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The issue as to whether a cask ale is ready to serve is something we take seriously at NERAX. By ready to serve we mean the ale is clear. However, ideas evolve, and what once was accepted dogma has recently come into question.

In May we had a discussion at our trade session regarding clarity in cask ales. Attendees were brewers and industry people. The question was whether a cask ale must be clear, or whether cloudy cask ale might be acceptable. I’ll come back to the session later…

The traditional point of view

The British organization Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) champions the traditional position, here from their website under “Tasting Beer”…

“USE YOUR EYES!

Beer should look good. It should be colourful and bright and if it is meant to have a significant head of froth, this should be thick and creamy. Remember that many beers, particularly from the south of England, are not brewed to be served with creamy heads. Remember too that some beers, such as wheat beers may be cloudy, but these too should look attractive and not dull or flat in appearance. Generally though, your beer should be bright and clear and your glass should not contain any sediment.”

The CAMRA publication Cellarmanship by Patrick O’Neill defines two categories of clear beer, bright and polished. Simply put, bright beer is essentially clear with no particulates. If a beer is so clear it seems to sparkle it is said to be polished.

In practice in Britain quality pubs simply do not serve cloudy beer. Cloudy beer is considered a sign of infection, a defective beer. Publicans expect a cloudy beer to be returned, and customers expect nothing less than a clear pint.

An Alternative View

On the American scene some are suggesting a different point of view. A summary might go like this…

• Clarity is respected as a good thing, but some brewers have other priorities (eg flavor, mouthfeel, etc) which they place well above clarity
• Clarity no longer is a reliable diagnostic for infection; in an American cask ale there may be many other reasons for a beer to be cloudy. “If you suspect an infection, just taste the beer”.
• American brewers have evolved brewing techniques which make an ale much more likely to be cloudy, in that they take far longer to drop bright (if they ever do).
• American customers don’t care that much about clarity in a beer, they’re all about flavor.
• Some customers even consider cloudiness a ‘badge of distinction’, a contrast with the clarity of American mass market beers.

Practice in American bars is quite different from that in Britain. In my experience across New England, the likelihood of finding a clear cask ale is about 50/50 at best.

What The Brewers Said

Back to our industry session discussion…  Many of the brewers present spoke in favor of brightness as a requirement for cask ale, and said they demanded clarity in their own beers. What surprised me was the number of brewers, approaching half of those that spoke up, who declared that clarity was not a major concern for them.

What do you think? Do you require a cask ale to be bright?

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Maine in known as one of the more environmentally conscious states in the union. One of our New York friends somewhat derisively refers to this as “granola country.” With that in mind, it’s not surprise that Portland is the home of a line of organic beers by Peak Brewing. Well, sort of. As of yet, they do not actually have a brewery and instead contract-brew at Shipyard. Oh, and the owner is from Massachusetts, not Maine. But those are just details, right?

Peak currently offers four different beers—a Nut Brown Ale, a Pale Ale, an Amber Ale, and a Maple Oat Ale. They describe their Amber Ale as:

[a] lively ale that starts sweet and has a subtle toasted character.

• We use an abundance of organic Crystal Malt to give this ale a bright, “ruby” flavor up front.
• The use of organic Munich Malt imparts a toasty finish.

I grabbed a six pack of this several weeks ago. This is the last of my really overdue reviews, and my notes are pretty brief, but my overall impression was that this was a good session beer, but nothing mind-blowing. It pours a golden color (not quite amber, but nothing like a pilsner either) with a thin off-white head. The head settled quickly and left just a bit of lace. The scent was earthy, grassy, and a hint of smokiness. The taste was of earthy hops, toasted grains, and caramel malt. This was well balanced and had a slick mouthfeel. A good session beer, but not my favorite style.

My Rating:

As mentioned previously, the Maine Beer Writers’ Guild held its first “official” meeting this past Wednesday night at Gritty McDuff’s in Portland. In addition to the opportunity to meet some other Maine beer writers, take a tour of the brewing facilities downstairs, and get a sneak peak at brewer and Guild member Ben Low’s Rye P.A. (believed to be the first ever Ringwood-fermented rye beer), we were given a gift certificate to sample some of Gritty’s fine beers gratis. I started with Gritty’s pleasant, if not too unique, Black Fly Stout. However, after seeing what most of the other Guild members were drinking, I switched to the Irish Red Ale, powered by beer gas (nitrogen), for my second and subsequent rounds.

An Irish Red Ale in and of itself is nothing too special. The last one I sampled, by Harpoon, rated a moderate 2.5 mugs for me. The use of a nitrogen mix to pour the Gritty’s IRA, though, transformed this beer into a whole different style for me, especially following so quickly after a stout. The dark copper pour had the tell-tale beer gas swirling and churning going on, and a thin, very tight white head that slowly settled to a collar. There are some toasted malts and raisin present in the nose for me, but the most striking pre-sip feature is the streaming of the nitrogen.

