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CASK ALE WHISPERER

Blog by Nigel Walsh

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How Far Would You Walk …

… to check if there is still some beer in an Oktoberfest cask on the day after the event itself?

Well, I thought there may be a chance.

Besides, I was going to be in the neighborhood.

Sort of.

So technically, this was the week before last, and I was too lazy to write it up last week, but not too lazy to attempt the expedition (did somebody say crawl?) in the first place.

I set off the day after the JWF cask festival with two aims: sampling the Schilling Lehrerin, a Dortmunder-style lager brewed in collaboration with the Beery Godmother, and then making my way out from Greenpoint to Bushwick to check out Eckhart’s sparkling new taproom.

Naturally, I chose to take the ferry to LIC before hiking over the Pulaski Bridge to Greenpoint and Tørst, hoping that the walk would clear out some of the cobwebs.

It didn’t.

The stichfaß wasn’t set up when I strolled in, so I started my day with a yuzu sake from Kato Sake Works, hoping that it would clear out some of the cobwebs.

It didn’t.

Neither did a Berliner Weiss from The Referend.

The Dortmunder did the job once it was tapped and sampled; floral with spicy hop notes and very gently carbonated.

So, a couple more beers than I planned, but I was finally in a good enough state to continue walking eastward through East Williamsburg to Bushwick.

And then I remembered the Oktoberfest event at Grimm that I missed because I was at JWF.

I would be walking right by the Grimm front door, no harm in checking if there was any of their Festooning left in the cask.

Yes!

Yes there was, and it was in good nick.

But I was good, I only had the one and set off again.

I have walked the Brooklyn/Queens borderlands along Morgan Avenue many times when heading out to KCBC or the sadly-departed taproom of Brooklyn Cider House, so I knew where to find the Eckhart brewery; it was going to be on the nearer industrial side of Flushing Avenue.

From the outside it is just another (relatively) low-lying, inconspicuous boxy building, but once you swing through the front door, you enter into a space that is clean and classy, and very European in style.

No casks on, but that wasn’t why I was there this time, and they will be an ongoing feature of the taproom going forward, especially during the traditional Oktoberfest weekends.

I had a Radler, an IPA (the only place that you are going to see one from Eckhart), and a Czech dark lager, and spent some time chatting with owner Nick and brewer Adam.

Very nice folks, and a very impressive place they have there.

Get yourselves out there folks!

And then all too soon, it was time to cross the shabby/cool divide and head for the Jefferson Street subway to home.

And I almost made it too, but the lure of KCBC and their neighbors Kato was just too great, so I extended my crawl by another couple of blocks, a KCBC anniversary sour, and a couple of sakes to complete the drinking cycle for the day.

How far did I end up walking?

Six and three quarter miles.

I have a feeling there is going to be a pattern to this.

… for a licorice Italian ice?

Well, it was on the way to the Queens Zoo.

And a return visit to the Corona Ice King was long overdue.

A Queens institution since the 1940s.

My wife first introduced me to the place when we were still dating back in the eighties, and we would drop by to pick up a quart on occasion when the kids were smaller and younger.

But the only recent visit had been maybe fifteen years ago when we passed by on the way to my doctor’s office to get a blood test.

Oops, the sugar levels were not pretty that time.

But one of the first things that I did when I retired this year was to get his and hers NYC ID cards and then take advantage of the deals with the local city institutions; no, not the Lemon Ice King, but some of the museums and all of the zoos (except for Staten Island).

And of course the ongoing plan was to get to said institutions by public transportation and/or walking, as is my custom.

I did both on this expedition; taking the subway to Woodside and then strolling along Roosevelt Avenue (aka the World) to 102nd Street before making a right into Corona proper and a left on Corona Avenue.

Roosevelt Ave. is one of the things that makes NYC the greatest city in the world.

All central and southern American countries have culinary and social outposts here, as do all central and southern Asian countries, and there are still scattered Irish pubs along its length, especially at the starting point in Woodside, my old neighborhood.

It was a hot day, and I could have picked up all manner of juices and ices on my walk from the roadside stands, but I was holding out for the licorice ice at the Ice King.

Fortunately, they were the only ICEs that I saw on my stroll that day; we can do without the other kind.

The licorice ice was just as I remembered it, and I was happy to see that they still have almond and rum raisin flavors, as well as dozens of other variants, both familiar and unique.

I did make it to the Queens Zoo (right around the corner) and was glad I did; this is another place that we took the kids when we were all younger, and must be my favorite of the “little” zoos in the city.

All of the animals came out to greet me except the coyote, but even then I heard him shuffling around in the bushes.

I ended up making two entire loops around the zoo, dictated by my bladder, because the bathrooms are on the opposite side of the looping pathway from the entrance, and then spent some time hanging out in the attached farm with the goats and the alpacas, where I found another bathroom; oh well, it was worth the second loop anyway.

I took the shortcut back to the subway at 108th Street to get the 7 Train back home again.

Six and a half miles chalked up in total.

… to grab a quick Burton Ale?

Well, it wasn’t too far from my doctor’s office.

And I had some research to carry out.

I had already walked to the mid-fifties for my annual dermatology check-up, making sure that all of the new brown patches and knobbly bits were harmless.

They were.

All good.

And it was less than a mile to midtown and the Shakespeare, so why not go and see what was on?

