English Cask Ale

[DoWBrewer]

I just got back from London. I tried tons of real ale on cask. I made it to 7 pubs over 4 days (from personal recommendation or CAMRA's website). While I enjoyed the beers I drank, I have to say that I prefer cask beers I have had in the US. The english beers were so subtle and mild that it left me wanting something with more aggressive flavoring. I tried, milds, ESBs, porters, pale ales etc. I did like the sessionability of the brews and I understand the difficulty of brewing tasty 3 or 4% beers, but I guess I was expecting more.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did I go to the wrong places or I am just too used to the extreme beers that are now the mainstay of craft brewing in the US?

 

[alane1]

Did you try any commercial beers on draught like Chiswick or John Smith?

 

[dannysk]

Yes, totally agree. I, however, found it to be a refreshing change vs what we get in the US because though the beers were less aggressive, there was also more of a balance and generally, just different which is why (I think) we all like to brew and all like to try a variety of beers. Not that I don't like aggressive beers but I am finding myself more and more these days looking for beers that have more of a balance. Too often, seems like US beers are a competition around who can achieve the highest level of hopping, who can achieve super saturation, at least with IPA, Imperial IPA, extra IPA, etc. Yes I realize that these are different than cask beers but just using these US styles vs the British counterparts as an example. Like the US vs. British IPA, the difference between most US and British cask beers are equally different. Unfortunately, this to me is too much of a departure from the classic definition and those that have not been able to try English cask beers don't really know what they are like regardless of personal preference.
Cheers.

 

[DoWBrewer]

Did you try any commercial beers on draught like Chiswick or John Smith?

I didn't keep close track of what I was drinking. The beer app on my phone was not working since I was in the UK.

I did have a London Pride which is a pretty big commercial beer (but in the bottle, not on cask). I also had a Guinness. I mostly tried to go with whatever was local. I also asked for recommendations from the publicans.

 

[DoWBrewer]

Yes, totally agree. I, however, found it to be a refreshing change vs what we get in the US because though the beers were less aggressive, there was also more of a balance and generally, just different which is why (I think) we all like to brew and all like to try a variety of beers. Not that I don't like aggressive beers but I am finding myself more and more these days looking for beers that have more of a balance. Too often, seems like US beers are a competition around who can achieve the highest level of hopping, who can achieve super saturation, at least with IPA, Imperial IPA, extra IPA, etc. Yes I realize that these are different than cask beers but just using these US styles vs the British counterparts as an example. Like the US vs. British IPA, the difference between most US and British cask beers are equally different. Unfortunately, this to me is too much of a departure from the classic definition and those that have not been able to try English cask beers don't really know what they are like regardless of personal preference.
Cheers.

I thought I was moving away from the IPAs to more balanced beers, but I now realize there is whole level of balance beyond what I was thinking. I generally think of something like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as a balanced beer (which would be great on cask). Sierra would be a hop bomb in the UK.

I recently brewed a porter at about 4%. I added all of the dark grains at vorlouf and it turned out similar to the cask porter I drank.

One thing I forgot to mention, I really prefer the atmosphere at the pubs there. I felt like the pub was more about hanging with friends and talking to people than a pickup joint. Although, I am sure there are plenty of places that not like that, they probably don't serve real ale. The other interesting thing was at most of the pubs, I was the only person under 60 drinking cask ale. I found that to be disheartening.

 

[amateur_knight]

Man, I couldn't agree more. I travel to the UK fairly often for business and am always looking for the local bitters and esbs. Some of my favorites are:

Spitfire
Hobgoblin
Bishops finger
More than one "can't remember the name but know the pub"

Speaking of which I'm doing a English bitter as I type this!

 

[bobmcstuff]

I didn't keep close track of what I was drinking. The beer app on my phone was not working since I was in the UK.

I did have a London Pride which is a pretty big commercial beer (but in the bottle, not on cask). I also had a Guinness. I mostly tried to go with whatever was local. I also asked for recommendations from the publicans.

London Pride is good - it's about 0.5% stronger in the bottle than cask so to me it doesn't taste like the same beer (just 2 different good ones).

There are a lot of new breweries in London now doing more "craft" style beers such as The Kernel (personal favourite), Rocky Head and London Fields (and many more). You will find these to be a lot more aggressive in flavour than the traditional ones that would be recommended by CAMRA. CAMRA have a bit of a thing about tradition, cask conditioned beer and keeping things the same, so they predominantly cater for beardy old men (that's meant to be a little tongue in cheek before someone takes offence ). Therefore you won't find these new breweries strongly recommended by CAMRA so much. Case in point: my dad (60 years old and with a beard) is a paid up CAMRA member and dismisses the new wave of stronger more flavourful beers as a passing fad. He brews a good bitter though so I forgive him

Also bear in mind that most traditional British beers are designed to be sessionable easy drinkers (and Imperial pints are about 20% larger than US ones), hence the beer tends to be fairly weak in alcohol and balanced in flavour. British beer has traditionally been around 4% since the first world war and the temperance movement in the 20s (the same thing that got you guys prohibition), before that it was a lot stronger.

 

[amateur_knight]

+1 on the London pride

Awesome with cod n chips with mushy peas

 

[alane1]

I think the more important point might be more about pub culture and less about beer. When I went to England most natives drank continental lagers, which I found mildly offensive.