The Ambleside Pub is opening in Mount Kisco, New York this week with a house cask Bitter as its star. Normally, I would say that sounds like a very risky venture, but in this case, there’s good reason to suggest it may actually work.

First, people crave authentic experiences lately and pub owner Drew Hodgson has done everything he can to ensure this space is like the traditional pubs of his native England. In addition to the cask ale, the attention to detail covers everything from the interior design of the space down to the Scampi Fries (look ‘em up) you can snack on at the bar.

Second, there has been a slight uptick in the sales of traditional English styles like Dark Mild, and several breweries are even installing handpumps in their taprooms. Drew is aware of these trends, but he’s got more than that going for him.

A few years back, Drew and his wife, Leigh, opened The Hamlet, a British goods store just down the street from The Ambleside. Due to this, he knows he already has a sizable customer base, particularly British expats, craving British goods and an authentic British experience in their home away from home. With these folks alone, there’s a level of comfort that they will regularly turnover firkin-sized casks.  

The primary beverage that will be pulled from the handpumps is their very own Ambleside Best Bitter, a 4.3-percent ABV ale brewed for them by Old Glenham Brewery. The inspiration for the beer goes back to Drew’s youth. He grew up within walking distance from The Boddington Arms in Wilmslow, England, and drank the classic British ale, Boddington’s, on a regular basis.

It’s true that Boddington’s is a shadow of its former self, or so I’m told, but Drew sought out something akin to the Boddington’s from his youth. Something with a bit more character than what the beer presents today.

Working with Ian Hatton at Old Glenham (another British expat), they created a flavorful, and of course sessionable bitter, brewed with a malt base of Maris Otter, and a little Munich and wheat on top of that. It’s hopped with Fuggles, East Kent Golding and Bramling Cross hops.

If you know your British geography, you know that Ambleside is a picturesque village in the Lake District, close to where Drew was born, and Wilmslow is also in the north. So, it goes without saying that the swan necks on the handpumps include sparklers.

When I brought up the question of whether to sparkle or not when speaking to Drew and Ian, they both immediately replied as if there was no other possibility. Sparkler it is.

The beer is the focus of the pub. Drew emphatically tells me, “we care about beer more than anything else.” But they’ve got a perfectly streamlined menu with all the classics if you need a bite. Shepherd's Pie, Bangers and Mash, Fish and Chips and Cornish Pasties, along with the Scampi Fries and other crisps.

It’s more than the beer though, of course. It’s about creating a warm, welcoming place to gather. This will be particularly true when Premier League football matches are happening. The pub will be opening early on game days and Drew believes the pub will also be a destination to watch the matchups.

The pub is a welcome addition to the region, which hasn’t had a space with reliable cask beer in quite some time (The Lazy Boy used to pull cask pints, but that is now a faded memory). In addition to those thirsting for subtle cask beer, given the evolving beer market, The Ambleside may be able to generate some new fans of cask beer. And if cask beer isn’t your thing, they have a bevy of other beverages including a properly served Guinness. Pull up and let them pull you a pint.

I wasn’t planning on bookending a post from earlier in the year about cask beer, but there’s a lot to discuss. Unlike years past, where an update may just affirm declining sales and interest in cask beer, this year brought a roller coaster ride of good and bad news. This time, the most disappointing news provided a spark that generated a bit more passion, defense, and relevance to what has generally been seen as a dying method of beer production and service. We’ll start with that.

Cask Marque’s annual Cask Ale Week in England got off to a bumpy start in September when it was featured in a GB News story. For those unfamiliar with GB News (as I was), it seems akin to Newsmax. The response by many cask fans in the UK was highly carbonated. Fanning the flames, Cask Marque doubled down in response to critics and unapologetically said they were just trying to spread the word and grow appreciation for cask beer.  

Worse than this though was an offensive t-shirt that organizers created for the event that stated, “I identify as…a beer drinker”. According to this tweet by David Jesudason, the organization allegedly doubled down on this as well:

Image Source: X.

Though there were numerous events throughout the week, it felt as if the wind was taken from the sails and the whole thing seemed unfortunate. That said, there was a silver lining as there was some of the most passionate dialogue about cask beer seen in a long time. It almost made it feel relevant for a moment.  

