Franconian Beer Message Board
Gassy Pils |
| Posted by Mark Andersen on 2017-01-15 06:04:23 |
| I disagree that climate is just an excuse. I think to do real ale properly and in sufficient quantities (based on my admittedly limited understanding of how it works) to keep your consumers happy there is a real cost associated with it if you do not have a cellar that pretty much stays at the right temperature all year long. A pub in Florida is not going to want to and probably can't afford to invest in a space to keep casks on stillage at just the right temperature all the time. It's just not going to happen. There may be a few exceptions but as a standard practice I don't see it ever happening. Even here in New England where arguably we are culturally the closest to the UK, have cellars throughout the region, many breweries brew mostly British styles, etc. the existence of cask ale is pretty much limited to the occasional firkin being put on at a local pub. I know of one pub on all of Cape Cod that has frequent (not constant) cask ale on tap from the local brewery. You're right it can coexist with kegs. Many US micro breweries are establishing a tradition but it's keg based on cask. My closest brewery cape cod beer has established regular brands that people are familiar and I see many of the regulars that I drink with at our local pub ordering the same beer from them over and over. From a keg. They don't want it on cask. If the pub switched the Cape Cod Red Ale over to cask from the keg the guys that go in their regularly and mainly order just that beer will stop drinking it. I promise you they will switch to a different keg beer. Someone like me appreciates the cask. The average Joe at the pub here does not and will not and they're the ones paying most of the bills. BTW the big thing over here in the craft beer part of the industry is cans. That is what is really selling. I just visited a small brewery up in Vermont this Friday and they are excited to have just installed a canning machine because they know that is going to increase sales because locals would much rather walk out of the brewery with a case of cans rather than glass growlers/jugs. So if you want to know what the real beer drinking tradition here in the US is, and this may horrify you, it's canned beer. |
| Followups: |
 Canny Pils by Nick B. on 2017-01-15 07:37:52 |
| Cask vs Keg by Uncle Jimbo on 2017-01-15 10:03:36 |
| Cask vs Keg by Nick B. on 2017-01-15 11:05:55 |