Spring Cask Days?

lister · Post by **lister** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:50 am

I guess the mystery beer didn't make it to Sunday afternoon. We showed up at 4pm after going to a half dozen Doors Open sites. We got a great table on the patio right away and let loose. I liked cask numbers one, three and five the best. (Surprise, surprise.) Three was the best in my opinion. I guessed that Granite brewed it. We actually both agreed on our favourite cheese (something I didn't think was possible) which was the red one.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon May 29, 2006 11:09 am

We had a spot on the patio on Saturday and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. It was fun identifying the casks. Thanks Ralph for putting on a great event once again.

Ale's What Cures Ya · Mon May 29, 2006 12:28 pm

We had a great time Saturday afternoon, which turned into Saturday evening. Spent about 8 hours at Volo, and even met up with some friends that we didn't expect.

1 and 4 were my favourite cask offerings, and I thought number three was just plain awful. It was like the brewer had dumped 100 pounds of Nesquick into it, blah. My guess was that number four was made by Mill Street. I don't know much about cheese, so I wasn't sure what I was looking for in a cheese tasting, but I enjoyed the green one the most.

Great first trip to Volo, enjoyed it very much.

JWalter · Post by **JWalter** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:26 pm

Any left? I couldn't make it on Saturday, and didn't even think of it yesterday (Doh!), does anyone know if there's anything still left?

northyorksammy · Post by **northyorksammy** » Mon May 29, 2006 6:38 pm

I thought 4 to be the best and thought only scotch-irish would achieve this quality. It turned out to be a Mill Street Special Reserve Tank House.

And yes, I had the mystery ber, a quality Belgian, on Sunday aft.

Blankboy · Post by **Blankboy** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:05 pm

The results: http://www.barvolo.com/situation%20secr ... vealed.htm

The "mystery beer" according to Ralph will remain a mystery beer.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue May 30, 2006 10:39 am

I hope nobody was allergic to hazelnuts!

Ale's What Cures Ya · Post by **Ale's What Cures Ya** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:06 pm

Blankboy wrote:The results: http://www.barvolo.com/situation%20secr ... vealed.htm

The "mystery beer" according to Ralph will remain a mystery beer.

If number three was made with vanilla beans, why did it taste like chocolate? :S

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:11 pm

DragonOfBlood wrote:
Blankboy wrote:The results: http://www.barvolo.com/situation%20secr ... vealed.htm

The "mystery beer" according to Ralph will remain a mystery beer.
If number three was made with vanilla beans, why did it taste like chocolate? :S

Probably due to chocolate malts being present (?) or Ken and his Elves chucking a lot of chocolate powder (?) in the mix. You just never know with Black Oak

I also managed to get a taste of cointreau and strawberry in there too. Yet another quite fantastic beer from Ken and his cohorts

I hope we will see this beer again as it would be a shame if it truly was a one off.

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:52 pm

The reveal of the vanilla bean one surprised me. I didn't detect any vanilla in the aroma or taste. Just chocolate. Maybe the vanilla changed off over time much like Perry's vanilla bean cask (coffee flavour) by the time I got to it.

Keep brewing the vanilla beer! I'd still really like to try a Kilkenny-like nitro beer with a strong vanilla smell and taste. I still wistfully dream of brewing my own...

How about a banana beer one-off sometime? Not something stupid sweet like Chapeau (though I do like that one a lot) but something more balanced. Maybe include a bready taste like what Steamwhistle has so it seems like banana bread.

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:58 pm

Why would you want a Kilkenny-Style Nitro beer? Are you looking for a seriously bad head the next day? Kilkenny, and most other Nitro-Keg smooth-flow crap, have a real weird and nasty after-taste and are just plain wrong. Kilkenny was eventually brewed down and altered to prevent the awful headaches people were complainig about getting the following day after drinking just a few pints of the stuff. The canned version was even more unforgiving

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:08 pm

Torontoblue wrote:Why would you want a Kilkenny-Style Nitro beer? Are you looking for a seriously bad head the next day?

Because I like the smooth texture? I haven't had any issues with any nitro beers, keg or can, aside from one having no taste (Tetley's.) Maybe that happens to people who drink them all the time. I usually average drinking a nitro once or twice a month.

Bobbyok · Post by **Bobbyok** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:13 pm

Torontoblue wrote:Why would you want a Kilkenny-Style Nitro beer? Are you looking for a seriously bad head the next day? Kilkenny, and most other Nitro-Keg smooth-flow crap, have a real weird and nasty after-taste and are just plain wrong. Kilkenny was eventually brewed down and altered to prevent the awful headaches people were complainig about getting the following day after drinking just a few pints of the stuff. The canned version was even more unforgiving

I think he was just thinking a nitro beer with a heavy vanilla flavour, rather than a Kilkenny style (correct me if I'm wrong). Not all nitro beers would yield the same hangover result you're referring to or have the same aftertaste. St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout is one widely available example I can think of, and Dieu du Ciel in Montreal serves most, if not all of their stouts on nitro and they are some world class beers.

I certainly don't always agree with Lister's beer choices, but I think I'm in agreement on this one. A vanilla Porter, Stout, or even a Mild (ooh, I've got to make one of these now) served on Nitro sounds like it could be mighty tasty.

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:25 pm

I guess I can't get my head around why anyone would want to drink a 'smooth-flow' type beer, I personally find them bland and not a fair representation of what an ale should be, and I've had a fair few of them unfortunately. Fair enough if you are venturing into ales from lagers, it's a stepping stone, but for regular ale drinkers it seems a backward step. I guess I'm just a 'beer-snob' and prefer cask.

I thought the Oatmeal stout was a CO2 fed ale? Anyway, we shouldn't be encouraging 'smooth-flow' ales, they're evil

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:38 pm

Bobbyok wrote:I think he was just thinking a nitro beer with a heavy vanilla flavour, rather than a Kilkenney style (correct me if I'm wrong). Not all nitro beers would yield the same hangover result you're referring to or have the same aftertaste. St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout is one widely available example I can think of, and Dieu du Ciel in Montreal serves most, if not all of their stouts on nitro and they are some world class beers.

Actually yeah I should qualify the Kilkenny-like thing a bit. I'd want the vanilla nitro to be darker like Kilkenny and have some flavour to it beyond the vanilla flavour unlike say Tetley's. That's my ideal but I'd certainly try a porter, stout and definitely a mild. But as I said earlier, I've never had any issues with drinking Kilkenny. When did Kilkenny start to brew it down?

I certainly don't always agree with Lister's beer choices, but I think I'm in agreement on this one. A vanilla Porter, Stout, or even a Mild (ooh, I've got to make one of these now) served on Nitro sounds like it could be mighty tasty.

If you ever go on to make a fortune from it, remember where you got the idea from...

I got the idea when we made a vanilla cream ale and thought it would be awesome as a nitro.