cask or keg

[wortchillergoal]

Since Richard talks about it so much and I have had the opportuinty to try one beer both ways, would your rather have a cask conditioned beer or carbonated USA style? I think some of America's beer lend themselves to cask conditioning better than others but I love my cask beers.

[steveh]

The only example I can compare cask to keg is Three Floyd's Pride and Joy. I had the keg first and thought it was wonderful; malty, hoppy flavorful with the added pleasure of low alcohol - thus, more sampling.

Off the cask, the flavors came out a bit more due to serving temp, and it was definitely smoother from soft carbo - though the keg draft was tapped well, not too much sharpness from CO2.

Given a choice I'd go for the cask, but I thought it was great in both offerings. I'd gamble that it has much to do with the quality of the beer. I have a local with Floyd's Robt. The Bruce (Ach Nu) on cask now - I'll be in to try that very soon.

S.

[wortchillergoal]

After I hit the submit button I remembered that I have had two beers side by side cask keg. I think your description of the differences is very accurate. I have the benefit of having the cask beer both at the brewery and about 5 minutes away at one of my favorite pubs.

[chazwicke]

All I can say is: CASK! CASK! CASK! I live for cask beers. I enjoy the fact that many brewpubs will now usually have one hand pulled beer available and they are usually pretty good. I became addicted to cask beer in the 1980s during a tour of England, Scotland and Wales. I made that trip and many subsequent ones just to sample beer and have never been disappointed when I am in Britian. I have not yet been to the Chicago Cask festival but I would certainly recommend the Miami International Beer Festival if they have another one this year. They had 64 casks from the UK. They were all handled well. I also cannot say enough about the quality of the beers at the GBBF. The best that I have ever had. After Cask my second choice would be Bottle Conditioned. Then draught, then regular bottled. again I say CASK! CASK! CASK!