Hoptical Illusion – 4.0% Black IPA
As the nights begin to draw in we’re returning to a favourite from last year as our next seasonal. I’ll admit I was a little concerned whether people would be willing to try the slightly more out there style on cask, but I was quickly proven wrong – the brew was sold out in under a month, and a number of customers afterwards asked if it would be back. It was so popular in fact that we decided to do a one-off bottling run at the start of this year, and that one-off has now become a permanent fixture in our bottle line up. The recipe is largely unchanged since that first brew, although I have removed some of the dark malt to try and take away a little of the more roasted notes, so the hops can shine as well.
When I tell people we make cask beer as opposed to keg, I’m often met with a blank look; and once I’ve explained, the next question is, ‘What difference does it make?’ Well, before the vessel is opened, potentially very little. Historically, cask beer was packaged with some yeast still suspended in the beer. By either stopping the fermentation slightly early before packaging or adding sugar (called priming), the yeast will work a little more in the cask and produce carbon dioxide, which will give the fizz to the beer. Conversely, kegged beer (typically lager) would have been filtered to remove the yeast, and then carbon dioxide would be injected directly into the beer as it’s packaged. Nowadays, kegged beers are often unfiltered and may rely on secondary fermentation for their carbonation (particularly at smaller production volumes); conversely, cask beer may be filtered and then reinoculated with a different strain of yeast bred specifically for conditioning (the time between when the beer is packaged and ready to serve).
The process at the bar however is a completely different story. Kegged beer is sealed throughout the sale period – to get it to the bar, more carbon dioxide is pumped in, which increases the pressure. The tap at the bar is literally a valve – when it’s opened, beer is pushed from the cellar into the glass. Unlike these, the hand pulls used by cask beers have a piston inside, which pushes out the liquid inside while at the same time drawing more from the cellar. As liquid is leaving the cask, something needs to replace it; in this case, rather than carbon dioxide, the cask is open to the air.
As soon as beer comes into contact with air there is a risk of staling or infection – typically a cask beer will begin to deteriorate after around four days. So why use this serving style at all? Well for one thing, the product is quite different to kegged beer and many people prefer it! Cask beer is typically served warmer (10-14oC) than keg (3-8oC), and also contains less carbonation. The character of the beer will also continue to evolve once it is opened, creating new pleasant flavours. Cask beer doesn’t need a large initial and ongoing investment in gas lines and chilling equipment at the point of sale – it can even be served straight from the cask by simply hammering in a tap.
All of this is not to say that cask is better than keg or vice versa, but simply that diversity on the bar can only be a good thing, as it serves to cater to more tastes. The market share of cask beer is declining, and so it’s up to us to innovate – with beers like Hoptical Illusion! – to keep the sector interesting and engaging for both existing and new customers. There is currently a petition started by The Craft Beer Channel underway at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/716686 to recognise cask beer as a product of Intangible Cultural Heritage – please consider signing if like me you believe it’s something worth preserving!
