer pub and it was a very weird experience. I was served about 12 oz in a special glass, presented as if it were some sort of exotic elixir, with a price to match. Unsurprisingly, it tasted pretty poor. I'll stick to drinking it where it belongs and tastes good - in London - and choose an American ale next time.

I don't mind paying extra for cask on the basis that I like to encourage bars to offer cask beer, but they need to select the right beers to benefit.

And just to re-state what's been said above - British beer should not be flat (or warm), but should be carbonated at a lower level than most styles and served slightly chilled compared to room temp, in the mid-50s.
 
I dunno. I think it's really down to personal preference. Maybe you just don;t care for cask ale.

I personally can;t stand the high levels of carbonation for FarmHouse and Belgian styles of beer. Love the flavors of them. I don;t think they are worth drinking until they have had a chance to gas off to something closer to 2.0 - 2.5 vols.
 
The DFH 75 at the simulcask was phenomenal. My first cask ale. The temperature was warmish and it was less carbed than what I am used to...but the flavor...wow. Of course that is an over the top beer, I'd love to try a "normal" cask ale sometime.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top