Now that I’m in the last few months of my last term as President, I wanted to talk about an aspect of craft beer that I feel is currently being deeply mishandled, casks. With more and more cask nights popping up all over the city we are developing a culture of craft beer that is wrong. Very, very wrong.
Firstly let me explain why I have this position, I used to be a cellarman in the UK where it would be my job to sort out the casks, put them on the stillage and keep them ready for serving. Consequently I know how important it is that casks are treated properly to get the best out of them. If you’re interested in proper cellaring technique I highly recommend “Cellarmanship” by Patrick O’Neill
I’d like to correct a few things that too many people are doing wrong and maybe bust a few myths.
1. The cask should be brought out immediately prior to tapping.
WRONG! A cask should be set up as far ahead as possible so that it the sediment can drop making the beer bright. Casks should never be moved once set up until they are empty.
2. Beer should be served immediately after tapping.
WRONG! A cask should be left to rest after tapping so that the sediment stirred up by tapping can settle again. The only time a cask should be touched after tapping is when it gets “chocked” up near the end to ensure that every last drop of servable beer is poured.
3. A cask should be served from the top of a bar.
WRONG! Not to get all CAMRA UK about this but this is totally wrong.
OK, it can do in a pinch, or if you’re running a festival with a dozen casks but to do this every single week is lazy and wrong. The beer will warm up and go flat much quicker, probably faster than it can drop clear. Casks should be stored and served from a fridge or cool room where a constant temperature can be maintained.
4. Cask beer should be cloudy.
WRONG! Unless it’s a cloudy style like a Hefeweizen or there have been additions that would affect the brightness, cask beer should be as clear as keg beer.
5. Gravity taps are traditional.
WRONG! Again, they can do in a pinch, say if you’re running a cask festival or at home. But otherwise a cask should be served through a beer engine.
6. Casks must be drunk in one night.
WRONG! Casks usually take at least a day to settle, and then they generally just improve for the next few days. Slight oxidation can really bring out the flavours and sometimes even different flavours as it matures and rests. If cellared properly, casks can easily last a week. However, if it’s unrefrigerated it’ll be dead in a few hours.
I hope that you’ve found this interesting, cask beer is my passion and so I hope that over time we can stop these bad habits and we can all start to enjoy real cask beer served properly.
Cheers
Adam Chatburn
President, CAMRA BC – Vancouver Branch
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