Brewed Beverage of Choice: A goblet of Cask Conditioned Wee Heavy from Roots Organic Brewing
Every year, with the exception of 2006, some friends and I travel the I-5 corridor from Portland to the Emerald City, Seattle, for the Washington Brewers Guild Cask Beer Festival. The festival allows us to partake in some of the best cask conditioned beers the state of Washington has to offer. This year, thankfully, the organizers have moved it from its October dates to March, which now makes going to Seattle to celebrate my birthday an annual tradition. But many of you are saying, “What is a cask conditioned ale? And, lazy boy, why have you not defined it for us earlier like you said you were going to?”
We in the brewing industry refer to cask conditioned ales or real ales as “live brews” because the beers are transferred to a wood cask or metal firkin with live yeasts still suspended in them so they may complete what we call their secondary fermentation. While continuing this process the beer naturally creates its own carbonation, which accounts for another term used to describe real ales: naturally caronated. Many people, however, simply describe cask ales as “flat” mistaking the natural carbonation from its secondary fermentation as a flaw. This whole process takes about 7 days and is done at around 55 degrees F. That temperature is referred to as “cellar temperature.” Cask ales can be tapped several different ways including having the cask or firkin tipped slightly to allow gravity to feed to ale out of the cask through a spiggot; or the more standard way is to use a beer engine or hand pump. The second way gives us the old phrase, “Pull me a pint.”
Here is how the Washington Brewers Guild defines Cask Conditioned Ales:
Cask-conditioned beer is unfiltered beer brewed in a traditional method that naturally conditions the beer without introducing artificial carbonation. At the end of fermentation the beer is transferred to a cask where live yeast continues conditioning the beer. This process creates a gentle, natural CO2 carbonation and allows the flavors to develop, resulting in a richer and smoother beer.
Traditionally cask-conditioned beer is served at the cellar temperature (around 55°F) and dispensed by gravity or drawn manually with a handpump (or a “beer engine”).
Why serve a beer at a higher temperature and naturally carbonated? Well as it says, the temp and natural carbonation allows more of the rich flavours and textures to be highlighted. It makes for a smoother mouthfeel. In short, it can be more pleasing for your tastebuds, which is why I enjoy it so much.
I hopped on the cask conditioned bandwagon several years ago as a beer geek. I promote it now because it is a lost art and an underappreciated beer “style.” Thanks to the macro-brews and their brilliant marketing gurus, all beers are served at the same temperature. But, much like wine, many beers are better served at different temperatures to let their most appealing portions of their personality be on show. Cask conditioned beers are also somewhat hard to find in certain areas which makes for a fun adventure finding places that do have ‘em. The easiest places for those who are up for the adventure are British or Irish pubs.
So now that I have gotten off my skinny arse and given you the details needed to enjoy a great cask conditioned ale, why don’t you head off down to a local pub and ask ‘em to pull you a pint of their finest.
Prost!
the naturally carbonated confucian brewer