Cask ale in continental Europe

[alex397]

In recent years I’ve got more and more into cask ale, especially after visits to northern England, where it seems you are much less likely to get a gone-off ale (Numerous times I’ve had dodgy ale in Kent!).

I find it interesting that cask ale is something fairly unique in Britain.
However, to my surprise, I’ve found one of the few places abroad I’ve had cask ale (served with the same Angram pumps) is Italy. There were at least 3 places in Milan where I had cask ale! There is also a craft beer place in Brussels called GIST which has served it (apparently because the owner is a fan of British cask ale).

Has anyone found cask ale elsewhere in Europe (or the world)? And is it generally a niche thing in that place rather than widespread?

On a side note, I really hope Britain keeps cask ale alive and well, seeing as it’s so unique. We have the fantastic CAMRA who champion it, but outside of that I don’t think it gets as much support as it should. Countries like Belgium, Germany and Czechia seem a lot better at protecting their unique beer culture.

 

[S101]

Whilst wondering around Krakow a couple of years ago, we stumbled upon T.E.A. with lots of British style cask ale, and indeed a few imports. They had an Ossett Brewery one on, I seem to remember. Krakow is an amazing place for a good beer too, mainly craft. But ale can be found... Poland has a brilliant craft beer scene.

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[Sir Felix Pole]

Cask ale is pretty much non-existent in Ireland too - you'll have to resort to a 'Spoons in Dublin. Talking of 'Spoons I see that they are opening at Alicante Airport in February - their first continental European venture. No idea what will be offered.

 

[TrenHotel]

The wonderful Brus bar in Copenhagen sometimes has a cask ale on.

 

[scarby]

My local in Stockholm, the Oliver Twist, has regular cask ale, as does its near neighbour, Akkurat.

Usually 3 pumps on. Mostly British, but some Swedish brews as well.

Be prepared to pay the equivalent of £10 a pint and upwards. Which I suppose in the case of going to the trouble of specially importing cask from relatively small British brewers, isn't so bad.

 

[dgl]

Talking of 'Spoons I see that they are opening at Alicante Airport in February - their first continental European venture. No idea what will be offered.

Very drunk English people

 

[SJL2020]

Cask ale is pretty much non-existent in Ireland too - you'll have to resort to a 'Spoons in Dublin. Talking of 'Spoons I see that they are opening at Alicante Airport in February - their first continental European venture. No idea what will be offered.

Yes, very sad, and slightly ironic as CAMRA was founded in Ireland.

 

[D6130]

Yes, very sad, and slightly ironic as CAMRA was founded in Ireland.

Technically speaking maybe, as the four founders had the idea while on a cycling holiday in South-West Ireland. However they didn't get around to doing anything about it for a few months afterwards, so, administratively, CAMRA was actually founded in St Albans.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Cask ale is pretty much non-existent in Ireland too - you'll have to resort to a 'Spoons in Dublin.

If you include the 'Island of Ireland', don't forget the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast which did a very decent pint of Bass when I was there a few months ago.

 

[High Dyke]

Den Haag (The Hague). The Fiddler pub is an English style pub in the Netherlands. They even have a microbrewery producing a range of cask ale. I was drinking in there a few weeks before Christmas.

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The Fiddler has its very own Micro Brewery. We brew traditional English ales on the premises.
We carefully select our malts and choose only the freshest hops for our ales.

 

[SargeNpton]

Back in the mid 90s I was visiting a friend in Quimperle, in Brittany, and a small bar there was having a beer festival which included a locally brewed real ale.

There is also a small chain of real ale pubs in France, trading under the Frog & Rosbif name, Details here: https://frogpubs.com/our-pubs/

 

[52290]

Back in the mid 90s I was visiting a friend in Quimperle, in Brittany, and a small bar there was having a beer festival which included a locally brewed real ale.

There is also a small chain of real ale pubs in France, trading under the Frog & Rosbif name, Details here: https://frogpubs.com/our-pubs/

In the late 1980's I visited a brewery in Morlaix, Brittany, called Brasserie Coreff, which had been founded in 1985 by two French men under the supervision of Peter Austin, founder of, among others, the recently closed Ringwood brewery in Hampshire. All the draught beer was real ale served through hand pumps and there seemed to be a strong Breton nationalist air about it all. The owners said that they were inspired by the Felinfoel brewery in Lanelli, which they had visited.
The brewery still exists today.

 

[AY1975]

Back in the mid 90s I was visiting a friend in Quimperle, in Brittany, and a small bar there was having a beer festival which included a locally brewed real ale.

There is also a small chain of real ale pubs in France, trading under the Frog & Rosbif name, Details here: https://frogpubs.com/our-pubs/

Their website mentions craft beers but doesn't specifically mention cask ale.

Countries like Belgium, Germany and Czechia seem a lot better at protecting their unique beer culture.

Indeed, and I am not sure if cask ale would be able to be sold as beer in Germany, as I'm not sure if it would comply with Germany's ancient beer purity law (the "Reinheitsgebot").

 

[52290]

Their website mentions craft beers but doesn't specifically mention cask ale.