In my earlier post, I mentioned a more positive initiative to promote cask beer by Black Sheep Brewery with their Drink Cask Beer campaign. News broke in May that the company was entering administration (which is like the UK version of Chapter 11). A few months later, there were some layoffs and the closing of a few of their pubs.

They’re still around though, and I’m rooting for them. Black Sheep Ale and Riggwelter were two of my favorites when I was getting into beer. It has been a very long time since I’ve seen those on shelves over here or at any pubs, and I miss them a lot.      

Image source: Instagram

I’ll wrap up my UK comments with two positive tidbits. First, CAMRA published a book in August by Des de Moor on cask beer. Cask: The real story of Britain’s unique beer culture, is a long overdue addition to the literary beer world. While the book could have been trimmed down a bit, it will be a huge asset to those learning about beer styles, service, and traditions, including those in the Cicerone program.  

I was happy to see De Moor present on the subject of cask beer at this year’s Beer Culture Summit, organized by the Beer Culture Center (which was up until recently known as the Chicago Brewseum.) The summit is a yearly highlight for legit beer nerds. If you haven’t attended in the past, keep an eye out for next year.

Second, Boak and Bailey think there may be some real traction with cask ale at the moment. In a recent post, they state, “are we imagining it or are classic British beer styles, and cask ale more generally, making a bit of a cultural comeback? For real, this time. Not just in the hopeful dreams of traditionalists.” For more insight, read the full post here.

Ruvani de Silva suggests this is the case in the United States. Reporting in a recent Washington Post article, she says that there’s “new interest” in cask beer engines in the US and a 50-percent increase in cask beer check-ins over the last two years on the Untappd app. Maybe our “hopeful dreams” are coming true.

There certainly seems to be interest in Portland, Oregon where Jeff Alworth has made several references to the growing popularity of cask beer over the last two years. This has apparently continued to grow. See Jeff’s tweet below from this past September.  Breweries like Upright, Gigantic, and Steeplejack are reliably serving cask beer. Away Days are as well, and they have even been holding bi-annual cask beer fests.  

Image Source: X.

Bill Arnott at his brewery Machine House in Seattle. Stop by for a mardle (look it up). Image source: Instagram.

Just a bit to the north, things weren’t looking good in my last update when I mentioned that cask brewing stalwart Machine House Brewery in Seattle was losing its original home and was unsure of its future. Fortunately, the brewery found a new space in the Hillman City neighborhood and is back up and running. Crisis averted.

Over in the Northeast, the New England Real Ale eXhibition (NERAX) was held in Boston earlier in the year. It was the first time the event was held since 2019. An unexpected delay with the organizers citing “numerous supply chain issues”, pushed the event back a few weeks. It ultimately went forward serving over 100 different beers in an array of styles to an enthusiastic crowd. They have announced that the 2024 event will take place once again in Boston from April 10th to the 13th. Find out more information here. 

The 2023 New England Real Ale eXhibition (NERAX) Boston. Image source: Instagram.

Cask event at Strong Rope Brewery, May 2023.

My earlier post mentioned a great little annual fest in New York at Strong Rope, and this was followed up locally by a couple of fun cask events at Fifth Hammer, including one I attended dubbed “Caskalot”. There was some great beer, and it was a nice, laid-back affair. I’d love to see more events like these.

The Jones Wood Foundry in Manhattan’s Upper East Side kept its annual tradition of having a weekly cask beer program over the summer (though you can regularly find cask beer there throughout the year). I think in the past it was just for August. This summer, it started in June and ran through August. There were great pours by breweries like Dutchess Ales, Strong Rope, Wild East, Fifth Hammer and others.

This year, Jones Wood also began a cask-related blog on their website called ‘The Cask Whisperer’ by Nigel Walsh. It’s a bit of a hidden gem. This post in particular has inspired me to organize informal cask beer pub crawls. New Yorkers, keep your eyes peeled for that in 2024 if you’d like to join.

Also in New York, Wild East supported their increased production of traditional English-style Ales with the installation of a hand pump. Co-founder and head of brewing Brett Taylor told me they got their handpump from a pub in Sussex, England and they’ve kept the Marston’s handle that came with it. Every time I ask Brett how the casks are selling, he tells me they move quickly.

Marton’s handle on Wild East Brewing’s hand pump.

