If you haven’t purchased a ticket for the sold-out Ladies’ Beer League Cask Beer Fest, reading this is the closest you’re going to get. Open to all genders, the first annual festival of real ale is being held this Sunday, November 17, in two sessions at the Stubborn Goat Gastropub.
But first things first: what’s a cask? Cask-conditioned ale, or real ale—a term coined by the Campaign for Real Ale in 1973 by some British blokes bored with over-carbonated, pasteurized draught—is, according to The Naked Pint, “left to mature in an 11-gallon cask, where it undergoes a secondary fermentation…[and] is then served to the public from the same cask.” Because it is served without the CO2 pressure of kegged beer, cask ale is “preserved in its natural state.”
According to LBL co-founder Tracy Phillippi, because carbonation happens naturally the beer has a more natural taste and mouthfeel—beer-geek speak for the way the liquid feels in your mouth. Compared to ale poured from a keg or bottle, Phillippi says, “It’s usually smooth and really clean,” which has an important benefit: “You can drink more without feeling bloated.” According to LBL’s Pam Crouse, the nature of cask ales has changed over the years. “It’s become an art form, whereas before it was a cheap way to drink.”
Many of the breweries involved will be brewing cask ale for the first time. “We’re trying to help breweries develop cask beer, so we’re helping them develop at the same time” as the league, explains Crouse. “It’s just kind of starting here.”
Only Kevin Keefe of Granite Brewery has been doing cask ales since the 1980s, and funnily enough, while cask beer has become quite popular in Toronto and Vancouver, Phillippi claims these cities “recognize Keefe as the godfather of cask ale.” And so it only seems right that casks should become an integral part of the beer scene in Halifax. “It kind of has its history here.” And in the spirit of curiosity, the Stubborn Goat, Halifax’s newest gastropub, came to LBL with the idea for the event. “They were curious about casks and wanted to learn more about us.”
Offering seven cask ales from Maritime breweries and eight tickets to each attendee, cask-festers will try each cask once, and their favourite twice. At the end of the night, a winner will be chosen from the following: a dark cream ale from Hell Bay Brewing (Liverpool); a dry-hopped IPA from Propeller; Winter Warmer from Garrison; a smoked porter from Picaroons (Fredericton); a Glenora-infused stout from Big Spruce (Cape Breton); an English brown ale from Boxing Rock (Shelburne) and a Belgian apricot IPA from Bridge Brewing.
“Because a cask is created on the spot, it’s never the same,” explains Phillippi. “If Garrison makes two Winter Warmers, they’ll be different.”
The event is already setting new standards for Halifax. The upcoming Stillwell Beer Bar will carry three permanent casks at all times. “Hopefully we’ll help expose people to more—they’ll appreciate and want to order it.” As for what’s in store this weekend, the atmosphere promises to be in keeping with the nature of cask ale. “If you watch someone tap a cask, it’s celebratory,” says Phillippi. “Someone always gets a beer shower. It’s always different. It’s always an adventure.”
Ladies’ Beer League Cask Beer Fest
Sunday, November 17
1-4pm and 5-8pm
Stubborn Goat Gastropub,
1579 Grafton Street
$35/ SOLD OUT
This article appears in Nov 14-20, 2013.
It is pretty fun reading all the new, and different definitions of cask conditioned, or “real ale” in the media surrounding this event.
Like many traditional food stuffs, this is about a traditional method of preparing, in this case, a libation, that was born of necessity in times when there was little or no refrigeration, and the science behind fermentation was not well understood. Beer was made in a brewery, but because it had to be kept fresh in order to drink, it was packaged while it was still fermenting (barely) which would keep it preserved under a blanket of CO2 given off by the yeast, in the latter stages of fermentation.
The keg (or cask) was delivered to a pub where the publican then took over responsibility for overseeing the completion of the fermentation, and waited for yeast and other suspended solids to settle out. The artistry related to this role was almost lost, but has been revived in much the same way as we now have traditional breads, charcuterie and cheeses becoming available. Some publicans would add more fermentable sugars to raise the alcohol, others would add hops for flavour, and to extend shelf life. They would also often add finings to the beer, powders, or liquids that settle through the liquid, collecting protein and yeast solids as they settle, to help it clear, such that it would look better in a clear glass. It is these additions that can negate a beer’s status as being vegan, as they often are made from animal proteins.
Nowadays, many people are further changing the beer by adding non-traditional, but usually fun ingredients to the cask. The process is traditional, some of the things being added by the publican, or even by the brewer prior to delivery, may not be. That, however has nothing to do with whether the beer (which is almost always an ale) is a “real ale”. To meet that test, it has to be still “alive”, that is, the yeast has not been filtered out, removed, or killed off. Most would be dormant, in the settled solids in the heel of the cask, meaning that you don’t want to have to move it from the cellar until it’s done, or you’ll be serving cloudy beer.
Incidentally, this is also the source of the term cellar temperature – the temperature this beer was served at because no refrigeration was available. Ice cold beer is usually too cold to taste its goodness anyway. British ale is not served “warm”. It’s served at about 12-14 C (54-57 F) and that is what most real stone or earthen cellars range in temperature if they are not left open to the summer heat.
Once tapped, kegs of beer are generally good for 3 to 5 days, after which the air that enters the keg to replace the volume of beer served oxidizes the beer, creating a distinct sour taste that most people find objectionable. This temporary, naturally regulated window of drinkability is one of the charms of “real ale”, but modern times have seen the amount and cost of the extra work required to create such a short window of opportunity, cause real ale to become a speciality item, often reserved for festivals, rather than a day to day libation.
Beer aficionados (geeks) welcome more of this style of service, recognizing the amount of work involved, and, perhaps more important, the cooperation and coordination required between brewery and publican in eventually getting drinkable beer to the glass. It is not easy.
Cudos to the author’s recognizing Kevin Keefe’s role in this, although it would be even better if he were also recognized by having one of his beers in this fest.
Thanks for the history lesson, Jeff! Cask ale is such an interesting beast, and I’m glad to see more of it in Halifax. I know the LBL was limited by liquor laws to only allow casks from breweries that the Stubborn Goat currently has on tap, BUT the LBL is moving toward incorporating as a non-profit, at which point they’ll be able to acquire their own liquor licenses for events, and not have to rely not those of the venues in which they host. So in the future, they’ll be able to make more of these decisions themselves. In the meantime, long live Granite & congrats to the LBL for spreading the cask love.