Cask only pubs?

[MeridianFC]

Is anyone aware of any pubs that serve only Real Ale? It seems to me I've never seen a place that is cask only. I've been to many pubs that are predominately cask, but even at the taps of some of the bigger brewers of Real Ale I've seen keg taps. I can certianly undrestand publicans wanting to cater to all tastes but I figures there might be a cask only outlet somewhere.

Any ideas?

[newportstorm]

I can't speak from direct experience (never been to the UK) but all-cask would be very limiting for customers. I rarely frequent pubs that serve nothing but bottled beer and even at pubs with a large draft selection, I find many beers lacking compared to their bottled counterpart (usually Belgian bottle conditioned beers). I suppose the same could be true for cask ales. IMO, cask is not always best. Some styles I've had just do not translate well when served in that manner. Even hardcore cask fanatics enjoy making a living and if cask ale isn't selling and moving fast enough to please their crowd, then they are making a wise decision to not force it.

There was a brewery in RI (Emerald Isle) that tried to brew and sell nothing but cask ales. They made a go of it for 4 years (?) and I hear they made some damn good beer, but evidently the demand for cask beer was not at the level where the brewery could be profitable enough to warrant staying open. It's too bad. Wish I had moved to RI sooner and had the chance to try it.

Cheers!

[chazwicke]

I can't recall being in a cask only pub. But if there is real ale then it is usually what I'm drinking.

The Emerald Isle could have failed for a number of reasons not just because they sold only cask ales. (I'm an optimest)

I have found that real ale in America is not yet quite up to snuff with its British cousins. It is slowly getting there and I have had many fine pints of cask conditioned American craft brews. (Tupper's and others). But a bad or off pint of real ale in the UK is usually the exception. Most are well handled and tasty. A normal cask pint there is a blissful experience. It truly is. Here in America our cask offerings are certainly on the rise and getting better but my feeling is that we are still about a decade away from enjoying real ale at the consistant level of the British, Scotish, or Welsh pub. Now I am longing for a pint of English real ale.

[stronk]

If only you had better cellars, you'd probably find that the cask beer would be better, too.

I have never seen a cask-only pub and I'm virtually certain that they don't exist. Even when it is obvious that kegged beer is scorned in a pub (they hide the taps under the bar, take off the pump handles and always try to persuade you to have a pint of cask instead), it still has to be there somewhere. Similarly, I haven't yet seen a specialty beer shop which doesn't also surrepticiously sell cans of cheap lager as well. In their view, not selling the mass-appeal beer would be like finding a 50 pound note on the pavement and leaving it because a dog had pissed on it.

In the really really out-of-the-way country pubs, they tend to have kegged beer just because it keeps for ages.

[steveh]

Chaz - could your memory of those blissful pints be influenced by the atmosphere and surroundings of the vaunted isle? Not to say that's a bad thing, as I've professed the same peace of a Guinness in Ireland or a Helles in a Munich beer garden.

I have a group of friends from my beer club who have tried to travel to England once a year for the past 8 years or so and while they've had plenty of outstanding cask ales, they can certainly tell tales of "the one that was off."

As far as "keeping" a cask ale goes here in the colonies, I know of some good beer bars that go to great lengths to keep their rarities in good condition (no pun). And while the Clark Street Ale House was serving up cask 2 Hearted a shade too cold, the Map Room's pour of 3 Floyd's Pride and Joy was terrific.

But as to topic, I never saw a pub in London that was serving Real Ale exclusively. Although, I'm sure I was in a few where it was being ordered exclusively!

S.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by steveh
Chaz - could your memory of those blissful pints be influenced by the atmosphere and surroundings of the vaunted isle? Not to say that's a bad thing, as I've professed the same peace of a Guinness in Ireland or a Helles in a Munich beer garden.



I have been to the UK many times and have supped in a variety of locations including beer festivals and even GBBF. Some of the places I drank were better than others and I have had an off pint on occasion. I even had a hot one poured at a pub near Selfriges (sp) one Sunday morning during the record heat wave a year or two ago. I sent it back of course after one sip. It was literally hot. But, I have found the off pint to be a rare exception there. Even a pint that may be a day or two past prime is still usually better than cask here. IMHO. The surroundings and my happiness at being back in the UK probably do play a part. My best beer moment, however was in Bamberg. I have relayed that story before. That definitely was an instance where all conditions were perfect.