Taking a healthy sip of this brew, I am greeted with something resembling a sweeter, fruit-influenced light stout. I’m not sure that description sounds all that appealing upon reading it, but if you can get down to Gritty’s before it’s gone, you should try one yourself. It really is a very unique and pleasing experience. The nitrogen is supposed to remove some of the natural acidity of the CO₂ on the tongue, and I think it works well with this beer. The change in gas lets some smokey character shine through. This is apparently the result of caramalt, according to Ben, as there is no smoke in this brew. It also imparts a biscuity flavor which I found to add to the “is this a stout or an ale” illusion. The finish is smooth and creamy, as one would expect from a nitro-poured beer. Highly drinkable, though I’m not sure it would have been as good carbonated from a bottle. Very different and very good are the two conclusions I draw for this beer, as sampled.

My Rating:

Not knowing all that much about nitrogen (a.k.a. beer gas), I decided to do a little Google-aided research on the subject. According to the sources I found, the purpose of infusing a beer with nitrogen is to simulate the effect of a beer poured from a beer engine. As I’ve become a big fan of hand-pumped cask beers lately, this probably explains my enjoyment of this effect. As previously mentioned, nitrogen also removes a bit of acidity from the taste, yielding a smoother, creamier tasting beer. It’s also, apparently, not nearly as easy to do as CO₂ and the brewer runs the risk of the last 5-10% of the beer tasting flat. Either there was still more than 10% left of the IRA, or Gritty’s knows what they’re doing, because I didn’t find this one to be flat at all.

Samuel Adams is one of the beers that started the micro revolution in this country. They’ve since graduated to become the micro of macros, or the macro of micros, depending on who you ask. Jim Koch, their founder, hasn’t not forgotten how he got his start nearly a quarter-century ago: a batch of Boston Lager brewed in his kitchen using a recipe he found in the attic. To celebrate their homebrew heritage, the Boston Beer Company has held a homebrew contest called the “LongShot American Homebrew Contest” for the last couple of years. The 2007 winners recently made their appearance on store shelves, and I picked up a pack. An introduction to the two brews contained therein comes from the Sam Adam’s website:

Congratulations to Mike McDole of California and Rodney Kibzey of Illinois for being crowned the 2007 Samuel Adams American Homebrew Contest National Champions! Rodney’s Weizenbock will appear in the LongShot mix 6-pack beginning in February 2008. Mike’s Double IPA will be released in 2009 while we source the ingredients needed to provide a true representation of his recipe.

The third brew in the LongShot package will be a Grape Ale created by Lili Hess, winner of the Samuel Adams employee homebrew competition. Lili’s beer was chosen by over 1,400 beer lovers at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival from among the 3 employee homebrew finalists. Congratulations Lili!

So, due to the worldwide hop shortage, the Double IPA was left out of the six-pack this time around, which means I got three of the Weizenbock and three of the Grape Ale. I started with Rodney’s Weizenbock. It pours brown, with a medium off-white head. I’ve seen it described as a murky color, and I guess I agree, though perhaps hazy is a better word. The appearance reminds me of a dark wheat beer, which is appropriate given the style. The smell is mostly clove, with some raisin and possibly a banana scent as well. Again, pretty standard dark wheat fair.

The taste is dominated by clove and offset by the banana. The dark fruits come out a little more after it warms slightly. The typical sweetness of a wheat beer is somewhat subdued in this brew and the mouthfeel is a little creamy. It is well carbonated and very drinkable. At more than 7% ABV, I don’t think this is a session beer, but it’s quite good and definitely deserving of its place in the LongShot six-pack.

My Rating:

The grape pale ale was a bit different for me. I’m generally not a huge fan of straight pale ales, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one. It poured a golden color with a pillowy head. It was a little lighter than I like to see, reminding me of a lager more than an ale, but it had some swirls of darker, almost amber color in there too. The head settled quickly and left pretty good lacing. The nose was some brown sugar malts and a hint of fruity hops. I don’t really detect grapes in here, but I’m not really sure that green grapes have much of a scent.

I was afraid that the sweetness of the grape would detract from the hoppy bitterness too much. My fears were mostly unfounded. A sip starts out dry and slightly bitter, like a pale ale should. The sweetness of the malts comes through in the middle, and the grapes leave a tartness on the finish. The slight bitter aftertaste of a pale ale is almost entirely hidden by the crisp, dry finish from the grapes. Unusual, but not unlikable. The carbonation is a bit on the high side, but it helps to keep the finish clean.

The BeerAdvocate comments on this brew have been all over the board, but I think this is a solid beer. It’s not spectacular, but it’s good and it’s original. I could see myself drinking a few of these when the weather warms up. It’s almost a shame it was released in February, as it’s a beer better suited to May or June.

My Rating: