Cask in the Light
Unpasteurized and unfiltered, cask beers
are finding fans
BY JESSICA MERRILL
PHOTOGRAPH Y B Y S TACY ZARIN
Step into any sophisticated beer bar
these days and there’s a good chance
you’ll find cask beer on tap. Cask-con-ditioned beer is the latest trend to hit
the American craft brewing industry,
and it is all about getting back to basics
with unprocessed beers made the way
they were hundreds of years ago.
Cask beer is unpasteurized, unfiltered and naturally carbonated by
yeast during a secondary fermentation
in the cask—rather than by the addition of carbon dioxide, as is the case
with most brews. Cask beer is gaining
momentum among beer aficionados
for being the most unadulterated form
of brewing.
As Dogfish Head founder and presi-
dent Sam Calagione puts it, “It’s the
equivalent of the raw food movement.”
Cask beer has been popular in
England for years, but it has taken
American palates longer to warm to the
trend—literally. Cask beer is served
at around 52 degrees, which while still
cool is warmer than the icy tempera-
ture at which most American brews
are served (generally 37 to 40 degrees).
That, combined with the fine carbon-
ation of cask beer, has fueled a misper-
ception that cask beer is warm and flat.
Not so, as long as the beer is properly
cared for. The higher temperature
allows the subtle flavors and aromatics
of the beer to shine through. As more
beer drinkers are sampling and liking
cask beer, more breweries are produc-
ing it and more bars are showcasing it.
Cask beer has
been popular in
England for
years, but it has
taken American
palates longer
to warm to the
trend—literally.
