Four Georgia Beer Outlets Find Success with Cask Ale

- Four Georgia Beer Outlets Find Success with Cask Ale

By Owen Ogletree   Bill Kimmerly, brewer for Bandwagon in Moultrie, Georgia   The world moves pretty fast. Trends change rapidly. Especially in our modern craft beer scene, brewers struggle to keep up with "the next big thing." While many pubs and breweries around the USA fret over what's going to be popular in the coming months, three personable Georgia breweries and one respected Georgia craft beer pub have found success in an old English pub practice known as cask-conditioned ale or "real ale."    Decatur's Brick Store Pub, Creature Comforts Brewing in Athens, Duluth's Good Word Brewing & Public House, and Bandwagon Brewing in the south Georgia town of Moultrie all embrace cask real ales, and customers have responded with remarkable interest and enthusiasm.    What is Cask Ale? To produce authentic cask ale, brewers place young beer in 10.8-gallon metal English-style casks called firkins. A half-sized, 5.4-gallon cask is known as a pin. In the sealed cask, the beer undergoes a special conditioning process whereby the yeast produces soft, natural carbonation and elegant flavor components before settling to the bottom of the cask. After a time, excess carbonation is vented, and a serving device is hammered into a spout on the end of the cask. Served at a cool cellar temperature of 50-55 F, cask ale offers a soft carbonation level, allowing drinkers to appreciate the full glory of the malt, hops and fermentation character. There's never any pasteurization or artificial carbon dioxide gas additions that might soak into the beer. Cask ale is a living, delicate product.    Cask ales rest in the chilly Brick Store "cellar"   A Beverage Full of Surprises Cask ale possesses the uncanny ability to surprise people. Bandwagon Brewing co-founder Harrison Isaacs notes, "There have been a few times when customers come into our brewery with someone who refrains from drinking because they 'don't like beer.' I'll pour them a splash of one of our cask ales, describing it as a gentler level of carbonation and less chilled. To my delight, this simple gesture has led most of these folks to enjoy a full pint on many occasions. It's a testament to the diversity within the world of beer, and I'm grateful that our brewer's expertise allows us to offer such a unique option that resonates with a broad audience."   Near the end of the COVID pandemic, Brick Store co-owner Dave Blanchard shared the idea of a small upstairs cask ale bar with his business partners. Firkins could be stored in the chilled vintage cellar, with an insulated pipe running through the wall to supply cask ales to hand-pump taps on a compact bar in the seating area at the top of the pub's stairs. Many people doubted how patrons would respond, but Blanchard proceeded with his plan. No one expected the impressive level of success that the Brick Store's beautifully decorated cask ale bar would achieve. Many brewers and locals enter the pub and head straight up to the cask bar to enjoy four real ales, soak in the beautiful English pub decor, and maybe watch a European football match on the TV behind the bar.    Honoring classic beer and brewing traditions forms a pivotal focus for the Brick Store guys, and the pub's beer director, Neil Callaghan, believes there are few things more classic and traditional than proper cask ale. "We've invested quite a bit of time and resources into setting up a whole bar exclusively for cask ale service," he says. "We've done so because we believe that cask ale is a unique representation of traditional beer that offers an experience rarely found outside the UK."   Generating Interest & Engagement After witnessing the remarkable success of the Brick Store's cask program, Creature Comforts Brewing decided to install a "caskerator" cooler and hand-pull tap behind the bar of its Athens taproom. "We use all sorts of methodology to spread cask awareness," Creature Comforts' Blake Tyers says. "We are Cask Marque certified, which comes with a plaque we display in our tasting room. The cask engine tap also draws some curiosity, as it sits at our busiest bar area. Tuesdays are cask nights with a dollar off each pint of cask ale. Lastly, we try to create cask brands that have strong stories to encourage drinkers to explore."   Good Word Brewing's co-owner/brewer, Todd DiMatteo, loves cask beer and makes real ale a significant part of the brewpub's focus. "Cask beer is such a unique and special tradition," he declares. "It’s a simple and delicious expression of beers that undergo a secondary fermentation and are conditioned warm so sugars finish out. This process imprints a soft carbonation upon skillful executions of mostly English beer styles. Later, our gracious publicans pump the cask ale from authentic UK beer engines into pint or half-pint glasses."   Travel Broadens the Palate Bill Kimmerly, brewer for Bandwagon in Moultrie, also shares a passion for cask ale. His former biotech job required him to travel to London a few times a year, solidifying his appreciation for real ale. Bandwagon's first public display of cask ales occurred at the Tallahassee Beer Festival in August 2023. Kimmerly recalls, "I poured four casks at the event, and everyone loved them. This was the first time most attendees experienced cask beers."   For many Americans, a love of cask ale begins with visits to pubs in the UK. Experiencing a delightful pub interior and chatting with locals over a sessionable pint of cask ale forms a memorable experience. Blake Tyers' father hails from England. "Everyone has their own personal connection to certain beer styles," Tyers relates. "Cask ale was the first beer I ever had with my dad and grandfather in London. When I describe cask ale to our Creature Comforts taproom guests, I find a deep connection to the roots of English brewing that's encased in nostalgia."   Kimmerly creates Bandwagon's cask ales on the brewery's one-barrel pilot system that can fill three firkins per batch. With the quick turnover of his cask ales, Kimmerly usually brews three pilot batches every two weeks. He focuses on making classic bitters, mild ales, pale ales and stouts with 100% English malts and hops. The filled firkins head to the cask cooler below the bar, where serving hoses connect the real ale to three UK hand-pump pub taps positioned at the front of the bar to grab customers' attention immediately. Kimmerly recalls, "I received surprisingly little pushback from customers on the cellar temperature and softer carbonation level of the casks. People embraced the beers immediately."   Cask Education is Key Neil Callaghan feels that setting expectations forms a critical aspect of introducing people to cask ale. "At the Brick Store, we have a thoughtful explanation of cask ale service on our menu, and our staff undergoes training on describing cask ale to guests in an approachable way," he notes. "The best cask ale service requires effort from brewers, publicans and bartenders. It's a much more involved style of service than normal draft or packaged beer. Cask ale service also harkens back to the days of pre-industrial beer - the days of strong local ties between brewery, pub and guest."   Good Word Brewing received its Cask Marque plaque almost a year ago, certifying that the brewpub's real ales are spot-on. Todd DiMatteo (pictured above and to the right) sees this as a result of his efforts to respect traditional brewing practices and create the best quality beer. He adds, "We are honored at Good Word to be only the seventh awarded Cask Marque outlet in the USA, and we wear the marque with pride. We see cask ale as a look back to a historical tradition that may help keep patrons excited and engaged about beer in the future." .............   "Cask ale is the freshest beer on the bar and is more likely to have been brewed locally. Many people see cask ale and craft beer as synonymous." -- Pete Brown, noted British beer journalist.