This morning I awoke to some early morning news of a development in cask ale. Fast Cask by Marston's will be released in the form of Pedigree and Hobgoblin during Cask Ale Week, March 29th - April 5th).
The idea is that the yeast is taken late from Primary fermentation and then replaced in the secondary (cask) with "beads" of yeast that settle the beer bright and quickly without the use of finings. Live yeast is technically not in the cask itself like real traditional cask ales, yet it still undergoes a secondary fermentation due to the development in yeast "beads" that act like sponges and ferment the sugars still left in t
he beer.
Why you ask? Well, it seems this development will allow more bars and pubs to sell cask ale. It seems storage and tap space make it difficult to have a lot of horizontal casks lying around. These Fast Cask's can be stored upright, can deal with a lot movement or turbulence in transportation and still be served almost instantly due to the technology of the "beads". Normally the yeast needs time to settle if disrupted from it's happy settled state in the cellar and then moved to the serving station at the bar.
Another thing to note is that now the beer settles bright without the use of finings or isinglass (tropical fish bladders) which makes vegans happy campers. Now even the strictest vegetarian can enjoy cask ale.
You can read more about this on Pete Brown's Beer Blog, who had the exclusive release of this information.
My standing on this is that it is a good idea. Just think of all the cask ales over seas can now be transported to North America with ease, no worries of bursting, going stale, or questionable freshness. I'm sure all brewers in the Burton-on-Trent area came up with this before shipping those casks of Pale Ale to India. This is also great for bars and pubs with no real cellar space, for those vegans who were always curious about the idea of "real" beer.
Okay, the other side of the coin is that, no it's not traditional. It's not "real" yeast. It may have some different character differences. I am also a little bit of a purist in the inside. I don't mind waiting a little while longer for a good ale. Today, in a local organic grocery store I noticed a lot of instant "organic" products, such as instant microwaveable rice, instant dinners, instant hummus, mac n' cheese, microwave this and microwave that, and even an over priced form of Mr. Noodle, all with the "organic" title (also note a lot of these products will actually give a percentage of the ingredients that are actually organic). Nutritional value didn't sway to far from the big brands either. I see a cycle trend coming along with this. It's a trend for the working class, the busy folk who have too much time to sit in an office, work outside, do odd jobs, but no time to cook. Pre-made. Can we have a blast to the past of t.v. dinners of meatloaf, potatoes, mushy peas, and some gelatinous substance in the middle? Except, this time we have "organic" or in the case of our cask: "Real". Good things take time. To be appreciated they
take time. If everything in life was fast, quick and easy ( I see a "that's what she said" joke in there somewhere) we will form a fast-beer-nation. Big golden "C" everywhere Fast Cask or another big brand form of it is served.
Now that I mention it, it'd be nice to have some big flashing sign over bars serving cask when traveling. It's not always easy to find, if it's even there. Could save a lot of frustration, perhaps?
I guess I worry that this development in secondary fermentation may lead to Quickie-Cask Cans (I should patent that) purchased at your local beer merchant, or cask vending machines for that matter (I think one part of my brain just said "cool!"). Will all of my favourite pubs become so crowded that I cannot get in? Or will slow cask take shadow to Fast Cask?
Okay, I am going a little far with this when in fact, I do support the idea. Honestly, this is good for business. Having cask ale available to more people around England and maybe even world wide will mean more cask ale for me, that will be less hard to find, traditional or fast. At least for those who don't not fully support the idea, Marston's will still produce regular real cask ale with real yeast, nice and slow, settled the good old fashioned way.
Though, there is nothing wrong with that little quite pub that serves a pint of fresh, real, traditional cask ale with no more than a handful of regulars chattering over a pint of glory.
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