No cask at the Grad Club in London anymore.

I visited the Swan at Carp on the weekend but was disappointed to find that their beer engine has been removed, so no more cask there.

From CASK!

This is a quick note to let you all know that, as of today, the Magpie Tavern "home of delicious booze and whiskey" at 861 Dundas St W has added a cask to their already fabulous lineup of beers! The owner, Graham, has informed us that the first cask they will be serving is County Durham's XXX British I.P.A. What better way is there to spend a rainy evening than in a cozy tavern enjoying a fresh cask-conditioned ale?...

***Please note that the Magpie hours are 7pm to 2am***

Excellent news! I keep asking them when the cask will be up and running every time I'm in (ever since I first posted that they had a pump on the bar back in June). I think I'll stop in sometime tonight during the Nuit Blanche march and grab a pint or two to warm up!

I stopped in at the Magpie last night and my friend and I had the last 2 pints of the cask Durham. It was great - maybe a little too cold, but very flavourful, and selling very well according to the bartender.

I found the same thing on Sat. night. Excellent shape and really nice beer. Found it hard to drag myself away for Nuit Blanche. I'm really glad to hear it's selling well - I'm at the Magpie about once a week; moreso now if the cask is always fresh.

The Cheshire Cat has started serving cask ales again after a break of a few months. They had the Caba Caba Hey / Tommy Gun APA from Beaus on tonight and it was in superb shape.

Thanks for passing along the information. I was at Beau's last weekend and they mentioned they might be doing it - but didn't say when!

I'll stop in tomorrow - hopefully some will stiff be left.

I stopped for dinner at the Arrow and Loon in Ottawa on Friday and with dinner I had a pint of Sgt. Major's from the cask and I am starting to think I had a smilar experience to what other people have reported there. Now I know cask beer is unfiltered, but this beer was almost thick with yeast in it (kind of like hot chocolate) and there was a ton of yeast on the bottom of the glass and you coudln't see through the glass at all. The only other time I have had cask beer was last year when I was in London and I drank a ton. And there even though the beer was unfiltered it was still relatively clear with little or no cloudyness (very close to what you would find in a bottle/can of London Pride or Young's). Anyone know if this is how Sgt. Major's is supposed to be served, or if this is just a matter of them not taking care of the cask properly.

A recent outing to the King Edward in Ilderton reminded me why I like cask ale so much.

That Mill Race Mild went down like butter, and at Rich's request, I tried, what I think was called "A pint of 2s" which was half Mill Race and half Welly SPA. An interesting mix.

Rich sat with us and we talked about all sorts of stuff, and the hospitality was great.

I had a signet burger which is always great.........I think they add garlic butter to the middle and it releases when the patty cooks.

Cratez had some wings........I forget which. There are like 30 frigging choices. But by the sauce all over his face I knew he was really enjoying them.

Rich, we need public transit out there so I can come weekly, knocking off one type of wing every time!!!

Thanks again!

Of course not.

Good to know for sure, since I highly susppected that, but I had never tried Sgt. Major's before so I wanted to be sure. Maybe I will send a note to the Heritage/Scotch-Irish, since really what is the point of putting your beer in casks and selling it to bars, if they aren't going to take care of it and serve it correctly?

Interestingly enough the Timothy Taylor brewery from the UK has a guide for pub owners for how to take care of Casks, which is a lot of work, so I can see where some pub owners might not want to make the effort to make sure cask beer is served properly, but will happily sell beer at a premium if it comes out of the cask.

http://www.timothytaylor.co.uk/Publican ... rCard.aspx

I sent an email to Heritage/SI 3 years ago about the same thing. They followed up and visited the Loon to try to resolve the issue, but in the end said it is up to the bar manager/owner to do the right things to keep the cask ale in good shape.

I was actually thinking the Loon had gotten a bit better at serving cask ales recently. Last Tuesday we took a chance and ordered the Sgt Majors and it was certainly fine with none of the issues you encountered. Of course, you probably had the bottom of the same firkin several days later.

The Loon has also had some casks from Beau's in the last few months. The Screaming Beaver cask was in good shape when it was around, at least when we had it. Same thing for the Festivale (if I remember correctly).

The Arrow and Loon has recently changed owners, so there's always hope the new owners can be educated. If you do send an email to Heritage/SI, that may help with the education process.

Yea I sent them a short email and they said they were going to go there and check it out. Haven't heard any follow up. I see what they are saying about how it is up to the owners, but at the same time a bad experience could turn people off their product costing them money.

I had a pint of Festivale on cask from the Arrow and Loon during OCB week, it wasn't perfect but it was way better than what I had last friday. I imagine a big part of the problem is the average drinking isn't going to know what cask beer is supposed to be like. I mean I knew something was up but even so I was reluctant to say anything to the staff. Someone who never had cask beer before might assume this is how it is and be completely turned off of it.

What an absolute crock of huge steaming crap that answer is; it is up to BOTH parties to ensure the cask is served in prime condition.

In other words, SI/Heritage don't really give a hoot about their product once it's left their care, and the bar is after as much money from an old cask as possible, and it's 2 fingers to anyone who drinks a bad pint. They've got their money and ran! It's brewers and barkeeps like this that give cask a bad name and keep people away from a fantastic product.