Instagram post by Delaware Supply in Albany, New York. Image source: Instagram.

Similarly, one of my favorite beer spots around, Delaware Supply in Albany, New York, recently burned through three Suarez Family Brewery pins (a 5.4-gallon keg for cask service) in less than two hours as noted in the Instagram post above. My home away from home brewery, Wayward Lane, started making some cask ale this year and also sent out some to Delaware Supply.

Suarez has made some great traditional British-style ales over the years, and it’s exciting to see them cranking out casks. Hopefully, they will keep it up and people will continue to take to them. Suarez no doubt helped guide a new generation of beer drinkers to lager (and has probably done the same with Dark Mild). I’m certain they can do the same with cask beer.

It would be interesting to see if they put some of their lager in casks too. I explored the idea of how great cask lager can be in Craft Beer and Brewing’s lager issue this year. If you’re not a subscriber, you really should sign up. It’s well worth it. If a subscription is not in the cards right now, the article just became available on the Craft Beer & Brewing website. You can access it here.

Elsewhere in print, Courtney Iseman had an article about cask beer published in the heavy metal magazine Decibel. It’s rad that Decibel published an article on this topic. I gladly scooped up a copy that came with a flexi 7-inch record. As a cask drinking record collector, this purchase was a no-brainer.

Image source: X.

I’ll wrap up with some thoughts on sparklers. These are the attachments that can be added to the swan neck of a hand pump to create a more robust head on a cask beer and better lacing. I’ve watched with amusement as people debate whether these should be used. This debate is primarily in cask beer’s homeland and is often noted as having a north/south orientation (sparkler in the north, not the south). Some are even getting sparkler tattoos.  

Black Sheep brazenly crossed enemy lines recently to serve their sparkled ales at a pop-up Christmas market in London. See the tweet above. They returned to the north unscathed.

I’ve found the debate a little ridiculous in the past, but I’ve been thinking lately that if it’s all in good fun (the Black Sheep tweet serving as an example), the debate should maybe be promoted more. It reminds me of the tremendously successful Miller Lite Tastes Great, Less Filling campaign, and it could be a fun way to generate interest and pride in cask beer. And, sparkler or not, if people are rallying behind cask beer, we all benefit.

It’s highly unlikely that anyone thinks 2023 is going to be the year cask beer makes a comeback. That said, I continue clutching to any signs of hope. And there are some. Before getting to the glass half full, lets get the bad news out of the way.

In October of last year, Seattle’s Machine House Brewery announced its future was up in the air. With their lease up in June of ’23, their new landlord is using the opportunity to jack up the rent. The unaffordable increase is forcing the brewery to look elsewhere or consider closing up shop.

Machine House Brewery, Seattle.

I’m grateful I was able to make it there last year. The beer was great, and Seattle has been incredibly lucky to have them. The bad news is making me very anxious to see what their next move is.   

Speaking of closures, the last few months have been grim for breweries in cask beer’s homeland. It seems we don’t go more than a few days without hearing another UK brewery is closing.

And cask beer continues to struggle there. This was stressed in a September 2022 blog post on the subject by Pete Brown where he said, “it’s time to cauterise the wound that’s bleeding out.”   

A key point he makes is that there are too many pints being served that are in bad form. This is in many ways due to a lack of turnover, which is crucial for a beer style that only has a few days after the cask is tapped before starting to go bad. Greedy or uneducated pubs will ignore or overlook this issue.

This is problematic because the bad beer will send cask enthusiasts away from a pub. Likely not to return. At least not for cask beer. They’re also likely to spread the word to other customers. And for those new to cask, well, there’s never a second chance to make a first impression.

Brown suggests the pubs with low turnover should stop selling cask. Take out the hand pumps. He says, “once you’ve stopped the rot, you can start the recovery. Once you can be sure that curious, younger drinkers will be served a pint that won’t put them off for life, you can feel safe giving them good reasons to try it.” It’s too soon to tell whether these words have resonated in an enduring way.

Now to the optimistic bit. Despite all the bad news, there continues to be great brewers making cask beer and great pubs that serve them in the UK. Older breweries including Fuller’s, Timothy Taylor’s, Greene King, and Harvey’s continue to crank out well-received casks. Others like Black Sheep, Titanic, Abbeydale, Marble, and Coniston do as well. But what is perhaps most promising is that a younger generation of brewers are carrying on the tradition, putting their spin on cask beer and breathing life into this traditional format. This includes breweries like Thornbridge, Five Points, Fyne Ales, and RedWillow.

