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CASK ALE WHISPERER

Blog by Nigel Walsh

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Caskiversary 2025 (#9 and counting)

The Whispering World is still in a bit of a funk, but we are starting to see lights at the ends of a couple of tunnels, and this weekend I was finally able to motivate myself into purchasing a cask festival ticket, and drag my sorry tired ass out to Red Hook.

Where I had a whole bunch of fun at the 9th Annual Caskiversary event at Strong Rope Brewing.

But being out of practice, I totally messed up with the ferry schedule, and had to resort to a combination of subway and shanks’ pony to get to the most isolated brewery in the western world, possibly.

It had been so long that I hardly recognized the place, and I arrived to find that what used to be a back wall had been converted into a portal to another dimension, dominated by a huge baronial hall (or possibly their new event space).

This set-up worked perfectly for the liquid portion of the event, keeping us cask elites away from poor old jimmy punter in the main taproom, but not so much for the aural component.

With Cuzme and the band playing in the regular stage area, it sadly came across as muddied background/elevator music in the event room; not that it stopped them from partying with the taproom crowd.

The one big advantage though, was that it allowed for much socializing between and amongst the industry folks and the cask nuts such as myself.

I usually keep a fairly low profile at any event that I attend, but here, much whispering occurred, possibly due the delicious lubrication available.

Fifteen brews in all, five from our hosts Strong Rope and the remainder from nine different NYC brewers, plus one from Dutchess County; Old Glenham making a welcome return.

The majority of the beers were in the 4.5-6.5% range, with only one topping out at 7.1%; no imperials or barleywines this time, which is just fine by me.

Only four of the casks had non-hop additions, five if you count the black tea that was deliciously deployed in the Wild East Moderance ESB; where I come from, tea is practically a member of the hop family, especially black tea.

Two others were dry-hopped, and all of the rest were served as brewed.

Four lagers (one of which was served from a gravity keg), two stouts and a porter, three pale ales, two IPAs, two bitters and a cream ale; a real cross-section of styles and national origins.

One new brewery to me and to everybody else it would seem, was Eckhart Beer Co. a lager-only brewery, who are currently finishing construction of their brew space/taproom in deepest Bushwick (hey, we can get a crawl going again), and brought along a stichfass of their foeder-conditioned helles lager which was both crisp and soft and left beautiful lacings on the glass.

With just fifteen brews to choose from and the unlimited 5oz ticket, I was able to set my own comfortable pace over the five-plus hours that I was at the event, although if I had been paying attention to the ferry schedule instead of socializing, I would have been able to sneak out after four hours having already sampled all that was on offer.

That last hour was spent returning again and again to the three brews that were to become my favorites for the session: the OGB Session Bitter, the Pub Ale and the Moderance ESB.

These of course are old favorites of mine that I have enjoyed in many places and many events, but hey, favorites are favorites for a reason.

I especially enjoyed the black tea variant of the Moderance ESB, where the tea toned down the usual sweetness of the ESB, replacing it with a mouth-drying almost oak-like bitterness.

Outside of those three British-style ales, I would have to say that I was most impressed and surprised with the Strong Rope Decapitator, a doppelbock with, of all things, chanterelle mushrooms.

No, it was not musty, we are talking mushrooms here not mold (what?), it actually had a very fruity nose and taste; I got stone fruit, but others got blueberry.

It was definitely an oddity but a delicious one, nevertheless.

Of the hazy pales and IPAs present, it was a toss-up between the Finback Daily Cask and the Strong Rope Ripe and Ruin, both of which were dry-hopped.

And of the dark foursome, the Fifth Hammer Infernal Optimism smoked porter, got my nod over the two Mexican cakes and the KCBC export stout.

Rounding out my top-five was the Endless Life cream ale, which sort of flew under the radar for many folks, being an almost hybrid of a traditional NYS cream ale and a farmhouse table beer.

I loved it. Jeff has a very delicate touch with everything that he brews.

Overall, another awesome event with excellent beers and great camaraderie.

Definitely one to chase away the blues, I will have to try this again soon.

Scorecard w/e 2/4/25

In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks, all at Strong Rope Brewery’s 9th Annual Caskiversary:

  • Eckhart Beer Co. Foeder Hell Helles
  • Endless Life Can’t Steal My Joy Cream Ale
  • Fifth Hammer Infernal Optimism Smoked Porter
  • Finback Daily Cask Pale Ale w/Riwaka
  • Gun Hill That’s No Moon Dark Lager w/Jalapeno, Cinnamon & Chocolate
  • KCBC Parrots of the Caribbean Export Stout
  • Kills Boro NYS Pils w/Farm One
  • Old Glenham OGB Session Bitter
  • Other Half Hup! Hup! Hup! Belgian Pale Ale
  • Wild East Moderance ESB w/Black Tea
  • Strong Rope Pub Ale Best Bitter
  • Strong Rope The Ripe and Ruin Dry-hopped IPA
  • Strong Rope Fat Man Stout w/Cacao & Chipotle
  • Strong Rope Decapitator Doppelbock w/ Chanterelles
  • Strong Rope Wolf in the Garden IPA w/Yuzi & Ginger

Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)

2/22/25: NYC Beer Week Opening Bash @ Industry City, Brooklyn NY 

You may be rolling the cask dice at this event, but there were casks from Strong Rope and Finback there last year.

2/22/25: 6th Winter Cask Classic @ Denizens Brewing, Riverdale Park MD

3/1/25: Cask Fest 2025 @ River Horse (& Du Claw), Ewing NJ

3/21/25: Two Roads Cask Fest @ Two Roads Brewing, Stratford CT

3/23/25: An Afternoon of Casks IV @ Nod Hill Brewery, Ridgefield CT

4/2/25 – 4/5/25: 26th Annual NERAX will be held in Boston MA. Save the dates!

5/24/25: New York State British Real Ale Festival @ Seneca Lake Brewing, Rock Stream NY

6/7/2025: Log Jammin’ V @ Human Robot Beer, Philadelphia PA

Upcoming Random NYC Casks

  • No loose casks identified yet this week, but this Friday is First Friday.

NYC Cask Venues

Known Operational/Active Beer Engines

  • Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
  • Fifth Hammer
  • Wild East
  • The Shakespeare (x3)
  • Cask Bar & Kitchen
  • Drop-off Service

Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)

  • Strong Rope
  • KCBC
  • Tørst
  • Blind Tiger Ale House
  • Threes Brewing
  • Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
  • The Owl Farm

Cask Venues Reachable from NYC by MTA Train

Metro-North Hudson Line

  • Draught Industries, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
  • Coopers, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).

Metro-North Harlem Line

  • The Ambleside Pub, Mt. Kisco NY (four handpumps, Old Glenham beer range).

Metro-North New Haven Line

  • Marlowe Artisanal Ales, Mamaroneck NY (one handpump tapped Thursdays, Marlowe beer range)
  • Nod Hill Brewing, Ridgefield CT (two handpumps, Nod Hill beer range).
ASK NIGEL

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