All About Beer Magazine

Getting the Job Done

All draft beer requires considerable care to be served under optimal conditions. Lines, taps and glassware must be meticulously cleaned; kegs and beer lines must be properly cooled; gas pressure must be balanced for line length and diameter. Cask beer is no exception, but it also demands an additional set of skills that few people have in this country. Indeed, perhaps the biggest obstacle to the growth of cask beer in the U.S. has been the lack of training in these skills, known collectively as “cellarmanship.”

Cellarmanship is not rocket science; it just involves understanding a very different set of procedures than most bar staff are familiar with. The problem is that there’s a high cost of failure if any of them are improperly―or indifferently―applied.

Like a number of people in this country, I was taught cellaring in the U.K. by Mark Dorber, one of the most-renowned and respected cellarman in the industry, Dorber, the longtime landlord at The White Horse on Parson’s Green (Fulham, London) and now in charge of The Anchor at Walberswick (Suffolk), has never wavered about the cellarman’s ultimate role:

“To promote the most beauty in each cask of beer by developing the most interesting range of sound aromas and flavors, by nurturing wherever possible high levels of natural carbonation consistent with each beer style and, moreover, by serving each beer in a manner and at a temperature that enhances its aroma and flavor profile and creates an appropriate mouthfeel.”

Cellaring techniques are beyond the scope of this piece. The details can, and have, filled books and lengthy articles. If you are interested in knowing more, there are many online resources, courtesy of cask ale stalwarts like Alex Hall and Thomas Cizauskas (see caskaleusa.com). The standard bible is Cellarmanship, by Patrick O’Neill, published by the Campaign for Real Ale.

Consumers need only understand some basics. A cellarman must:

• Secure the cask in its final serving position, making sure to avoid sloshing and shaking that will make the beer too cloudy.

• Adjust the level of carbon dioxide in the cask to assure the proper degree of carbonation and to allow finings to work to clarify the beer.

• Assure suitable aging time based on the style of beer being served.

• Dispense the beer at the optimum temperature and using the best method of dispense for the beer style and the recommendations of the brewery.

In practice, cellaring requires a combination of training and extensive experience. Each cask optimally is treated differently based on style, strength and the amount of time the beer has been in the cask. Cellar temperatures may have to be adjusted at different points to allow conditioning to develop and the finings to do their work more efficiently. Ultimately, it takes a lot of experimentation and good record keeping to get consistent results. For consumers, the proof is in the glass. A bright, well-conditioned pint of beer is a sure sign that someone on the premises has the proper training and experience.

The Scoop on Handpumps

Cask beer can be served directly from the cask via a gravity tap, but most pubs and bars serve via a handpump/beer engine because the beer is kept in a cellar cooler. Most handpumps used in the U.S. have a faucet known as a “swan neck,” which is simply a curved spout that’s meant to aerate the beer in the glass and give it a frothier head. These are also occasionally equipped with a screw-on nozzle attachment known as a “sparkler.” Think of this as a cask version of a Guinness tap, as it accentuates a creamier body and head. In England there’s a North/South divide when it comes to sparklers: they’re popular in the North, not the South.

Not surprisingly, most Americans seem to love beers that are pulled through a sparkler. In my opinion, however, sparklers should only be considered for certain styles (like stouts) where this is a desired characteristic, or if a brewery specifically asks for it to be used. Sparklers reduce CO2 in the beer, resulting in sweeter flavors and a softer palate. Hoppy pale ales typically lose hop aroma and flavor as a result. A good comparison is to nitro-pour beers. Nitro IPAs were a trend for a while, but thankfully we all came to our senses!

There’s another reason I don’t like sparklers: they can be used as a “cover” for poor conditioning if a cask has been over-vented or under-primed by the brewer. You should never have to rely on a sparkler to artificially froth up your beer if your cellar regimen is correct. It should be a matter of taste, not necessity. And if you’re serving via gravity, you’re out of luck.

To Breathe or Not to Breathe…

In traditional dispense, cask beer is exposed to oxygen. Because of this, casks should never be in service for more than a couple of days. While there are many who enjoy the subtle changes in cask beers over time, there’s always the fear that you’ll eventually serve a pint of vinegar. In a U.K. pub with reasonable turnover, a cask of beer will rarely be in service for more than a few days. In the U.S., where cask beer is more of a niche product, turnover will be decidedly slower. Therefore, a “cask breather” (which blankets the beer with low-pressure CO2) is almost a must. The Campaign for Real Ale is completely opposed to the use of cask breathers, but there’s really not much of a choice over here unless your beer turns over very quickly.

How carbonated should cask beer be? I think most people (certainly most Americans!) prefer their beers with a good amount of carbonation, and this is especially true with cask beers since they tend to lose condition while they are in service. At The White Horse we were taught to rate condition on a 0-10 scale, where 0 was flat and 10 was way over-carbonated. Optimally we would begin service on a 7, and this has remained my target when cellaring at beer festivals. Haven’t had any complaints yet!

Young or Old?

Amazing as it seems, too many pubs forget that not all beers are meant to be served as quickly as possible after delivery. Yet many desirable characteristics in cask beer are enhanced if the beer isn’t rushed into service. This is particularly true if beers are dry-hopped, as it can often take a couple of weeks for the desired aromas to fully develop.

In the U.K. lately, I’ve often found beers that are served too young. Indeed, some brewers have had to adjust their recipes to account for this phenomenon. One brewery in particular switched from Kent Golding to Target as its dry hop because the former wasn’t getting enough time in pub cellars to develop its distinctive aroma. In the U.S., on the other hand, the opposite is often true, especially if imported beers are served.

At The White Horse, sweeter, low-gravity styles like mild ales were given the least amount of aging, as they tended to dry out the longer they were held. Most standard-gravity (4-5% ABV) pale ales were matured for around two weeks, while stronger ales could be aged for three to four weeks or even months in the case of certain old ales and barley wines.