How can you improve cask ale?

If I could encourage one skill for all dedicated cask pubs it would have to be patience. This should not be taken as a complaint, it is an observation based upon sixteen years of working and drinking in the London beer scene.

Those who work with food and drink will have seen best before, use before or expiry dates on their stock. Best before are of course a suggested guide, use before and expiry dates more a matter of safety. I would suggest that using these stickers on beer will encourage the idea that serving the beer as quickly, or as fresh, as possible is the best practice – or is it?

When you apply this idea to cask it does diminish a factor to do with this product that I love so much – conditioning. Part of this process is when the beer in the pin, firkin, kilderkin or barrel will produce CO2 that cannot escape, will therefore dissolve back into the liquid as carbonic acid, creating additional carbonation (this can all happen before venting). For those who want to know what this looks like, it is a very thick and creamy head on the beer with closely knitted bubbles, completely round in shape with few gaps/spaces between them.

So what could be a better suggestion:

1.   Best From dates: if the brewery producing the cask is aware of a suggested conditioning time for each beer then putting a best from date will make the control of this conditioning countdown more manageable for all cask pubs.

2.   Brewed On dates: this labelling will help the cask pub to assess how long the beer has until minimal/prime conditioning has been achieved. This would involve a conditioning calendar giving suggested lead times per beer style.

One of my great loves about cask is that this is a relationship between the brewer and the venue. The venue trusts the brewer to make a high quality product, the brewer trusts the venue to manage and serve the beer in tip top condition. This often binds the two businesses together through stronger bonds than just commercial reasons. The brands you have on your bar can tell a story about who you are as a business, where you came from, what your aspirations might be, and it turn the brewer can have ambassadors of their brands just by having the beer in venues proud to serve their product. 

When researching “Best From” from dates I was lucky to speak to five different commentators from different backgrounds. Below is a summary of what each one has said:

Julian Herrington, Consultant Masterbrewer for Southern and Central UK

My experience with cask beer goes back to Brickwoods in Portsmouth when I joined the industry in 1972, 47 years ago. Keg lager had greatly eroded cask beer sales. In 1990 the Food Acts 1990 pulled breweries into the realm of Food Safety for the first time when Best Before dates were introduced. The trouble with these is that you can choose any period you want after the cask has been filled (racked) but most use 35 days. Because of this people started using Born On dates but Best Before are also required because of the Food Act. These seem to have gone away. I have never heard of nor seen Best From dates which to me are an irrelevancy. All beer is matured in the brewery vessels before being racked. The beer after that just needs time for the yeast to settle and make condition which is 12 to 24 hours for most. Tim Taylors needs a bit longer because of the nature of its yeast. Conditioning is not a problem in the trade so I see this is as unnecessary micro-management which insults the landlord. The problem with cask beer usually is that it is too warm and kept for too long on dispense. Also, cellars are kept too warm. There are also infections more often than there should be. As regards "too old", this is driven by trying to deliver choice when I suggest that they should move to keg ales instead. Cask is best served where they can turn it over in Two days, max three.

Alexis Leclere, Head Brewer

SlyBeast Brewing, The Ram Inn, Wandsworth.

My experience with cask beer is: as a customer a very nice thing very typical of England that is amazing when well done. As a brewer: a complete different way of thinking the brewing because the beer you pack is not finished so you have to take in consideration when you design your recipes or when you ferment your beer the life of that beer in the cask.Most of the time the labelling of the cask was essential a best before date, ingredient description (allergen) and a quick description of the beer and name of the gyle number. I have rarely seen best from date. I think the reason for that is: if you make beer that needs conditioning in package (cask beer, keg/bottles condition beer) you as a brewer have to consider the conditioning time to package in your schedule. The beer that goes out of your door should be conditioned: for cask ready to be stillaged, tapped, vented etc, for bottle/keg/can condition ready to be consumed. This is the reason why when you visit breweries in belgium/ north of France they all have a warm room and a cold room. If I see a best from date I’ll respect it because I want the product to be delivered to the customer the best way possible but I will still think that those 5/6 days of conditioning should have happened at the brewery.

Tom Goddard

General Manager at City Pub Company

I have seen almost every type of ale dispense and preparation system from old school wedges and tilts, chiller jackets to cask widge and has assisted dispense. Old school bitters to hazy vegan New England IPA’s. 15 years of experience and 2 years managing a micro brewery. Labelling ranges from the good, bad and the ugly. Good being ‘ready from dates’. Bad being stock that gets delivered with less than 2 weeks and ugly being breweries putting a month on the shelf life on anything that leaves the brewery. The lack of knowledge surrounding the development and complexity of flavours is poor across the board. The general consensus is that you should sell it quickly and that it must be better or fresher that way.

Lucy Do

Owner of DODO Micropub, Hanwell

(I am a) self taught carer and server of cask beer since 2017! There is no single standard (for labelling) and it’s completely dependent on the brewery! Ranges from simple avery printed labels to fancy commercial looking labels to luggage tags! Worst case scenario, there is no label or no allergen advice for when I’m wanting to know if there’s lactose in a beer. I’ve definitely had notes on labels saying “do not vent until xxxx”. So that’s kind of like a best from date. Sometimes you get a “racked on date” as an indicator but largely if it’s come in then I’m assuming it’s ready and not been sitting around approaching it’s best before date being badly stored. (Would you follow “Best From” guidelines?) I have when they’ve occasionally been on casks but as mentioned I tend to order direct from breweries or with very specific distributors who would never dream of selling long in the tooth beer.

Joshua Smith

Marketing Manager Budweiser Budvar UK

Worked in pub trade for 15 years and have managed cask in cellars for a good proportion of that time. It’s been a while but can only remember BB dates on cask. (Have you seen “Best From” anywhere globally?) Maybe on some of the NEIPA cans in the US but couldn’t give an example. They would be doing it to ensure they get the beer out as fresh as possible to the end consumer. Saves time within the 3 tier system. If a product gets through to end user before the Best From date they can then store until ready. (Would you follow “Best From” guidelines?) Think it’s a great idea for cask. I know some breweries usually store the beer at the brewery to condition before sending. However if there is a BF date then maybe they can get the beer out as fresh as possible and then allow the Publican to keep until ready. However one of the big issues, as we all know with cask currently in the UK is the education piece. Pubs need to look after it better, giving more control in the conditioning process may add more risk for the brewery.

I thought it was fascinating to read the answers to the same five questions I asked, and in particular that there is a difference in opinion especially between those that work/have worked in venues and those that work as brewers. What does this tell us about the relationship between the brewer and the venue? Are we all communicating in the right way? Are we all using a standard, simplified language and method? Who is teaching us all this information, and why is it different?

When I have talked about this before I have heard people comment that “there are bigger issues in cask to worry about.” I was interested as to why this was the go to response, and whilst it is not my only thought perhaps I can finish with this:

To get people interested in the quality of cask perhaps we should give them something they can measure – both the venue and the customer. I would argue that “fresh” cask beer can be served by almost anymore, focussing on something more visual and able to be discussed fairly might get more people noticing and caring about the product in a new way it can be recognised. It is not the only thing change, but might it be a great starting point?