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Cask

Cask beer, or real ale, differs from keg beer. It leaves unfiltered and unpasteurised, with live yeast still in it, and it goes on fermenting inside the cask. That secondary fermentation gives it its natural condition; no extra carbon dioxide is added to push it out.

Because it is still alive, cask beer has a short life once a cask is tapped: shorter for a weaker beer, longer for a stronger one. That is why what is on the bar here changes constantly.

Here, the ales are drawn straight from the cask on the stillage by gravity, rather than pulled up to the bar through a handpump. The tap is opened and the beer runs directly into the glass.

Cask beer is served at cellar temperature, generally given as 11 to 13 degrees Celsius: neither warm nor chilled. Too warm and it loses its condition and turns unpleasant; too cold and the flavour is muted.

At the Compass Alehouse we keep our glasses in the cellar so they are the same temperature as the beer.

  1. Five Hop pump clip Kent Brewery — Birling, Kent On now Five Hop 4.5% Pale ale from Kent Brewery, on the five best-rated hops of their single hop series
  2. Calypso pump clip Hop Back — Downton, Wiltshire On now Calypso 3.4% Hoppy session pale from Hop Back, named after the hop it is brewed on
  3. Rustic pump clip Tonbridge Brewery — East Peckham, Tonbridge On now Rustic 4% Traditional rich Kent bitter
  4. Oatmeal Stout pump clip Downlands Brewery — Small Dole, West Sussex On now Oatmeal Stout 4.8% Silky smooth dark stout from Downlands