What Is Cask-Conditioned Beer?

Have you ever walked into a beer bar or pub and noticed some of the taps both looked and dispensed beer differently? Or have you ever been to a beer festival, or beer event, where beer was served directly from a spigot in the side of a metal container propped up on a table? If so, then you may have already encountered cask-conditioned beer. If not, then after you read this article, I hope you seek some out.

What Is Cask-Conditioned Beer?

Cask-conditioned beer, or cask ale, is beer that is both conditioned in and served from a cask. Up until the beer is placed in the cask, the brewing process is exactly the same: mash, boil, ferment. After the beer finishes primary fermentation, it is placed in a cask with finings (a substance that causes particles suspended in fluid to drop out of suspension) to help clarify the beer. Often sugar will also be added to the cask to aid with the secondary fermentation, and sometimes even extra hops. The beer is then conditioned in the cask. Conditioning is the penultimate stage in the brewing process when the beer matures, clarifies, and carbonates. In the case of cask-conditioned beer, there is a small amount of yeast remaining in the beer that causes secondary fermentation, which carbonates the beer. The conditioning time depends on the beer style and can last between 24 hours and 16 days. Traditionally, the casks are conditioned at the pub by the publican, but can also be conditioned at the brewery and shipped out when ready. When the cask beer is ready, the yeast and other sediment settles to the bottom, the beer is carbonated, and served directly from the cask. Cask ale is always unfiltered, unpasteurized, and always best fresh.

Some of the most common styles of beer found in a cask are English-styles: bitter, mild, brown, pale, ESB, and so on. However, I have seen other styles, such as American IPA on cask like Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, and I've also tried Rogue Chocolate stout on cask.

But what's the difference? Since cask-conditioned ales are not filtered and not pasteurized, they contain live yeast that continues to add complexity, new flavors, and new aromas to a beer. The exact differences vary from beer to beer. The texture of a cask-conditioned beer on your palette is often more creamy and smooth than its non-cask counterpart. Furthermore, there are a few beers that are only available on cask.

Click here to learn more about cask-condition beers.

— David Jensen, Menuism