Further, there are still iconic pubs that have the knowledge to properly care for and serve these beers. Places like The Southampton Arms, The Marble Arch, and The Rutland Arms.

Full disclosure, I say all this as someone who has never set foot on the island (if anyone wants to sponsor a trip there for me to find out what’s happening firsthand, my DMs are open.)

Speaking of Black Sheep, they’re holding their ‘Drink Cask Beer’ festival in late April. It’s being held in support of their broader campaign launched last year with the same name as the festival. Find out more info about the fest here, and the campaign here. Watch the video. It’s great.

Bulls Head Public House, Lititz, Pennsylvania

Stateside, there has been no noticeable shift in cask beer consumption. Maybe that’s a good thing. It’s not getting better, but it's also not getting worse.

Bulls Head Public House in Lititz, Pennsylvania is still pulling cask pints in tip-top shape. In addition to having casks from brewers in the region that excel in making cask beer, they’re fortunate to get casks from overseas as well. On my recent pass through there, they had Harviestoun’s Ola Dubh 12 Year Special Reserve Imperial Porter and Forest and Main’s pub ale called ‘Stone Flower’. The latter is a British-style beer but brewed with Munich malt.

Not too far away from Bulls Head, Bethlehem’s Bonn Place Brewing Company is also holding steady with its mix of traditional ales and contemporary beers. Bonn has a good approach to their cask program. They tap just one cask each week on Wednesday or Thursday, and it usually goes within two to three days. Perfect timing for cask beer. Not perfect for me as I stopped by recently on a Saturday night and their pub ale called ‘Mooey’ had just kicked from the hand pull. They still had it on nitro though, which was lovely.  

Bonn Place Brewing Company, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Though not the cask version, this nitro draft of their Bitter ‘Mooey’ was tasting good.

Dutchess Ales recently tapped a cask of ‘Mizmaze’, their ESB, at The Grand Delancey in New York City. This is one of my favorites from them, so I stopped in for a couple. Owner Mike Messenie was around for the event and promptly asked the staff to remove the sparklers from the hand pull. Though I don’t have strong feelings on this issue, I get a kick out of those that do. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this article by Lily Waite.

I’m really happy to see that Dutchess is still in the cask game, still incredibly passionate about their beer, and still ensuring the places that serve them are doing so in a way that meets their standards. This is critical to the success of cask sales.

‘Mizmaze’, and ESB by Dutchess Ales.

On the other side of the East River, Brooklyn, New York’s Strong Rope Brewery held its 7th Caskiversary on February 4th.  The event featured local breweries, and this year’s lineup seemed to have less messing around with styles than last year. To me, that’s a great thing. I get the urge to want to do something unique, a one-off, but honestly, a pint of cask Bitter is unique. It’s a rare opportunity to simply have traditional, or contemporary style beer, from a cask. No need to add gummy bears, or whatever. I tasted a couple of very good Bitters, a Stout, a Dubbel, and even a couple of good lagers.

There were some carbonation and clarity issues here and there, but overall, the beer was good. Two standouts for me that I hadn’t had before were KCBC’s ESB and Kills Boro’s Vienna Lager.

Looking ahead, this year brings great news for cask fans in the Northeast. In March, the New England Real Ale Exhibition returns after a Covid hiatus. The event will take place March 29-April 1 in Boston and will include over 100 cask-conditioned beers and ciders from the US and the UK. I highly doubt I will be able to make it, but I’m going to try my best.  

Also in the Northeast, on March 26th Connecticut’s Nod Hill will hold ‘An Afternoon of Casks’ and in New Hampshire, there will be ‘Cask.On’. Connecticut’s Two Roads Brewing will host the ‘Two Roads Cask Festival: Now Streaming’ on March 31st. Down in Jersey, River Horse Brewing Company is having its ‘Cask Fest 2023’ on February 25th.  

You may have noticed that I’ve been referring to “cask beer” instead of “cask ale”. That is intentional because there are several folks making delicious cask lager. I think there’s something to this, and I’m working on something that you will hopefully see later this year. Stay tuned.