There are few things that get beer geeks more excited than a cask of real ale. Over 200 Casks of real ale all in one location is one of those things. Cask Days is an annual (this year marks the ninth), two day celebration of real ale, and the largest of it's kind in Canada.
'Real Ale' is unpasteurized, unfiltered, living (there's plenty of yeast still in suspension), beer that has been conditioned in a cask (formerly barrels, now likely to be a stainless steel vessel called a pin or a firkin) and served without the aid of carbon dioxide or nitrogen. The beer is cloudy with yeast haze, served at cellar temperature (around 10C) and very lightly carbonated. To the average consumer, this seems like a scam and a waste of delicious beer. To those in the know, cask ale offers an opportunity to really showcase the flavour of a beer. Only very well made beers can be served unpasteurized and unfiltered, thus setting a benchmark for how they are made. There is no carbonation to disguise off flavours and the warmer serving temperature awakens aromatics normally muted when cold.
This years Cask Days was held at Evergreen Brickworks, an old quarry located in North York. The outdoor setting created the perfect environment to keep over 200 unrefrigerated beers at serving temperature. Food was offered up by Toronto favourites such as The Ceili Cottage, Bar Isabel, Tracy Winkworth, Pig Iron Coffee and Parts & Labour. This year featured over 230 firkin of beer from all over Canada and the U.K.
Here's the list of what I got into, along with notes for the beers that I can recall clearly.
Amsterdam Highborn Farmhand (Saison with Brett and Noble Hops)
Cloudy straw colour. Nice brett notes, musty and woody alongside spicy, herbal hop
Daniel Thwaites Lancaster Bomber (ESB)
Kensington Brewing Company Tragically Hopped (IPA)
A nice cask style IPA, on the lighter side of things, well balanced with pine and citrus hops.
Les Trois Mousquetaires Oud Bruin (Flanders Brown Ale)
Spirit Tree Dry Hopped (Dry Hopped Heritage Apple Cider)
Similar to their original cider, but with hints of citrus and woody hop,
Les Vergers de la Colline Rouge Dolgo (Crab Apple Cider)
Very tart, with a nice pink tinge. Definitely tastes like crab apples. Refreshing.
Snowman Make Like a Tree and Leaf (Gluten Free Maple Porter)
Spicy non-barley malt notes, a hint of maple sweetness and a bit of roast.
Amsterdam X Great Lakes Brewery Maverick and Gose with Raspberry (Raspberry Gose)
Tainted with diacetyl. The only bad beer I consumed at the festival. A shame, I had my eye on this one before we even got there.
Bellwoods Brettal Head with Lemon (All-Brett Wheat Ale with Lemon)
Very murky lemonade colour. Slightly funky/musty with various layers of lemony-ness. Smelled very much like Moroccan style preserved lemons. Creamy mouth feel. Probably my favourite taste of the afternoon.
Muskoka Masala ChaIPA (Chai Spiced IPA)
A well balanced IPA that finished hoppy and faded to spice notes, not by any means overpowering.
Half Pints Drunken Bunny (Chocolate Milk Stout)
Sawdust City X Nickelbrook X Nogne O Test Pilot (Eisbock)
A style you don't see much in Canada. Beer that has been concentrated by slowly freezing and removing the water (which freezes before the alcohol). Surprisingly clear for a cask beer. Notes of candied fruit and pure malt. Warning, this one came in at 14% ABV.
Sawdust City A Nun Rolling Down a Hill (Dry Stout)
Chocolate and roast, a nice dark reddish-black.
F&M Sour-Y About Last Year (Sour Bock)
Niagara Oast House Brewers Mild R'Oast (English Mild)
As close as one can get to coffee beer without actually having coffee in it. Full bodied for the meagre 3.8% ABV. Cask style at its finest.
Thornbridge Brewery Jaipur (IPA)
IPA Challenge Beer 2 (IPA)
Weirdly balanced. Citrus and tropical fruit, caramel malt. Didn't do it for me at all.
IPA Challenge Beer 3 (IPA)
Very light color, finite notes of yeast spice and Noble hop. Got my vote.
IPA Challenge Beer 4 (IPA)
Full bodied and tropical with a dark and malty back bone. Quite filling.
I discovered that I don't much care for sour beers on cask. Strange that two of my favourite styles of beer don't come together to make a style I like even more. The bracing acidity of sours is lifted and lightened by the carbonation, creating more of a contrast; on cask these beers seem heavy and unlively.
All in all the festival was a great time! Thanks again to Keep6 Imports/Bar Volo/Cask Days for throwing the event, I look forward to next year! For more information please visit www.caskdays.com
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