Cask Vs Keg. Bottle Vs Can

A 'real ale' thing has been festering and gurgling within me. Before I let it go, here's a right-to-the-point short rant from The Beer Compurgator, a blogger in the U.K., excerpted from his multi-headed rant, "EVERYTHING wrong with Beer at this moment".

Cask Vs Keg. Bottle Vs Can.

We may as well begin with one of the most exhausting non-arguments in the history of being. It was an argument, or at least discussion, that was possibly worth having two to three years ago. People were still becoming familiar with the changes and therefore views and opinions on the matter needed to be expressed. Fine, that's all good. So let's explore it now.

Cask beer is a unique tradition in this country that gives a condition to beer that is so different and yet satisfying. It also naturally suits a lot of beer. The value of key kegged beers though, especially when leant to some of the stronger, hoppier IPA's is necessary and helps deliver the intended finish and taste to the style. Also, for various reasons, some public houses are better suited for keeping cask beer and others for using key keg. Both are useful dispensers of beers. Both are necessary. Argument? Discussion? No. Move on. When I see "craft beer" lovers drinking a cask beer and claiming it "would be better on keg," I despair.

[And, then, an argument that seems to have been more or less resolved in the U.S.]

Of course, now we have to hear the same arguments with the arrival on the shelves of more canned beer. Again, it's a tired discussion. Refer to the same points made about cask and keg. Some are more suitable to styles of beer. Some make dispensing easier. Both are good. Honestly, stop even thinking about starting a conversation about it. And STOP announcing it EVERY time you have a canned beer. It is not 2012.

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• Read the rest EVERYTHING wrong with Beer at this moment.
• Compurgation: In early English law, a method of settling issues of fact. An early English common-law method method of settling issues of fact in trial, in which the defendant, by appeal to a type of character witness, is acquitted on the sworn endorsement of a specified number of friends or neighbors.
• Credit to Lew Bryson, managing editor of The Whiskey Advocate, for alerting me to this piece.