Cask ale is near enough as old as the British beer industry as a whole, and I think the two go hand in hand. There’s nothing quite like a walk in the English countryside followed by a pint of beautifully cask conditioned ale in a quiet, warm, heritage pub.
Unlike kegged beer, the condition (carbonation) in cask beer comes from a process known as secondary fermentation, and is achieved through packaging beer with some live, active yeast as a small amount of residual sugar to ferment. At Attic, we add a solution of priming yeast, sugar and vegan finings to each cask that we produce.
The cask, or firkin, is then taken to a cellar, either here in our taproom or in your local pub or bar, where the cellarman takes over control, and kickstarts secondary fermentation. Cask ale is made great through the care taken in each step in the process, including the final pulling of the pint through a swan neck and a sparkler (controversial I know).
We’ve put a lot of work and love into our cask beers recently, our most recent addition, and my favourite, being Method, boasting everything a cask beer should be, bright, bitter, citrusy with a gentle carbonation and a smooth, frothy head. Delicious.
