Cask Ale Week 2018

This week is Cask Ale week and it got me thinking about my New Beer Resolutions I wrote about back in January for #Tryanuary, one of which was a pledge to drink more cask beer. I wanted to drink more cask ales as usually I avoid them for more unusual flavoured beers and crazy kegs! I used to think that cask beers were all about best bitters but I felt like I needed to broaden my beer horizon and learn about more traditional styles.

To help meet this resolution I have consciously tried to attend more cask ale festivals and events this year. This summer I went to the Southampton Beer Festival as well as a local one in Devizes. I was surprised that at both of these events there was such a variety of beers on offer from both traditional as well as more modern breweries and I didn’t struggle to find something I’d like. In August I was also fortunate enough to be able to attend The Great British Beer Festival at The Olympia in London which I have previously written about here. Although I was unsure what I’d think of the GBBF I came away feeling that this festival really did change my perception of cask ale. I felt like I was a kid in a sweet shop, the variety of beer styles made it really hard to choose what to drink next. I particularly enjoyed the Thornbridge Brewery bar where I tried the Melba and Jessamine although it was hard not to have a pint of cask Jaipur!

I’ve also been drinking more cask beer when visiting pubs, the stand out has probably been my new love for Arbor Ales cask beer! When I saw on social media that a cask of Shangri-La came on at a local pub we just happened to be visiting that night I was genuinely excited to order my first pint, and it did not disappoint! Another cask ale I cant get enough of at the moment is Covert from Stealth Brew Co. who recently underwent a re-brand of the brewery which you can read about here. This summer Stealth has held open weekends and although they have some other brilliant beers on I just keep going back to the Covert. It has the perfect hoppy hit from the Citra that leaves you wanting more with exceptional drinkability. 

I feel like I’ve come quite far in just this year considering I didn’t think that cask ale would be for me. I’ve found some new favourite cask ales as well as discovering the breweries behind them. The beer festivals I’ve been too have also shown me that cask ale is much more than traditional bitter and I’m excited to keep discovering more favourites!