While you are jing-jing-jingle belling through these last days of December, don’t forget to stop and breathe. Take some time for you and cozy up to one of the most enjoyable yet underrated beers around: cask-conditioned beer.
Cask-conditioned beer, or “real ale,” is a centuries-old style of beer imbibed well before draft systems were around. Real ale goes through a second fermentation in the cask itself, creating light, natural carbonation that is typically served around 56 degrees. These characteristics allow for genuine, unadulterated taste.
Flavor profiles tend to be a bit softer than their counterparts on draft due to the lack of forced carbonation, and the palate is often described as creamier and smoother. The warmer serving temperature, velvety texture and pure malt and yeast flavors make cask beer incredibly quaffable.
You will find this beautiful fermentable being poured from a firkin sitting atop a bar or more frequently, by gravity dispense through a beer engine, a hand pump attached to the bar. Several local tasting rooms in St. Louis have cask beer readily available. The Schlafly Tap Room, The Civil Life, Square One and The Side Project Cellar always have something rotating on their beer engine. Go warm up at one of these pubs, grab a pint or two of cask beer and enjoy a break in your busy holiday schedule.
This article appears in December 2015.