Cask Ale

My friend, Elizabeth, pointed me to this article in the New York Times. Key Graphs:

"If mass-market kegs are the Wonder bread and Velveeta of the beer world, cask ales are like fresh-baked loaves or artisanal cheeses, with the potential to be glorious but risky all the same. They have a shelf life of two to four days once opened, and if not tapped correctly they can be a big disappointment.

“'I’ve literally had to go into places and say, ‘That’s it, you can’t have our beer,’'” said Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster for Brooklyn Brewery, which produces 9 to 14 casks of ale a week. “It’s a very touchy thing, because there are people who’ve read about cask beer and want to serve it, but they don’t really understand what it takes and they’re not willing to make the commitment. The galling thing is it doesn’t take that much time.”

Makes me thirsty thinking about it . . .