Tank beer
This was often bright beer, but filled into cellar tanks rather casks. It was pretty popular for a while in the 1960s and 1970s. It later fell into disuse, partly because of problems keeping the cellar tanks clean.
Many of the Grundy tanks used in UK pub cellars ended up being used as fermenters in US craft breweries.
Hull Brewery caused much division in CAMRA ranks by having most of their beer served from ceramic cellar tanks. The beer was only rough filtered, but not pasteurised and served without CO2 pressure. For a while it was considered real ale, but in the 1980 Good Beer Guide they are dismissed with a simple “all beers are filtered”.
Keg beer
Soon after WW II, brewers started to become interested in keg beer. Mostly to remove the weak link in the chain between the brewer and drinkers: the landlord. It was designed to be a beer that publicans couldn’t bugger up, either through incompetence or avarice.
The initial crop of keg beers were almost all Bitters. Usually billed as Best Bitters, though the gravities didn’t always live up to that claim. Later keg versions of Mild followed, but it was the Keg Bitters that brewers pushed.
Why were some brewers so keen on keg beer? Because they could charge more for it. When you look at the examples later in this section, you’ll see that keg beer sold at a premium. Keg beer might have cost marginally more to produce than cask, but nothing like as much as the price differential.
Of course, larger brewers were investing large sums in advertising their Keg Bitters. Who would have drunk them if they hadn’t? And that money needed to be recouped.
There was also a fair bit of keg Mild about. And in increasing amounts. Mostly due to the decline in Mild sales. When too little was being sold for cask to be viable, some brewers stretched out the life of the style by kegging it. Though that was only a stay of execution.
Lager, of course, was almost always sold in keg form. Other than the aforementioned experiments with cask Lager.
Finally, there was Stout. Mainly in the form of Guinness. Or maybe totally. There might have been some other keg Stouts. Possibly Murphy’s.
I think all the bright and tank beer I've ever drunk has either been in Germany or Czech-brewed lager here. I'm sure I'm not the only English drinker who feels, probably irrationally, that form of draught dispense is OK for continental beer styles, but our own native ones will always be best in cask, even if the difference in both brewery and cellar conditioning may now be pretty minimal.
ReplyDeleteMurphy’s and Beamish used to be exported until the late 2000’s. It is still possible to bugger keg beer up according to the publican of my local and will eventually go bad after tapping usually two to three weeks and you still need the taps to be pouring frequently.
ReplyDeleteOscar
On my visit to London in '78, I was startled to see a beer-branded tanker parked, with a hose snaking down to a pub cellar. That was my introduction to tank beer. To reinforce Anonymous, in the US, I have encountered bad keg beer, sometimes obviously sour. I think the problem is greater now that bars have 10-20-30 taps.
ReplyDeleteRon you have used the term "rough filtered" in this and the previous thread.. was this different to "fine filtered" whatever?
ReplyDeleteI grew up on tank beer in the North East and my recollection is that the likes of Federation Ales, Newcastle Exhibition, Cameron's Strongarm etc were as clear as bottle beers or the clearly keg offerings like the Lagers, Tartan etc.
Keg dispense is OK if it is poured properly. The reason “continental styles” taste better over there is that the tapper uses the gas in the beer to create a big head of foam, so there is less gas in what you drink.
ReplyDeleteBy contrast, a bartender in the UK tries to keep as much gas in the beer as possible and create as little foam as possible, so you get a fizzy pint that tastes of metal.
Whether by coincidence or familiarity, the pressure a beer in cask can build up without exploding seems to be the perfect amount.
The brewers could have pushed keg through in the UK without much resistance if they hadn’t insisted on making it so damn fizzy.
Agreed my regular tipple Sullivans red ale is a kegged 5% mild ale it is just a bit more fizzier than a cask beer after it has just been poured but the hcarbonation gets more gentle a minute or two after the pour.
DeleteOscar
Rob S:
ReplyDeleteIn Australia pub cellars are uncommon and most pubs and clubs, which are often very large compared to UK pubs, have a central "cold room" where the kegs are stored and beer lines go out to the various bars.
Because the beer lines can be very long, a nitrogen / CO2 mix is used, unsurprisingly referred to as "pub gas"!! It comes in various ratios, usually 30%, 40% and 55% CO2 depending on the situation.
So the beer reaches the taps without the massive foaming and fizziness you'd find in beers pushed by pure CO2.
I expect that technology wasn't available in the UK in the 60s and 70s.
In the North of England the foaming problem was overcome by using oversize pint glasses with a certified "pint" mark which allowed the beer to foam up and settle down to the pint mark.
Bribie G,
ReplyDeleterough filtering , at least initially, leaves a star bright beer, but hasn't removed all the yeast. Leave it long enough and it will throw a sediment.