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“I can’t figure out how the American craft beer industry has missed this,” Stephen Kirby shakes his head as he pulls me a sweet, malty Chin Wag ESB from a beer engine at Hogshead Brewery in Denver. Kirby makes as much cask-conditioned beers as anyone in the country at this little 1950’s gas station-turned-brewery. He swears by this largely British process, and three cask-conditioned masterpieces later, I was on board with him.
Cask beer is served about 15 degrees warmer than keg beer, and it’s a little less bubbly since it doesn’t employ CO2 for carbonation. Served from the same vessel in which it did its second fermentation, the existing yeast oxidizes with air inside the barrel to generate carbonation with each pint poured. This process allows subtle flavors to express themselves freely without competing with 36-degree temperatures or high amounts of CO2 for attention.
I can’t be the only one who has become weary of overly hoppy IPAs that dry out your mouth and linger unwelcome on your tongue. After talking to Kirby, I accredit it to near-freezing, highly carbonated standards that require obscene amounts of hops to get the taste across. It’s okay America, it’s what you’re used to. A cold bubbly pint is as much a part of the American dream as college football and shooting stuff. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
With cask-conditioned beer, alcohol levels can also be more reasonable, even in the tastiest beers. Imagine a brewery where you can sit and enjoy several crafts without forfeiting your afternoon to a nap and a hangover.
So what’s going on inside these casks I’m raving about at Hogshead?
Obviously, there’s an IPA. You’ve heard me rant about the slow decline of what used to be my favorite style of beer. Kirby’s cask-conditioned IPA reminded me of what I loved in them – a cool orange display of hops and citrus that is drinkable enough to challenge Blue Moon’s market.
My second favorite was a style new to me – the AK. AK was a popular style of beer in Britain before WWI. There is a lot of discussion around what the letters stand for, but Kirby maintains that it means ale kyte, which is a loose translation meaning ‘table beer’, or a low-impact, light beer that even the kids would drink before going off to school in the morning. Kirby’s AK Simcoe is a malty creation that is kind to your taste buds and your stomach.
The downside to serving out of a cask is a shortened shelf life. The oxidization bell curve peaks around day 4, which means you won’t see Hogshead shipping casks worldwide. But wherever you are, do yourself a favor and go find yourself a cask-conditioned craft.
