Two days without alcohol, boo!
Two weeks without a bath (shower OK) and no washing dishes, woohoo!
And no lifting anything weighing more than ten pounds, also for two weeks.
Mr. Bagel is unhappy with the last directive; he is very needy these days and he is also a big boy.
So, for another week he will have to jump up on my lap all by himself, no good meowing for pickups: doctor’s orders.
Fortunately, an imperial pint of beer (even in a thick handled mug) weighs less than two and a half pounds, so after the first couple of dry days, I was able to venture outside in search of a cask.
And I found one in a most unexpected venue.
Thanks to an Instagram heads-up from the NYC Cask Crew (cheers Kevin!), I was clued in to a cask of Dutchess Ales Auspice (great name, even greater play on words**) Ordinary Bitter that was available at Beertable located on the LIRR concourse of Penn Station.
After almost three days moping around the house, I was ready to hop onto the Q train and get right over to the station, despite the nasty humid weather in the late afternoon and the need to walk a couple of blocks at either end; this was not going to be a cask crawl, I had to rest and recover before attempting that.
And indeed, I was sweating like the proverbial by the time that I stumbled into Beertable and procured my beer.
It came in a clear plastic container, with a clear plastic lid which had a straw hole in the center.
It didn’t come with a straw (thankfully) and it didn’t come with a seat or even a bar (or beer table) to lean on (oops, I didn’t think of that), so my options were:
- Go find a train (to nowhere) to sit while I supped.
- Bag it and go sit somewhere outside the station, ha!
- Find an inconspicuous seat or shelf inside the station, in the afternoon rush hour, where I could pretend that I was drinking … green tea maybe?
- Keep on moving and drink fast, as if I had every right to.
- Find a crowd and hide out in it.
I chose the last option.
Luckily there were a bunch of folks standing around waiting for the Long Island trains on the mezzanine level just below the Moynihan atrium, and there was a musician there performing for said bunch, he was pretty good too.
As was the beer, despite the sub-optimum drinking vessel.
Pale gold, full bodied with a thin wispy scuzzy head (southern style head for a southern style beer) and a solid bitterness; a proper pale bitter.
I wanted to go back for another, but the whole Artful Dodger thing was doing nothing for my anxiety.
So I snuck back out to the hot stinking streets and went home to rest and recover.
That was Thursday.
By Saturday, I was back in Penn Station again.
Just passing through this time, heading to South Orange NJ and the Gaslight Brewery, just over thirty minutes on the Morris and Essex (MRE) line.
I have assigned myself an occasional project to check out those outlets in nearby NJ, that were listed on Alex Hall’s cask beer map (now only available on the way-back machine); not all of them, but those that are still in business, may still be serving cask, and can be reached via public transportation in under two hours.
A few weeks back I was looking for Triumph in Princeton and came across the one in Red Bank with some success, a fine ESB; I still have to check out the Princeton location.
The 2014 listing for the Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant, to give it its full name, showed a weekly Thursday evening tapping, and a quick browse through Untappd showed the presence of cask ales over the last couple of months.
So worth a try, particularly as it is not that far away.
If they kept up the Thursday tapping routine, there was a chance that there would still be some available at opening time (1pm) on a Saturday.
No such luck.
The beer engine is there and still in regular use.
There was a cask (pin) tapped on Thursday, but the locals drank it all by closing time on Friday.
Instead of being miffed, I was very happy that not only is there an ongoing supply of cask, but there is also an ongoing demand for it as well.
I will adjust my timing and return.
It is a fascinating place, one that you expect to find if you take the way-back machine yourself.
German(ish) décor and food, British bar accessories and memorabilia all around the bar area, two dartboards, and apparently a heroic Oktoberfest and equally heroic Burns Night celebration complete with pipers; the bartender showed me the movie.
They had seven of their own unique brews on draft, including two ciders, plus a couple of old craft favorites as guest beers.
I tried and enjoyed five of their offerings, while watching the third round of the British Open on the big box at the end of the bar; I haven’t done that in ages.
So, despite missing the weekly cask, I still had a great day out and will be ready to try again very soon.
Could I have called ahead?
Yeah, but what fun is that?
I was all set to do the Penn Station thing again on the following day, that would be this past Sunday.
Last week was NJ Craft Beer Week and I was aware of a special cask that was going to be poured at Little Dog Brewing of Neptune NJ; two hours out on the North Jersey Coast Line (just inside my self-imposed limit) and another verified cask outlet.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the weather turned hot and nasty again, plus we had some last-minute grandparent duties which we were happy to perform, so I bailed.
And settled for another day of rest and recovery.
** Say “Oil ‘ave a pint of auspice” with a Norfolk farmer’s accent and think of the golden frothy appearance of the liquid.
Scorecard w/e 7/22/25
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
- September 6th: 10th Annual Noah Webster Real Ale Harvest Festival at the Noah Webster House, West Hartford CT
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
Nope – nothing this week.
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 or NJ Transit Train in Under two Hours
Metro-North Hudson Line
- Draught Industries, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Coopers, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Happy Valley Arcade Bar, 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, Marlowe beer range).
- Nod Hill Brewing, Ridgefield CT (two handpumps, Nod Hill beer range).
NJ Transit NJCL Line
- Triumph Restaurant and Brewery, Red Bank NJ (one handpump, Triumph beer range).
