Real ale - it's how you do it

I once heard Jason Oliver of D.C.' s Gordon-Biersch note that casked beer - lager or ale - is simply beer that is put in a cask.

It's how a brewer prepares the beer, Jason emphasized, that makes it a keller bier, or its ale cousin, real ale.

Last night, I enjoyed a pint of Clipper City's Winter Storm Imperial ESB pulled from a cask at Birreria Paradiso, the subterranean beer cubby of Pizza Paradiso in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

At a blind tasting conducted by the Baltimore Sun, Winter Storm was chosen as one of the favorites - national, local, or international - of the season.

On Wednesday, 5 December, Jason and I will be guest hosts at Taste DC's second ever Beer Basics 101 class. Along with 6 other beers, I'll be bringing a cask of Winter Storm, and Jason, his winter doppelbock.