I really enjoyed the Two Hearted on cask at Clarks. It was superb. And is a superb beer in the bottle as well. I was speaking in general terms. But I do stand by the opinion that cask beer in Britain is better and that American efforts, while improving, are not quite consistantly there yet. Just as I believe drinking native beer in Germany or Czech Republic is also somewhat superior to many of the beers here. I just think the experience of the brewers there just adds a small bit of finesse.

I am not trying to disparage American craft brews or brewers in any way. I am glad for the variety and efforts available to us. And we do have superb beers.

As far as casks go, How many of you head straight to the cask beer at the local if one is available before trying other offerings? If there is something available on cask I usually go for that first.
In the DC area many places will carry at least one beer on cask. And local drinkers love it. We have a real ale festival each year in nearby Baltimore. And DC?Baltimore is the home for the Society for Preservation of Beer in Wood. So the demand for cask ale is definitely growing. Give it time and American cask offerings will someday be as uniformly good as English.

[Richard English]

I have never found a "cask-only" pub and it wouldn't be good business anyway. Not everyone wants to drink beer, after all.

Most pubs will serve a range of different drinks although, until a few years ago, there were a few pubs in London that didn't have a spirits licence and sold only beer or wine. I had a pint in the last one to retain that licence but it has now become a full licence pub.

The better pubs will have a selection of cask-conditioned beers, usually around half a dozen; the less good ones maybe three and the poor ones just a single representative.

A bad pint of cask beer is rare but can happen and it is quite in order to take it back and exchange it for another. Chaswyke is correct, in my own (limited) experience. When I visited the Clark Street Alehouse they had just one cask beer and it was in very poor condition. As they had no alternative I drank it but would have taken it straight back had I been in the UK. And some of the other bars I visited in Chicago (including Goose Island) had run out of cask beer completely.

The USA has come on in great strides in the past ten years but still has a way to go before all pubs that sell cask-conditioned have the cellarmanship skills (and the proper cellars, even) to ensure that the standards are as high as we enjoy in the UK.

[fretlessman71]

I think it has to start with demand for the cask; if you polled 100 Americans and asked them what a cask was, at least 90 would tell you it's a big box that holds a dead body. We're just not edjumacated enough in this regard! I still hear people talking about the "eurotrash" who drink their beer warm from time to time (it's rare, but it happens). Of course, these are the same people who drink Bud Light straight from the can, jes' da way der dear ol' daddy diddit...

You're probably going to have to work on one town at a time and let it get a name for itself as the "cask-conditioned capital of the USA" or something like that. And Chicago or DC would be great places to start.

[steveh]

Originally posted by Richard English
The USA has come on in great strides in the past ten years but still has a way to go before all pubs that sell cask-conditioned have the cellarmanship skills (and the proper cellars, even) to ensure that the standards are as high as we enjoy in the UK.

I can all but guarantee that will never happen. Our culture is made up of bits and pieces of every other culture around the world, it's unlikely we will adapt to one specific way of doing things in a blanket manner.

There will certainly be many pubs around that will (and have) get to those "high standards" you enjoy (the Map Room is pouring exceptional cask ales now), but they also won't give up what's working well, even if that is a good German beer on tap - or the swill you saw as so popular at Mac's in Chicago.

And there are always those that just don't care - of which there must be at least a few in the CAMRA guide I'm sure - otherwise the guide would just say, "Go anywhere."

S.

[chazwicke]

Fret, I think you might be wrong about that. Most folks who appreciate good beer know of cask conditioning. And nearly every brewpub I have been in in the last 5-6 years has at least one cask offering or sponsers a "Firkin Friday" or something like it. Cask beer has made strides here among the people who care about beer. But, there is a long way to go! I truly believe that in another decade real ale will be more common and available in the USA. We are learning albiet slowly. And I have had some excellent cask beers here. But they are the exception not the rule.
I do not believe cask beers will ever over take draft beers here but I know they will become more prevelent than they are now.

Check out this thread:

http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7623

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by steveh
I can all but guarantee that will never happen. Our culture is made up of bits and pieces of every other culture around the world, it's unlikely we will adapt to one specific way of doing things in a blanket manner.



