Date

CASK ALE WHISPERER

Blog by Nigel Walsh

Share:

How to Measure Chaos

I just invented a new metric.

I call it Miles Per Gallon, or mpg for short.

Having failed miserably (that may be a little harsh) in attempting to implement my doctor’s recommendation to lower my beer intake this past week, I figured that I would at least start tracking it; not independently, but by playing it off against another one of my favorite pastimes, which would be walking.

I picked a tough week to start, as it was way too hot and humid outside to do much in the way of perambulating and just hot enough to require a few cooling pints.

It didn’t help that both Fifth Hammer and Wild East had some new and interesting concoctions on cask last week.

And I was good until Saturday, when the weather briefly turned magical and demanded that I finally drag myself out of the house for some pleasurable activities; that is not to say that the dog sitting and grandson sitting that kept me busy were not enjoyable, but a walk and a beer would be much more fun than the follow-up doctor visits that also took up way too much of my time last week.

So anyway.

I came up with a plan on Saturday morning, a plan to see what was happening over in Queens at Fifth Hammer, in Brooklyn at Wild East, and possibly in Manhattan at Drop Off Service where there was rumored (cheers Johny!) to be a cask from Forest & Main on their beer engine.

It wasn’t much of a plan; I couldn’t even make up my mind where I was going to start.

It was either going to be Queens or Manhattan first, and it was going to take advantage of the G train to link the Brooklyn and Queens legs.

Oh, and I was going to get in a walk somewhere along the line.

It ended up being a hurried last-second call to go to Fifth Hammer first, basically because there was a convenient East River ferry due at 90th Street and I could easily catch it and worry about the rest of the crawl later.

It would get me to Long Island City about 20 minutes before the brewery opened, but that would give me a chance to satisfy some of the walking component of the excursion.

So I got a very brisk half mile walk to the 90th Street ferry terminal and a fifteen minute stroll around Gantry Plaza on the other side of the river, before parking myself on my usual barstool at Fifth Hammer, and ordering a pint of their latest “NeverBeer”; this time a 4.3% English Pale Ale named Bartholomew NeverBart.

Medium hazy gold with a thick creamy white head when poured through the sparkler, leaving some great “legs” in the glass.

It has an assertive bitterness; I would bet good money that there was Citra somewhere in the boil.

I had two pints which really hit the spot, and eventually started thinking about the “plan” again.

Hmm, why is Google Maps sending me back through Manhattan to get to Brooklyn? What’s up with the G train?

I thought that they had finished all of the upgrades to the G line, it was looking pretty spruce the last couple of times that I had resorted to using it to get me home from Greenpoint, but apparently they decided to do more work, and the G train currently does not reach into Queens, not on a weekend anyway.

So I spent way too much time running various scenarios through the mapping app before I realized that the best plan was to just get back on a southbound ferry and get off at Brooklyn Navy Yard; if I had realized earlier, I would have been able to reuse my currently active ticket.

Oh well.

There was an appropriate ferry arriving shortly, so I got another brisk walk in on the Queens side before a more casual stroll from the Navy Yard to Gowanus at the Brooklyn end.

Wild East was busy with a baby party, or was it a doggie party, or maybe even a baby and doggie party?

Whatever.

I had checked before coming, and a quick glance at the beer board confirmed that they did indeed have one of their West Coast IPAs on the handpump, the 7% Electric Mayhem.

Again, a medium gold with a serious creamy white head.

Big piney fruity nose and mouth puckering piney bitter bite, a proper throwback to the heady (or should I say pre-Heady?) days.

Sensibly served in a 14oz portion, I again had two.

By which time, I had abandoned any thoughts of grabbing another pint in Manhattan and had settled on the idea of going back home by subway, especially as the 4 train appeared to be running through the Atlantic Avenue stop for the first time in ages.

I was doing pretty well compared to my usual weekly intake, just 68oz instead of my more customary 80-90oz, but then I noticed the Canal Beer on draft and grabbed a 10oz pour before hitting the road again; you just have to get some while it is available.

But at least I managed to get five and a half walking miles under my belt for the day.

I started working on my beer/walk tracker as soon as I got home.

So for the past week, I had walked a little over 24 miles which was below average for me (stupid heat advisories) and consumed 78oz of beer or 0.61 American gallons.

Giving me 39.53 mpg by my reckoning.

I will be aiming for 50 mpg in future.

I expect my doctors would prefer something closer to 70 mpg.

Your mileage may vary.

Scorecard w/e 8/5/25

In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:

  • Fifth Hammer Bartholemew NeverBart @ Fifth Hammer Brewing
  • Wild East Electric Mayhem @ Wild East Brewing

Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)

Upcoming Random NYC Casks

  • August 8th: Eckhart Beer are tapping a gravity keg of their Helles Lager at 5pm @As Is 734 10th Avenue, Manhattan.

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).
ASK NIGEL

Leave a Reply

Sign Up For News