Bottle or draft?
That is the question that many of us get when ordering a beer and the two options are available. 9 times out ten, we just pick one over the other, not realizing that by picking one, we are actually choosing an experience. The experience can come from differences in aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, bitterness, and maltiness.
Another beer experience I’m looking forward to trying for the first time is trying new beer right out of the cask. According to beer writer William Bostwick, cask beer is served fresh from a wooden barrel, traditionally, or a metal cask, more common nowadays; kept at cellar temperature (50-55 degrees versus a refrigerator’s 35-40), and lightly carbonated by the digestive action of living yeast. Yes, compared to a brisk, bubbly keg pour, it’s warm(ish) and flat(ish).
All that said, the beer we get from the cask should be far richer in the subtle flavors lost with over-chilling.
So where in St. Louis can we try some cask brew? Well, luckily our friends at 2nd Shift are cask beer fans and have long celebrated the cask.
Every winter at their original location in Cedar Creek, 2nd Shift would hold a festival of the cask featuring a few of their nearest & dearest brewery friends.
Now the Cask Festival 2018, is back and will take place at the St. Louis taproom. You’ll find casks from several local breweries, as well as casks from brewing friends near and far.
“This festival will give a unique opportunity for our attendees to pour and sample as few or as many beers as they would like while picking the brain of the brewer/brewery representatives of the unique beer they have chosen to bring,” wrote 2nd Shift on Facebook.
Cask Festival 2018
A Festival of Cask Beer!
Guerrilla Street Food will provide a traditional Filipino Pig Roast dinner to all attendees.
Bottle sharing is encouraged at this festival so bring along any beers you’ve been waiting to share
New Releases
No beer event is complete without a new release. At Cask Fest, 2nd Shift is releasing their Barrel Aged Imperial Stout – Liquid Spiritual Delight aged in Buffalo Trace Barrels – available first to all ticket holders.
There are only 175 tickets available for this festival*
Attending Breweries are:
Pipeworks Brewing Company
Wellspent Brewing Company
4 Hands Brewing Company
Narrow Gauge Brewing Company
Perennial Artisan Ales
Earthbound Beer
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
Main & Mill Brewing Company
Wannabe Brewing
Marz Community Brewing
White Rooster Farmhouse Brewery
Heavy Riff Brewing Company
Logboat Brewing Company
Civil Life Brewing Company.
Exit 6 Pub and Brewery
Friendship Brewing Company.
2nd Shift Brewing
*This is a rain or shine event*
The festival will be held outside, with indoor seating & 2nd Shift taps available to pour as you will. In case of rain or sleeting, this event will be held entirely inside.
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If you don’t like brew or booze, you might find my Twitter feed boring. I don’t have a personal feed, just a Drink314 feed, which I invite you to follow if you’re inclined. But that said, very few Tweets that cross my feed make me do a double take, until this one the other day.
