Cask Conditioned Ales in London..thats how it starts..then I rant.

So let me start off by saying that I've had a fondness for this style of serving beer. Just under room temperature, low carbonation ("flat" by American standards), and when done well...you can go pint after pint after pint after....

My first experience with cask conditioned ales was at the Map Room here in Chicago, then followed the experience up with my buddy Chris at, believe it or not, "Dark Lord Day" down in Munster, Indiana at the Three Floyds Brewery...and I've not turned away from this style yet.

Cask Conditioned Ales are often referred to as "real ales" which for me is just fine..except for now evidently the term "real ale" is appropriate to use with bottle conditioned beer (ie beer that has gone through a second, smaller, fermentation of added suger in the bottle so that it is carbonated..a common practice for home brewers) which I do not think is appropriate...in my opinion "bottle conditioned" is much more accurate and fair to say when the alternative is using the term "real ale" which refers to cask conditioned ales.

A quick wikipedia write up on cask conditioned ales can be found on this enormous hyperlink ;).

While in London I was able to enjoy a number of great, and not so great (really depends on how well the pubs take care of their lines and cask system..a little neglect can lead to a lot of bad tasting ale) cask conditioned ales. For my money a great cask bitter is worth it's weight in gold, there is no easier drinking nor flavorful beer to have in my experience. Not only will you find a well done bitter to be very easily taken down but you'll also find that they are incredibly well balanced.

This takes me to the point of American craft brewing, while I love it, and have drank MORE than my fair share of it, the more I drink the more I appreciate something my wife has been clued into for years...there really is nothing more quaffable then a well balanced beer. That of coarse means when in comparison to the hoppiest craft beers you can find, or what is often referred to being "extreme". Now many of my favorite breweries in the states utilize a ton of hops on some of their beers as well as go for the "extreme" or even stretch the usage of "grand cru" when labeling their beers, but I do believe their beers that are most suited to me now are the more balanced ales. There's just something about the culture of beer drinking, we all go through phases are having current favorite beers (I know I sure as hell do..I mean it was not too long ago that I shoved 7 ounces of hops into a 5 gallon homebrew batch) but I do believe that it all comes full circle at a certain point where after all of that flavor and "extreme" palate burnout returns us beer geeks to a place where we enjoy a simple, well balanced, and shit..maybe not even barely carbonated ale and rejoice in the goodness that is a well done beer or a cask conditioned ale.

Rant concluded...oh that shot off to the right was after having a pint and the butchers breakfast...jesus I look beat up!

Cheers!

Brian