Beer 101: Lesson #19 - Keeping it Real: Cask Ales
Sunday, March 13th, 2011Check out more of Jason Foster’s beer news and views at onbeer.org
So we come to the last of my series on beer packaging. And I can’t think of a better way to top off the lessons with a discussion about cask ales. These days casks are special. But long ago they were just the way beer was served. Those last sentences require two explanations.
First, what is a cask ale? In short, it is a beer that is conditioned in the serving vessel. In other words, instead of force carbonating the beer and putting it into bottles, cans or kegs, the brewer puts still beer into the vessel with some sugar or fermentable substitute, seals it and lets it carbonate naturally (CO2 is a byproduct of yeast fermentation). Normally we consider that the vessel is a keg, which makes sense. But to be perfectly accurate, bottled conditioned beer (which includes most homebrew) would fit the definition. It certainly fits the definition of “real ale”, as coined by good beer advocates the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). However, we generally don’t classify a naturally cask ale as in the bottle.
This gets us to the second explanation. Historically, and I am talking the 17th and 18th century here, brewers had no way to push CO2 into a ready beer. The only way to carbonate was to time the transfer such that the residual sugars (or added sugar) created the bubbles. And at the time the only available vessel was a wood cask, which was temperamental and not well sealed. That meant the beer needed to be served fresh, as oxidation and other quality control issues would quickly set in.
Once modern chemistry hit and brewers could inject ready-made CO2 into their beer, the practice quickly died away. Which brings us back to the present. In the past 40 years, craft brewers, egged on by CAMRA, have re-introduced the tradition of cask beer, but with a twist. These days wood is rarely used, as stainless steel is far more reliable and sanitary. Also, cask beer(they are traditionally ales, but there is no reason you can’t do a cask lager) are usually considered special and so are spiked in some fashion – dry hopping in the keg, additional spices or just a bigger beer.
Casks are still fairly rare in Canada, although some cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal have made it a regular part of the scene. Western Canada has been particularly slow to pick up on the trend. Wild Rose in Calgary does a monthly cask, as does Bushwakker brewpub in Regina. Edmonton has recently started a monthly cask event at the Sugar Bowl, and now has two each month, thanks to the Next Act.
There are two ways to do casks. The more common is to create a one-off event, where a single keg of the beer is tapped and is served until it runs out, usually an hour or two later. These become exciting, well-populated events that build a sense of adventure and novelty into the local beer scene. More mature beer cities have pubs that offer a cask beer on a regular or ongoing basis – making it part of their normal tap line. This is less exciting, but more rewarding. My analysis is that a city with a regular cask tap line possesses a mature beer culture. Western Canada is most certainly not there yet.
But I have not yet reached the main point of this column. The reason I raise the topic of cask beer is that the process of casking (is that a word?) alters the flavour and aroma of the beer. I say this because I have experienced it first hand. I have conducted side-by-side tastings of a beer served in its usual state (on tap or in bottle) and served as a cask. I have done this in more than one city and with a few different beer.
And I can confidently say this. For whatever reason cask conditioning changes the beer. It is softer, more rounded and often fruitier than its non-cask version. The carbonation is usually lower and offers a smaller bead. Some flavours, such as malt, fruit and caramel sweetness present bigger, while sharper flavours, like coffee and dark roast, are subdued. Hop bitterness comes across as more rounded and less puckering. Part of this is a byproduct of the lower and more natural carbonation. Certain characteristics like hops are enhanced by a sharp carbonation.
Cask ales are a joy to sample because they offer a unique spin on a beer that might be rote for you. And in many ways it feels to me like this is the beer unbridled, how it is meant to taste if let loose. So the next time you hear about a cask event near you, make sure you drop by and have a pint. And if you can, order a pint of the regular version of the same beer and notice the difference. You won’t be disappointed.


