Scrutable

A thread on beeradvocate.com that goes deep into caskery

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/ ... se.669724/

Troof be told there's not many casks going in Texas, but whenever there is I always have some. It'd be nice if there were more casks.

But - I'm not really complaining bc right now San Antonio has tons of great beers from in city, in region, in state, and from all over the country. With some from other countries. But really I tend to stick with local first, then region, then state, then further away in that order, bc there's no shortage of locals. And buying local is good. As good as other places surely make beer, I just don't really need mine to have traveled thousands of miles by boat, rail or truck when there's so much good stuff already here.

There's only one pump near me, but the beer is brewed about 10m away from it. They do a pretty good job, especially in winter when they do a stout.

Says Angram on it and everything.

Reading the comments about using a sparkler on the pump to produce a dense, foamy head and how that's a North vs South thing in England; quite true. I've asked a Northern bartender to take off the sparkler when serving Souther beer (London Pride) and she was concerned 'it'll be very flat' but we reassured her this loose froth was exactly was how it was meant to be.

(There then followed a pint's discussion among ourselves on whether sparklers actually reduce bitterness and how that might be.)

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 07, 2023 7:15 am

Reading the comments about using a sparkler on the pump to produce a dense, foamy head and how that's a North vs South thing in England; quite true. I've asked a Northern bartender to take off the sparkler when serving Souther beer (London Pride) and she was concerned 'it'll be very flat' but we reassured her this loose froth was exactly was how it was meant to be.

(There then followed a pint's discussion among ourselves on whether sparklers actually reduce bitterness and how that might be.)

I got caught by that once several years ago, a pub in the next village had a Shepherd Neme beer on cask, so, feeling a bit nostalgic I asked for a pint.

Its mouthfeel at least was very wrong with a Northern style head on it.

jimbob wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 07, 2023 3:33 pm

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 07, 2023 7:15 am

Reading the comments about using a sparkler on the pump to produce a dense, foamy head and how that's a North vs South thing in England; quite true. I've asked a Northern bartender to take off the sparkler when serving Souther beer (London Pride) and she was concerned 'it'll be very flat' but we reassured her this loose froth was exactly was how it was meant to be.

(There then followed a pint's discussion among ourselves on whether sparklers actually reduce bitterness and how that might be.)

I got caught by that once several years ago, a pub in the next village had a Shepherd Neme beer on cask, so, feeling a bit nostalgic I asked for a pint.

Its mouthfeel at least was very wrong with a Northern style head on it.

Batemans with a sparkler type head is particularly odd, very much not what Batemans should be. This is particularly true of their dark mild. Not that Batemans or milds are very common up this way.

Annoyingly, Americans seem convinced that sparklers are an essential part of cask beer. And the only times I've seen it, it's been kept on the bar at 20°C.

dyqik wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 08, 2023 2:27 am

Annoyingly, Americans seem convinced that sparklers are an essential part of cask beer. And the only times I've seen it, it's been kept on the bar at 20°C.

Fwiw, I am not convinced of this.

I think my favorite cask beer I've ever had was a mild from Schlafly brewery in St Louis. Partially bc miles are so rare in the US.