Pic(k) of the Week: Dancing a firkin jig

It's a first for Pic(k) of the Week! Not a static photo such as above, but a short video clip, below.

Sara Sorola —representative for Oliver Brewing (of Baltimore, Maryland)— tapped a firkin, and then danced a celebratory jig, at Rhodeside Grill, a tavern and restaurant in the Court House neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia.

11 March 2015.



The beer in the firkin was Draft Punk IPA:

An Englishman’s interpretation of an American IPA, maybe not as over-the-top as some of it’s “true” American counterparts but with more hops than we’re used to using!

7% alcohol-by-volume, and 'dry-hopped' with American Cascade and Centennial hops, two of the classic and quintessential American "C" hops, with aromas and flavors of grapefruit and gooseberry.

Dry-hopping is the process whereby

hops are inserted in the primary ferment, the secondary ferment, or in the cask directly after filling. The purpose of dry hops is to add additional aromatic properties to the beer.

—The Encyclopedia of Beer (1995)

A 'firkin' is the British term for a cask containing 9 Imperial gallons, which in U.S. measurement is 10.8 gallons, or 86.4 U.S. pints (one pint = 16 U.S. fluid ounces).

But, a firkin rarely yields the full 86.4 pints. The beer inside contains yeast which has naturally carbonated the beer, and which —if the cask has been properly cared for— has fallen beneath the tap. So no sediment in the drinker's glass ... but you wouldn't want to pour those last few pints.

A gentleman at the bar remarked that cask ale is flat. "Then, where did those bubbles in your glass come from," I (gently) prodded him. "I meant it's less carbonated than draft," he answered.

So true, except that I prefer to say that it's cask ale that has been properly carbonated. Draft beer is gassy.

-----more-----

• Link to video: here. More (non-moving) pictures from the evening: here.
• Caveat lector: As a representative for Select Wines, Inc. —a wine and beer wholesaler in northern Virginia— I sell the beers of Oliver Brewing. Any opinions here are mine alone.


• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of personal photos, usually posted on Saturdays, and often, but not always, with a good fermentable as a subject. Camera: Olympus Pen E-PL1.
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


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