Volo Cask Days - Oct 17-19

Blankboy · Post by **Blankboy** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:21 pm

Torontoblue wrote:Why would bigger samples have sucked? It'd been bigger samples the previous 3 years with no complaints, and there was still a lot of beer left at the end of those events even though the selection was smaller.

Because in the past the samples were way too big. They weren't samples, they were practically half-pints. And every year past Volo has had to deal with people getting wasted. The whole point of the festival is to sample good beers and I, as well as all the people I talked to felt the size of the samples was just right. In the past, with the size of the samples given, I never would have been able to go to three sessions in a row like I did this year, I would have been wrecked. plus, if you go to any other North American beer festival, you won't get bigger samples then we got at Volo.

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:30 pm

Blankboy wrote:
Torontoblue wrote:Why would bigger samples have sucked? It'd been bigger samples the previous 3 years with no complaints, and there was still a lot of beer left at the end of those events even though the selection was smaller.
Because in the past the samples were way too big. They weren't samples, they were practically half-pints. And every year past Volo has had to deal with people getting wasted. The whole point of the festival is to sample good beers and I, as well as all the people I talked to felt the size of the samples was just right. In the past, with the size of the samples given, I never would have been able to go to three sessions in a row like I did this year, I would have been wrecked. plus, if you go to any other North American beer festival, you won't get bigger samples then we got at Volo.

Well, I guess it must be a UK thing that a 1/2 pint is a decent sample size.

That was the one thing I liked about Cask Days, is that it was unique and didn't follow every other North American beer festival, and was more like your typical UK event. Now it's a sampling event which took some of the shine away for me and I found hard to adjust to.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:20 pm

Torontoblue wrote: That was the one thing I liked about Cask Days, is that it was unique and didn't follow every other North American beer festival, and was more like your typical UK event. Now it's a sampling event which took some of the shine away for me and I found hard to adjust to.

I understand your frustration about not accessing some of the new stuff - I personally would have missed out on a couple of new things had I not gone again Monday night, but we pretty much knew that was going to happen in advance. It's a function of trying to spread the new stuff across sessions, and if they had not done that people would be complaining about stuff running out. What we should really ask is why we don't see more of these ideas throughout the year!

Cask Days as a whole is a great example of how hard it is to balance things to try to please the most people. Nitpicking aside, I'd say we can agree that Ralph et al did a lot more right than they did wrong.

I was personally pretty happy with the sample sizes, you could double up if you wanted, and I went back for more of some of the ones I particularly liked. There were a handful that I was quite glad to NOT have a half pint of. I can understand wanting larger samples, but as blankboy pointed out, obnoxious drunkards is one of the potential consequences of bigger pours.

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:34 pm

JerCraigs wrote:What we should really ask is why we don't see more of these ideas throughout the year!
Nitpicking aside, I'd say we can agree that Ralph et al did a lot more right than they did wrong.

Couldn't agree more on both points.

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:35 pm

A good event. Thanks to all that put it on. The breakfast grub was excellent and for me the 8 year old cheddar was the tastiest cheese out of the four tasty cheeses available.

Of the new stuff I tried my favourite was the Hockley Black Forest Stout. That smelled wonderful and tasted great. I think it would be even better if it had fully body and was on nitro. Hint! Hint! That would make a tasty Christmas beer.

Gedge · Post by **Gedge** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:35 pm

There was a writeup in today's Star:

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/521316

lister · Post by **lister** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:11 pm

We were at Volo last night for dinner and to try some other casks that weren't available to us on Saturday.

- Double Red. Very nice, could drink this on a regular basis. Anyone note the percentage? It seemed higher than what I was expecting.

- Tobacco Road. Wasn't sure what to expect with this but was pleasantly surprised by the aroma and taste. I got mostly chocolate.

- Peach & Pepper. WOW!

Nice stuff! It has a nice smell and some good heat that fortunately doesn't keep escalating which would make this unbearable. I'd have a pint or buy a bottle of this from time to time.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:30 pm

Gedge wrote:There was a writeup in today's Star:

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/521316

Good piece. Would like to try some Hopfenstark (it means 'hop-strong' by the way.)

And who is this 'Greg Clow' character they keep quoting?

old faithful · Post by **old faithful** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:08 pm

Good report. If Josh Rubin liked London Pride, he'd have loved Fuller ESB.

And while I agree that in principle cask beer is a local concept, it does not have to be so, necessarily, as the quality of the Fuller's ESB showed, or the Penombre (Black IPA) from Quebec.

Recently in New York I had some excellent Two Brothers cask beer brought in all the way from - Illinois. It depends how it is kept. Cask ale can last 3-4 months before tapping, the November 7 tapping of Fuller's at Volo promises to be excellent as the beers too will have had the chance to rest and drop bright.

Gary

DAN-D-MAN · Post by **DAN-D-MAN** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:45 am

Was there at 4pm yesterday. There are still over a dozen kegs outside for $5 pint or $2.50 half pint.

And I agree that the Peach and Pepper is Wow! It smells great, tastes amazing, and ends with the pepper gripping your throat with a hot feeling that lightly lingers just long enough until your next sip. I could easily drink several pints of this.

northyorksammy · Post by **northyorksammy** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:09 pm

who is will be there sunday?

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:47 pm

I'm definitely making it since I had to miss last weekend

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:13 am

I'm hoping to make it out. Should be fun!

Blankboy · Post by **Blankboy** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:08 am

I'd like to add my much-delayed, big thanks to Ralph, his family and the rest of the Volo gang for the best Cask Days yet! A great selection of beer, a less crowded environment, great cheese and snacks, the staff were great and everyone seemed in a great mood, including myself. I enjoyed myself greatly!

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:40 am

Hey Everyone, I've set up a group on Flickr for Cask Days 2008 if anyone wants to add their photos of their day,

http://flickr.com/groups/880177@N25/