New Fresh Ale category claimed

[RoomWithABrew]

I don't think it would be that useful, different beers will mature at different rates. If it tastes good, it is good to serve, thats part of the job of the landlord, barstaff. And, beer can always be returned. Most decent pubs will provide a tasting sample on request.

For the Antipodeans, speed of service isn't the problem. Hand pulling is as quick, if not quicker than serving from a keg. It's not selling enough pints from a cask before it expires over a 2-4 day period. Glass size isn't a problem, pints or half pints are the standard measures.

I'd go as far as saying it's not really a pub issue, most around easily manage to maintain a couple if not more cask lines. Why I feel this is such a non-issue. It's a solution aimed at places where cask ale will never be viable.

I've only seen one Antipodean in this thread so far. Hence my prod at their inefficient bar staff ( aren't they all in UK anyway ?), completely agree re speed of filling a pint from an engine. Settling time on a pour is time to get the money off the punter or get the wine, crisps, nuts etc.
Surge sales will be difficult to manage anywhere, try getting a drink at a football match at half time or at a concert intermission.

 

[Sadfield]

try getting a drink at a football match

The only upside of my club getting wound up by HMRC, no more half time speed drinking ice cold, ultra fizzy Fosters, from a plastic cup with structural integrity of jelly. Some Fresh Ale would have been a luxury.

 

[The Baron]

I've only seen one Antipodean in this thread so far. Hence my prod at their inefficient bar staff ( aren't they all in UK anyway ?), completely agree re speed of filling a pint from an engine. Settling time on a pour is time to get the money off the punter or get the wine, crisps, nuts etc.
Surge sales will be difficult to manage anywhere, try getting a drink at a football match at half time or at a concert intermission.

Most of the Craft/Cask ales pubs I use in Leeds pull your pint and take your money or even take the next customers orders while allowing time to settle then comeback and top up so no time lost there. It also proves most are trained properly re pulling and serving Cask handpull

 

[Northern_Brewer]

So, if you want a pint of something that at least resembles cask ale, in that wedding marquee, village hall, hotel, restaurant, theatre, sports club or high street retail unit turned into a bar, what else will do the job?

There's at least two separate problems in that list. Events in a temporary location of which the wedding marquee is the classic example but maybe a ceilidh in the village hall is another, have their own problems. You often have limited access to the location before the event which isn't ideal for letting natural-conditioned beer have time to drop its yeast, there's minimal infrastructure either for cellar or dispense but at least there's no problems with throughput, so you don't care about shelf-life. So that scenario is perfect for brite beer served from cask by gravity or from bag-in-box.

With the others, it depends a lot on what the cellar, the dispense setup, and staff are capable of, as well as the pattern of trade. Proper cask can work really well for the kind of sports club where everyone comes down on a Friday night and keeps drinking until Sunday. But it is a lot more difficult when they keep the bar open for a trickle of custom through the week, or have a quiz night on Wednesday or something like that. Yeah, cask breathers can be an option in that case - but it's no coincidence that keg beer was introduced to the UK at East Sheen Lawn Tennis Club, although Watney's head brewer being a member also had something to do with that! Still, cask even with breathers still needs more cellarmanship than keg, and staff training and interest are vital factors to consider there.

As a random aside, another beery tennis connection is that the founder of modern hop breeding, Ernest Salmon, was good enough to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 1903.

Keeping unpasteurised, hand pulled British ales visible to the general public.

Well it could be argued that's not the job of venues, certainly not "part-time" ones where they just want to make money to support the sports club.

But since we Brits are not very good at blowing our own trumpet, I'll finish with Jeff Alworth who brings the eye of an outsider :

[Cask] is the most “crafted” beer style made anywhere. If we ever wanted to exalt a beer type that requires the most hands fussing over it, a beer resistant to making at large scale, one that can’t really be put in a bottle, one that is as likely to wilt from environmental conditions as freshly-plucked lettuce, it is cask ale. When you’re served a pint at the right temperature, poured properly, that is perfectly fresh and well-handled, it’s a marvel of coordination. There’s a reason Americans picked the bones of British brewing while leaving its cask soul behind: it’s just too hard to make....

cask ale is not just the most important symbol of British brewing, it’s also one of the hardest to make beers, the craftiest beers, and, when it’s made and served properly, the best beers on the planet. Nearly everyone seems to hold cask in contempt, even while they fall in love with Bavarian kellerbier (a poor man’s cask beer) and hazy IPA and rustic saison. If I were English, I’d be swanning around bragging about making the best and most difficult beer. The problem is, that’s not a very British thing to do, is it? Well, take my word for it as a braggy American, it is the hardest to make, and the most hand-crafted.

 

[Sadfield]

Well it could be argued that's not the job of venues, certainly not "part-time" ones where they just want to make money to support the sports club.

I'd didn't say it was their job, but it would have that result. Over, them opting for a big stack of cans or bottles. If you start digging down into the multitude of scenarios there'll be instances where it's perfect and some where there are multiple alternatives.

Fresh Ale is another option to the market, it isn't mandatory.

The biggest threat to cask, has and will always be, bad cask. So, I'd rather see Fresh Ale in places that will always struggle maintaining quality.

 

[The Baron]

Why do drinkers see it as a threat it is another bow in the armoury, I love Cask but if it is not viable for the majority of pubs what do you want them to do.
They are in the business of selling beer for profit not over providing for a small amount of drinkers who insist Cask has to be so.
As I have said I do not want Cask to die out but if you were a Landlord and could not sell a Cask within the time it is GOOD( as bad Cask is what is killing it) as Sadfield has said what options have they.
The option is to sell something like Fresh ale as a near substitute that may not go all the way but will provide a pseudo cask style and as I have said plenty of us homebrewers do it this styley with bags and cornies with a handpull arrangement I am sure they are more than happy with that.
As seems to be the case some drinkers keep harping on about Cask but they are in a minority but seem to shout the loudest as is common in this day and age.
Ps do not take this as a rant just saying how it is in The Baron's world.
Edit when I do my beer in a bag I call it Handpull and not Cask