Franconia Beer Message Board
Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg |
| Posted by Nick B. on 2016-01-17 07:02:53 |
| I've tried a number of KeyKeg beers in England and ....wait for it..... Bamberg. At Mahr's specifically, during the Stone Berlin World Premiere Extravaganza or whatever it was. The latter was all decidedly American-style over-the-top hoppy & strong ale stuff, so, basically like what you get in the US these days. It was in fine shape for such stuff. The KeyKeg I've had in England has been fine, though it seems the brewers tend to want the beer to be murky, in contrast to cask ale's fairly rigid requirement to be clear, indicating the dregs of the cask are stuck in the cask, not floating in your pint. The new specialty pub in Ramsgate, the Ravensgate Arms, has 6 of each: cask & KeyKeg. But get this: the cask beers are also driven by the air compressor, so there are no handpumps, just 12 "Guinness-style" taps. (No sparklers...it is the civilised South, after all!) And they say that "most" handpumps today operate the same way: they just switch on the Jet-Flow (?) pump system, and don't actually mechanically draw the beer up. I've had KeyKeg beer there be indisitinguishable from cask. However, at the other "craft" beer pub in town, The Queen Charlotte, I've had KeyKeg be outright *sour*, and other times way over-fizzy. She (the landlady) has some two dozen keg lines and three handpumps. Last time I was in, I asked if the handpumps were on, and she went into the crafterati mantra of how KeyKeg *is* the same as cask-conditioning and it's the way of the future. I didn't get too deep into arguing it. And then of course there's the premium pricing: it's a way for them to charge you more. It is absolutely not worth it as a punter IME/IMO. They also say that beer will keep longer, just as with traditional kegs. Dunno about that, given the above situation with souring and gushing beer that's been on too long. Oh, and hey, the beer list for the Manc Beer Fest is up. I've sorted it be ascending %ABV and beer style, to provide a preliminary tasting order for me of 70+ beers under 4%. I'll start with the milds though. Might not make it through all in a day! |
| Followups: |
 Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Barry on 2016-01-17 08:07:20 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Nick B. on 2016-01-17 10:46:23 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Andy H on 2016-01-17 13:54:56 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Nick B. on 2016-01-18 05:32:32 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Andy H on 2016-01-18 10:21:35 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Nick B. on 2016-01-18 10:32:26 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Nick B. on 2016-01-18 10:55:32 |
| Text by Nick B. on 2016-01-18 10:58:00 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Andy H on 2016-01-18 12:21:56 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Andy H on 2016-01-18 12:27:32 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Barry on 2016-01-18 12:38:21 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Nick B. on 2016-01-18 23:36:55 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Nick B. on 2016-01-18 23:40:43 |
| Cask-conditioned vs KeyKeg by Andy H on 2016-01-19 04:44:22 |