Randalling

Devin Arloski from Dogfish Head Brewery (center) is assisting Birreria Paradiso's bar manager Greg Jasgur (right).


They're pouring 60 Minute IPA through a Randall - a cannister packed with whole hops (in this case US Amarillo). The beer is forced under pressure up through the tube and out the side. It gains some hop oils and loses excess carbonation, softening the beer's presence.

And it's a great show.

You can't see me; I'm behind the camera. And you also can't see my snifter of cask-conditioned Peg Leg Imperial Stout that had just been hand-pulled via a beer engine from a cask behind the bar. Fresh from a cask, this sometimes maligned beer (see the reviews on the link above) was sublime: layers and layers of bakers' chocolate, low-toned fruit, and interlacing hops.

This uber-freshness is what cask-conditioned real ale is all about.