New Fresh Ale category claimed

[RoomWithABrew]

Real ale requires a pump for dispensing due to the lack of top pressure. This keg ale does not.

Trying to serve an ale with top pressure on a beer engine is fraught with problems.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I've never worked in the pub trade but I'm wondering if cask breathers are a better solution.

I hear the footsteps of @peebee on his long run up from Wales!

 

[Sadfield]

I can't imagine the coopers were too pleased about metal casks.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

This thread certainly fired up from nothing.
Is fresh the new word for organic.
I think convincing non cask drinkers about how amazing and difficult cask ale is the problem.
Very few of the well known US craft brewing " gods " knock real ale. Because they've tried it and they love it.
Low hops, low carbonation, high quality and high difficulty, consequently niche.

 

[Davegase]

If I had to choose between a pint of fresh ale through a hand pump or stale cask ale through a hand pump, I'll chose fresh. So many times I've been in a pub and had a lovely fresh cask ale, 3 days later I'll go in the pub have the same pint and find its stale.
All I ask for is a decent pint.

 

[clib]

The same as beer from a "corny" or a party keg, then?

Same as from a corny if the corny beer has been filtered.

If I had to choose between a pint of fresh ale through a hand pump or stale cask ale through a hand pump, I'll chose fresh. So many times I've been in a pub and had a lovely fresh cask ale, 3 days later I'll go in the pub have the same pint and find its stale.
All I ask for is a decent pint.

That doesn't happen to me often these days but where it does happen, pubs need a solution for sure. Cask breathers would be a good shout I reckon.

 

[Davegase]

That doesn't happen to me often these days but where it does happen, pubs need a solution for sure. Cask breathers would be a good shout I reckon.

My local green king pub has just had a cask breather the system installed, (cask CO2 aspirator system). Which is promising, if they get some reasonable guest ales in !!

 

[Sadfield]

The fact that CAMRA has adopted a neutral stance to cask breathers shows that there's a problem that needs a solution. Cask breathers work on cask ale, but but are of zero use to venues that don't have the existing equipment, infrastructure or footfall to support cask ale. 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? Keeping unpasteurised, hand pulled British ales visible to the general public.

 

[Davegase]

Does it acknowledge that though? Does it have a sign on the beer engine that says "This is keg, not cask. This isn't real ale"? No, it has a non-descript "brewery conditioned" label (at the moment, while they see how much they can get away with) which doesn't really inform the unaware about anything. Not everyone is a beer geek like us and will have read the press release. Am I OK to slap a Ferrari badge on a kit car I am selling if I put a small label that says "tribute edition" or some such nonsense on it?

It's a gigantic con. It's been tried before, and a then healthy CAMRA called it out and it was stopped (with the assistance of trading standards if I remember correctly).

As for threatening cask, if they get away with this, it will start to push cask out in all pubs that aren't run by decent publicans. So that's all the chain pubs for a start. That could well kill off volume production of cask permanently.

How about we do away with a hand pull all together and go back to a gravity serve with the cask in view of the punter ?

 

[clib]

How about we do away with a hand pull all together and go back to a gravity serve with the cask in view of the punter ?

We could but I much prefer cask served through a hand pull myself, and suspect quite a few people do.

 

[Davegase]

We could but I much prefer cask served through a hand pull myself, and suspect quite a few people do.

I agree, I love all these newfangled gadgets (beer engines and sparklers).
I wonder if there were protests when they were introduced?

 

[clib]

I agree, I love al these newfangled gadgets (beer engines and sparklers).
I wonder if there were protests when they were introduced?

New gadgets are different from new processes!

 

[starseeker]

I have been reading this thread with interest ,but it seems the most important thing ,what does it taste like has been ignored ,or maybe nobody has tried it ?
Well as i am down in the West country, i do sometimes see it and it is delicious ,as they say ,fresh ,a bit crisp and served at a colder temp, much like a bottle conditioned brew really, if you see it ,give it a go and you might be surprised .

 

[samale]

No cask available in Derry but I try them when I am in Liverpool. Called into My favourite bar the ship and mitre, great selection. Both son's tried one of my pints, they both said it was too warm for them to drink. So if fresh ale can cater for them I don't see an issue

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

Never!

 

[Agentgonzo]

what does it taste like

I'm pretty sure most/all people wouldn't be able to tell the difference

 

[Davegase]

Maybe CAMRA should start a campaign to get rid of larger cask sizes. Force the breweries to supply ale in Pins . Of course it would increase the cost of delivery of a pint to the customer , but who amongst us wouldn't be happy to pay more for a decent cask ale.

 

[MashBag]

No, I'm not sure. Unlike real ale in cask, which is a defined thing, "Fresh Ale" can be owt.

IMO that hits the nail squarely on the head.

The food & bev industry does this all the time.

 

[Sadfield]

A brewery can call this or any beer Real Ale if it wanted to. They're throwing a bone to CAMRA by not doing so. Beer engines have nothing to do with Real Ale even in CAMRAs definition, hence the possibility to get Real Ale from a bottle, polypin or gravity poured cask.

 

[Rodcx500z]

One of the best pints i ever had was in an Irish bar in St Malo in 1986 Killkenny cream ale, thats all that matters to me if it's good that will do me