Cask ale is unfiltered freshly fermented beer put into a special type of keg that is similar to a barrel.
was properly conditioned. Now the spigot will be just as gently hammered into the keystone. This spigot will be either a faucet for a gravity pour to be served bartop or it will be in a cooler or cellar, connected to a hand pump called a beer engine. The two types of serving are very different. The beer engine pumps the beer through a sparkler, breaking out the carbonation, creating that creamy head. This creates a smooth mouthfeel like a nitro pour, with very low carbonation and high aroma release. Gravity pour does not go through a sparkler which allows the carbonation to stay in the beer. Basically less smooth, more sparkle.
All draft beer was served this way until the early 20th century when pressurized kegs were invented. They revolutionized draft beer, making it easy to dispense and transport, but it lacked that fresh quality that cask ale is known for. It quickly took over in the US because when prohibition was repealed, no breweries, restaurants, or tap houses wanted to mess with cask ale. Even now with the popularity of craft beer very few US breweries fill casks and very few tap houses serve them. It is still very popular in England and Ireland thanks to the Campaign for Real Ale or CAMRA. CAMRA started in 1971 in Ireland to keep cask ale from dying out. Even though cask ale is currently experiencing a slowdown, it’ s still hard to find a pub in England or Ireland without beer on cask. While it’ s hard to find here, there are places here where you can find cask ale programs at breweries and places that will serve them. We had a program at Saint Arnold in Houston where we supplied casks to high volume tap houses in town.
So why is it so hard to find here? It’ s a lot of extra labor for the brewery, the distributor, and those serving the beer. There’ s a risk of getting the calculations wrong and not adding enough sugar and the beer’ s flat or adding too much and the cask over pressurizes and pops open. There’ s a risk of the cask not conditioning properly. Also once tapped, you have to sell it quickly. Even if the cask stays perfectly still the entire time it’ s served, oxygen will eventually spoil it. If kept well a cask will last three to seven days, with the stronger beers lasting longer, after which it starts to turn sour. If a tap house wants to sell cask ale, they need to be pretty certain it’ s going to sell. Otherwise they’ ll have to dump it down the drain.
That beer my friend bought me over 20 years ago made quite the impression. I would think of it often and did my best to introduce more of my friends to the stuff. Sadly the Houston Ginger Man closed down a few years ago after almost 40 years. Only a handful of breweries make cask ale and several don’ t do it right. The best casks I’ ve had in Texas were from Houston brewery Saint Arnold and Real Ale in Blanco. English brewers won’ t send any our way because of the spoilage risk. If you get the opportunity to try it, go for it! See how that fresh flavor really leaves an impression. If you’ re in England or Ireland, I’ ve heard that a helpful way to avoid getting an oxidized pint of cask ale at a pub is to find someone who looks like a regular customer drinking beer and ask that person“ What’ s a good pint?”
Chris Keller has worked in beer sales for a distributor, as a brewer for Saint Arnold Brewing Co. in Houston, and is the owner of Pint and Barrel Drafthouse in Palestine, Texas.
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SPRING EDITION 2025
Cask ale is unfiltered freshly fermented beer put into a special type of keg that is similar to a barrel.
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