I agree with that statement. It would be too hard to re educate our drinking culture. But I see cask becoming a more viable option when drinking in a brewpub. I do not ever think we will get to the point where we have a person whose job it is to take care of only cask conditioned beer. But I do see bars and brewpubs learning how to better handle cask beers and to possibly use chilled jackets like those at beer festivals in England. The handling will get better and the options will be greater.

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Fret, I think you might be wrong about that. Most folks who appreciate good beer know of cask conditioning. That's my point; even people here in beer-drowned Fort Collins probably don't know what a cask is unless they frequent Coopersmith's, and even then they probably don't really know. And the rest of the nation, while making strides, is still so far behind the curve that they'll probably never catch up. Like you said, we've got a long way to go, and thusly a lot of work to do. I'd be very surprised if the Cask Revolution went beyond Chicago and the Eastern Seaboard... maybe California. Dunno.

[chazwicke]

Unless I'm wrong, I'd bet that most of the Colorado brewpubs probably have at least one cask on now.

[fretlessman71]

I'll have to check on that; sure hope you're right. :)

[MeridianFC]

Originally posted by Richard English
I have never found a "cask-only" pub and it wouldn't be good business anyway. Not everyone wants to drink beer, after all.

Most pubs will serve a range of different drinks

My apologies for not being more clear, I was interested to know if there were any pubs where the only (draught) beer option was cask. I would expect any pub hoping to stay in business to offer wine and spirits, though I imagine keg beer and bottles are a fiscal necessity nowadays.

[Richard English]

Thank you for clarifying that. But the annswer is still no.

To start with, every pub will need to offer Guinness or similar and those are all nitro-keg at present (although there are a few cask-conditioned stouts and porters).

Even my favoruite local, The Garland, which sells every Harveys beer (all cask-conditioned) still sells lagers such as Carlsberg (which the Landlord advertises on his beer menu as "Probably---Lager".

He does not sell A-B Budweiser, though; anyone asking for "A Bud" gets the real Budweiser, from the Czech Republic.

[steveh]

Originally posted by Richard English
He does not sell A-B Budweiser, though; anyone asking for "A Bud" gets the real Budweiser, from the Czech Republic.

Oh, that would certainly break my heart. ;)

S.

[chris_o]

The Falcon at Arncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales for serves just one beer. Or at least it did when I was there three or four years ago. No lager. No Guinness. In fact no pumps at all. Just a single cask beer (Theakstons if I recall rightly) dispensed into a jug, thence into glasses. A real time warp. This article gives a flavour.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_4440_128/ai_55307205

[vogonbob]

I know of a pub that, excluding lager and stout, only serves real ale on tap. They have 4 beers on the go at one time and have been in business since 1988. The http://www.twopigs.freeserve.co.uk Two Pigs in Pickwick is the place I call my local.

[chazwicke]

Welcome to the board vogonbob.

[MeridianFC]

Originally posted by vogonbob
I know of a pub that, excluding lager and stout

I know many pubs like that. ;)

[Richard English]

Quote "...I know many pubs like that. ..."

Actually, I know of very few in the UK. The Garland, in Redhill, is one of the few.

Remember, "on tap" is NOT the same as "on draught" in the UK. Many of the so-called "draft" or "tap" beers in the USA are not Real Ales at all. They are the usual rubbish just dispensed differently.

Because a beer has the name Sam Smiths or Tetley's on the tap that doesn't mean it's real. Sam's, in particular, has a way of ruining its excellent Old Brewery Bitter by kegging it and serviing it through a flash cooler. The cold, fizzy liquid that results bears little resemblance to the classic, hand-pumped OBB. Simple rule: if it's not hand-pumped then don't drink it.

[HogieWan]

I can get Sam Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale (the bottled version of the OBB, I think) but it only comes in clear bottles and I have never had one that wasn't skunked.

[Richard English]

I don't care for the bottled OBB and, I agree, Sam's insistance on using clear bottles does it no favours.

They are, by the way, a very stubborn brewery (it comes from their being an old a traditional Yorkshire firm, I suspect).

Ask any true Yorkshireman and he'll tell you that the only good thing that ever came from the rest of England - is the road to Yorkshire.

[fretlessman71]

Funny; we have a similar joke in the States, but in reverse:

What's the best thing to ever come out of Kansas?

I-70. :D

[chazwicke]

All roads lead to Fairfax. As Fairfax goes, so goes the nation.