Indeed, and I am not sure if cask ale would be able to be sold as beer in Germany, as I'm not sure if it would comply with Germany's ancient beer purity law (the "Reinheitsgebot").

The EU have said the the Reinheitsgebot can no longer be legally enforced in Germany. Even when it was it didn't prevent the use of hop extracts.

 

[AndrewE]

Their website mentions craft beers but doesn't specifically mention cask ale.

Indeed, and I am not sure if cask ale would be able to be sold as beer in Germany, as I'm not sure if it would comply with Germany's ancient beer purity law (the "Reinheitsgebot").

why not? I thought that the Reinheitsgebot was just that it had to be made only with barley(malt,) hops, yeast and water - which sounds like a recipe for a good real ale to me!

 

[52290]

why not? I thought that the Reinheitsgebot was just that it had to be made only with barley(malt,) hops, yeast and water - which sounds like a recipe for a good real ale to me!

There were some exceptions to the general rules of the Reinheitsgebot though. The very popular Weizenbier was made with 50% malted barley and 50% malted wheat. Because wheat malt is not very fermentable it was permitted to use some sugar in these brews. This sneaky move wasn't allowed for foreign brewers wanting to export to Germany.

 

[AndrewE]

There were some exceptions to the general rules of the Reinheitsgebot though. The very popular Weizenbier was made with 50% malted barley and 50% malted wheat. Because wheat malt is not very fermentable it was permitted to use some sugar in these brews. This sneaky move wasn't allowed for foreign brewers wanting to export to Germany.

but that exception doesn't restrict the brewing of a real ale...
Why does @AY1975 think you wouldn't be allowed to sell a real ale in Germany?

 

[replacementbus]

If you include the 'Island of Ireland', don't forget the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast which did a very decent pint of Bass when I was there a few months ago.

The Sunflower on Union Street also has one or two cask ales on. And good pizza. It was a welcome respite after endless samey keg beer

 

[jon0844]

Very drunk English people

On the plus side, it should mean other places nearby won't be full of drink English people.

 

[52290]

but that exception doesn't restrict the brewing of a real ale...
Why does @AY1975 think you wouldn't be allowed to sell a real ale in Germany?

There would be no technical reason why real ale could not be brewed in accordance with the demands of the Reinheitsgebot. Finings couldn't be used of course as the swim-bladder of the sturgeon isn't mentioned in the purity law. A top- fermenting yeast would have to be used to create an ale but these are already used in wheat beer, Kolsch and Alt Bier. The main problem would be getting German landlords to put it on stillages and to tap and vent it and serve it at the right time.
About thirty years ago I discovered something called English Pub Beer in a bar in the Ober Pfalz. I didn't try it but I'm sure it was a keg beer. I would have to look through my German beer books to find which brewery it was from.

 

[alex397]

Excellent to read these repliesx thanks. Obviously cask ale is a niche outside the UK, but I didn’t realise there are quite a few places that do it.

It is fairly surprising to me that it’s not really a thing in Ireland, considering they share a lot of culture with the UK, and are of course also well known for their pubs and beer.

 

[Whisky Papa]

I've encountered handpulled (and allegedly cask-conditioned) beers in a few places.

First off in Den Haag back in the early 1980s, which were genuine English beers in a bar run by an English couple - Fullers ESB was certainly one. The 1982 Good Beer Guide included a few such places in the Netherlands.

In Paris in 2010 we found a small bar near either Gare Du Nord or Gare De L'Est which had a handpulled French beer, apparently cask-conditioned as claimed - it wasn't great, in all honesty, so I'm not too ashamed in not having recorded the name.

Nor was the sole handpulled offering from a local brewery's bar in Pisa, although their other beers were excellent. I am again remiss in not having a proper record, but I am fairly sure it was Scaccomalto at Via Santa Cecilia 32/34, with beers form Mudita in Livorno. The pictures on their website do not currently show a handpump, and indeed the place looks to have smartened up all round.

Belgian bars, most likely around Brussels, may have handpulled faro, but I was told upon asking that it wasn't from a cask - "non, c'est bag-in-a-box."

Finally I have found a bar in Prague with one handpull, which does occasionally have British beers but which I assume are not actually cask. It had a Czech microbrewery red ale on when I visited 18 months back.

 

[AndrewE]

Belgian bars, most likely around Brussels, may have handpulled faro, but I was told upon asking that it wasn't from a cask - "non, c'est bag-in-a-box."

A small brewery near me have casks for their pub deliveries but smaller amounts (e.g. for home consumption or parties) are sold as bag-in-a-box and it is very good, I would say indistinguishable from cask.
David told me that their yeast is particularly good at settling out and sticking to the bag, so you can get it already conditioned from the brewery (I have seen him venting the boxes in their conditioning room) and if you drive it home carefully it is drinkable straight away.

Re German beers, some on sale in the UK say "Brewed in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot" but a colleague told me that it doesn't actually apply to beers brewed there for sale abroad! So you can buy "German" beer, but it might have been made with sugar, corn or other stuff and have "head retention agents" in it!