Cask beer is undergoing a resurgence in Britain, with sales rising in a declining market, and the range and quality constantly improving. Yet, despite the "craft beer revolution" continuing to grow in American they still lag woefully behind Britain. If you're lucky a craft beer bar may have a single cask ale on, in all probability with a cask breather, a far poorer state than would be found in a bog standard British boozer. Over the pond dull and lifeless* keg beer predominates.
The Brewers Association is almost single handedly responsible for holding back cask beer in American brewing with its emphasis on innovation and an ever growing range of weird and wonderful beer "styles". This innovation is less than helpful. You're more likely to find a pumpkin beer than a cask beer in the states. The constant push for progressions means the tremendous tastes of traditional beer are forgotten.
Though diversity is a great thing it shouldn't take priority over quality and the best way to get awesome flavour from a beer is to serve it from a cask.
*Until re-animated with extraneous CO2.
Trouble is, if you brew for kegging the flavours aren't going to develop in the same way, so brewers (particularly the less imaginative ones) will tend to go for the instant hit - and the easiest way to get that is to put in a lot of hops, a lot of alcohol and a dash of weird. It doesn't matter if you serve it in halves, thirds or shots, you'll still get the effect. If you took drinkers who were used to that kind of beer and put a mighty beer like Harveys Best in front of them, they wouldn't know what to do with it. ("I won't taste it properly till I've drunk all that?")
ReplyDeleteThe two biggest problems are (1) sheer lack of skill/experience in the US in looking after cask ale - it's bad enough here in the UK, let's be honest - and (2) the expectation by US drinkers in "craft beer" bars of a massive range, which means turnover on any one cask beer is going to be too low to guarantee quality, already threatened by (1).
DeleteI did write this post with tongue firmly in cheek after having read another person going on about "Why can't British beer be more like American?". Rather than write "cause it's a different bleedin' country with a different beer culture" I thought reverse the direction.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there would be problems expanding cask beer in the US, what with it being a different country with a different beer culture.
Oh. HIBT?
DeleteTook me a while to find that one, and I thought I spent too much time on the internet. Sorry Phil, it can be hard to get your tone across online. I do indeed think it would be ridiculous trying to export wholesale British beer culture, as it would trying to import wholesale American beer culture.
DeleteDifferent cultures, different histories.
ReplyDeleteAnd to say "The Brewers Association is almost single handedly responsible for holding back cask beer" is simply wrong. It is drinkers who determine what is popular (in a country where a very large percentage of beer is consumed off premise and an even larger percentage is bland, pale lager).
I think we must have cross posted.
DeleteI really don't know much about the Brewers Association but British fans of American beer often criticise CAMRA so I ripped off stuff written about CAMRA and substituted in the Brewers Association as they were the closest I could think of.
Geez, Ed. You posted your comment while I was typing. Consider mine rendered mute.
ReplyDeleteI saw this blog on the sidebar on Ron's site and thought I'd contribute thoughts on cask beer in North America, since I'm based here and have watched its development closely for 30 years.
ReplyDeleteIt started slowly but has caught on rapidly in recent years. As Martyn says, condition (in all senses of the word) is the main issue and indeed as he said again, it can be in the U.K. too. My main issue with it is that seemingly 9 times out of 10, the pint is cloudy. People here seem almost to expect it, due to the widespread understanding that cask beer is unfiltered. Of course, unfiltered doesn't mean it should come cloudy, but people never really got that here and a kind of new style of cask beer has emerged as a result. Yes, some real ale is fined or allowed to drop bright naturally, but this is the exception in my experience.
True enough, cloudy beer can be a classic: wheat beers are, so are certain keller and related styles, but in general, top-fermented, English-derived styles taste best without the yeast haze IMO, and based on what I've read in brewing history, British experts were agreed unanimously that cask beer should pour clear.
But anyway, we have a kind of new style of cask beer in North America as a result. There is some top-rate cask here, cloudy or non. The process is more hit and miss than in the U.K. but this is more due to the vagaries of each brewer's style and what he chooses to put on cask than anything else. (I.e., we have more stylistic variety than the U.K.). A pumpkin abbey beer on cask, now that's something, eh? :)
Gary
I'm glad to hear cask beer is catching on in North America. I've heard similar about cloudiness from a Canadian brewer friend of mine. He said they had a cask beer festival there where everything was cloudy. If we ever send out a cask in which the yeast doesn't settle the pub will send it back and want a refund, cloudy beer won't sell here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed. It will be interesting to see if the cloudy real ale element of North America craft beer culture will penetrate to the U.K. along with APAs, black IPAs, pumpkin beers and other such local innovations. I hope not!
ReplyDeleteGary