Heineken - 8L BLADE Keg
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What is a cask ale?
Cask ale is real ale. It is commonly misrepresented. It requires skill and knowledge to master, but when served right, it's a pint everyone should be drinking!
Cask beer, real ale or traditional English cask ale is often unfairly dismissed as warm, flat beer only enjoyed by an older generation. In reality, British cask ale is closer to an art form. One that takes skill, patience and knowledge to master.
When it’s served properly, cask ale is a beautifully balanced, flavourful pint that every beer lover should experience at least once.
What is cask ale?
So, what is a cask ale exactly?
An ale is any beer fermented using a top-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which converts fermentable sugars into alcohol and CO₂ at temperatures between 15–24°C (60–75°F).
Some brewers choose to package this beer into casks — barrels that come in various sizes and materials. In the beer industry, the most common cask is the firkin: a nine-gallon barrel, typically metal, holding around 72 pints of beer.
When unpasteurised and unfiltered beer is placed into cask, the brewer adds a small amount of yeast to trigger secondary fermentation. Some brewers also dry-hop directly in the cask, adding fresh hops to enhance aroma and flavour. This process is what gives cask beer its naturally conditioned character.
What is real ale?
The term real ale was coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to describe traditional draught cask beer.
Founded in Britain in 1971, CAMRA set out to protect and promote real ale, distinguishing it from mass-produced, highly carbonated beer. Today, the campaign has over 200,000 members across the UK and has played a major role in keeping British cask ale alive and thriving.
Thanks to this movement, cask ale is now widely available in British pubs, and many small breweries have launched — or been revived — to meet growing demand.
How do you serve real ale?
Serving real ale is where the craft truly comes into play.
To pour a great pint of cask ale, the beer needs to be:
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Naturally carbonated
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Clear and bright
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Free from off-flavours
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Served at the correct temperature
It all starts with venting the cask, ideally on the day it arrives at the pub, once the beer has had time to settle and cool. Venting allows excess CO₂ and yeast to escape in a controlled way.
The cask is then tapped to activate secondary fermentation and left on a rack for several days. Before serving, the beer is checked for clarity, carbonation and flavour to ensure it’s fully matured.
Serving a British cask ale
Once ready, a cask has only a short window — usually a few days — where the beer is at its absolute best. Exposure to oxygen gradually causes the beer to deteriorate and lose carbonation.
Cask ale is traditionally served in a nonic pint glass at cellar temperature, around 12°C, using a hand pump. Some pubs use a sparkler on the pump spout, which forces the beer through tiny holes to create a thicker, creamier head.
Traditionally:
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Northern English pubs tend to use sparklers
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Southern pubs often serve without
As with most things in beer, it comes down to personal preference.
Types of British cask ale
Although almost no beer styles are excluded by being served from this method of dispense, some are more common.
Mild ale
Mild ale is enjoying something of a renaissance in the emerging real ale market. It is however, one of the most traditional and popular styles but went out of fashion in 1960s. It has a malty taste with a low ABV, usually between 3%-3.6%. Interestingly, mild remained popular in Wales, remaining popular amongst coal miners. Some brewers have continued to brew mild, but for marketing purposes have advertised it under a different name, mainly dark.
Bitter
Bitter beer grew out of what we know as pale ale. The name bitter beer is a little confusing as there are beers far more bitter than this style not called “bitter” beers. At the time of their rise to popularity in 19th century however they were considered to be quite bitter. All the beers that had preceded them were less bitter and mild, hence bitter beer was used to differentiate this new more hoppy style. We have many styles within the bitter parent style, most categorised by their strength. There is ordinary bitter, best or special, and extra strong bitter, commonly referred to as ESB, although this is a brand name owned by Fullers Brewery from Chiswick.
Golden ales
Under bitter ales, we also include this newer style of pale, well-hopped beer. Golden ales were developed in the 1980s, characterised by a pale amber, gold colour and a low ABV. The taste profile is clean, hoppy but also with the noticeable biscuit maltiness.
Cask ale isn’t outdated, it’s simply misunderstood. When handled with care, British cask ale delivers nuance, balance and freshness that few other beer styles can match. If you’ve only ever written it off as warm or flat, it might be time to give cask beer another chance.