Franconian Beer Message Board

Cask Ale in US
Posted by Mark Andersen on 2015-06-23 06:45:10
I'm not sure how widespread Cask ale was prior to prohibition if at all and it would take some kind of Ron Pattinson like effort by someone to figure that out.  However we can safely say that whatever did exist prior to prohibition was surely wiped out by prohibition nationwide.  What was left standing after prohibition was mostly the big boys/industrial lager brewers and this really didn't start to change until the 1980's.  Honestly I didn't even know what cask ale was until probably the late 90's or so.  It just didn't exist here.  

Today where it does exist is in a verry small minority of pubs that cater to beer geeks and even then it's usually not a regular things. It might be slightly more widespread here in New England than anywhere else in the US probably because well we are NEW England and many of the breweries are focused on English style beers here like Mayflower in Plymouth for example.

There is a local group in New England (our very mini version of CAMRA I guess) that promotes cask ale in our region.  They're called CASC - Cask Conditional Ale Support Campagin.  They use Facebook to announce what pubs have a cask ale on in the region at any given time.  Unfortunately most of these pubs are not local to me.  They run a twice a year event called NERAX - New England Real Ale Exhibition.  

Sadly I'm just as often as not dissapointed with the condition of Cask that is on offer when I do find it.   


 
 
Followups:
                                   Cask Ale in US by DonS on  2015-06-23 09:16:37
                                     Cask Ale in US by FredW on  2015-06-23 10:10:23
                                   Cask Ale in Oregon is mostly by Nick B. on  2015-06-24 10:35:20
                                     Cask Ale in Oregon is mostly by Nick B. on  2015-06-24 10:42:52
                                     Cask Ale in Oregon is mostly by Barry on  2015-06-25 02:43:52
                                       Cask Ale in Oregon is mostly by Nick B. on  2015-06-25 09:41:56
                                         Cask Ale in Oregon is mostly by Jason on  2015-07-01 02:05:55
                                           Berm in Oregon is mostly by Nick B. on  2015-07-04 03:04:06
                                             Germanic Beer in Oregon is mostly Excellent by Nick B. on  2015-07-04 03:05:01