I had been hearing rumors of Wayward Lane and Ramstein popping up, or about to pop up on the beer engines, and I hadn’t been by there in a few weeks.

I have to do my rounds you know.

No exotic out-of-towners on when I got there, but there was an exotic and delicious local brew, the Burton IPA from Strong Rope, so that made it all better.

I didn’t get a chance to ask the bar staff about upcoming casks because they were getting ready for an impending party/takeover, so it was a one and done for me on this occasion.

It looks like I may have to go back again soon.

I got another seven miles walking in.

… for bangers and mash?

Well, I did get the all-clear from my doctor to go off of the Mediterranean diet on occasion.

I don’t think that he meant that I should indulge immediately after my check-up.

But it had been a long time; I had basically stopped eating all of the good stuff since my little health hiccup in June.

And there was also apple and cranberry crumble as a seasonal special on the menu.

And some Wild East Moderance to finish off from the JWF cask fest.

Doc was also okay with my average beer consumption for a week, so it was a no-brainer that I was going to follow up my two-hour wait and one-hour examination with a couple of pleasant hours spent in good company at Jones Wood Foundry.

So that is what I did.

The Moderance was still tasting perfectly perfect four days after the event, and I did my bit to finish off the cask.

Only three and a half miles on the day.

But my doctor would be happy with that.

… to watch yet another gravity keg being tapped?

Well, it was Schilling, come on!

And it was close enough to Wild East to see if I could catch some of their Standard Deviation coffee variant on the beer engine.

The Schilling Konstantin wooden keg was to be the ceremonial tapping for the traditionally timed Oktoberfest at the Owl Farm bar in far south Park Slope.

But after a serious hike in from Brooklyn Navy Yard, I opened the place and the stichfaß wasn’t quite ready for me again.

So once again, I had to improvise.

A stange of Reissdorf Kolsch and a bottle of Schneeeule Berliner Weiss kept me occupied until the marzen cask was tapped and poured.

Deep amber, foamy, bready and just plain awesome.

I got the ceremonial first pour and a full mug to wash it down as well.

I have said it before and will keep on saying it, Schilling make great lagers.

Especially if you can track down a cask pour.

I did make sure that I took 4th Avenue back to the subway, and of course I did stop in Wild East on the way.

The Standard Deviation stout was still on the handpump, but only just; they were getting prepared to switch over to Moderance later in the evening, so I got there just in time.

 It was brilliant!

As was the almost seven mile walk.

… for a pickle lager?

Well, I missed their annual specialty cask event, didn’t I?

I also wanted to scope out a way to get to Ewing NJ via public transportation, because nobody wants to drive there and have to deal with the bridge or tunnels on the way back home.

I am talking about River Horse/DuClaw Brewing way down Trenton NJ way.

They hold a “specialty” cask event early in the year, and it always clashes with one of the local NYC or CT events, so I always miss it.

But I got wind of there being a couple of “specialty” casks being tapped as part of their Oktoberfest celebrations, and with my designated driver being out of town, sunning herself in Florida, I saw an opportunity to scope out the NJ Transit options.

And those options turn out to be pretty bleak.

Sure, there is a NJ Regional train that runs hourly in both directions between NY Penn and Trenton on a weekend.

And there are three or four NJ Transit buses running from right outside the station and heading to or past Ewing.

But those buses run only every two or three hours on a Saturday and not at all on a Sunday, and do not appear to keep a reliable schedule; my outgoing bus was over thirty minutes late arriving and got to me just as I was considering downloading the Uber app (shudder), but at least he didn’t charge me, I think he was in a hurry to catch up.

So getting a train and a bus and a brewery opening to match up, leaves a lot to be desired.

But I made it work, albeit with a late arrival at River Horse and an early departure; I had cat feeding to get home to.

So I missed much of the Oktoberfestivities but did manage to get a pour of each of the casks.

The pickle lager was exactly as advertised and very refreshing, if a little sweet and pickly.

The chocolate cherry Dunkel had a big, sweet chocolate cherry nose, but immediately settled down into a solid Dunkel, with no lingering taste of the adjuncts.

And with the mile or so walk from bus to brewery and back, and an initial hike from the UES to Penn Station, I ended up walking over eight miles for the day.

And I would walk five hundred seven or eight more.

Da-da dum diddy dum diddy dum diddy da da da!

Scorecard w/e 9/23/25

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

  • Old Glenham OGB Session Ale @ Jones Wood Foundry
  • Strong Rope Renewal Cream Ale @ Jones Wood Foundry
  • Wild East Moderance w/Applewood @ Jones Wood Foundry
  • Schilling Beer Konstantin Marzen @ The Owl Farm
  • Strong Rope Burton Ale @ The Shakespeare
  • Wild East Standard Deviation w/Coffee @ Wild East Brewing
  • River Horse/DuClaw Pickle Lager @ River Horse/DuClaw Brewing, Ewing NJ
  • River Horse/DuClaw Chocolate Cherry Dunkel @ River Horse/DuClaw Brewing, Ewing NJ

Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)

  • November 8th: Blue Point 21st Cask Fest at Blue Point Brewing, Patchogue NY
  • Save the dates! The 2026 edition of NERAX will be from March 25th to 28th next year.

Upcoming Oktoberfest Events (With Confirmed/Potential Cask Sightings)

  • September 27th: Faßfest (multiple stichfaß tappings) @ Kills Boro Brewing, Staten Island NY
  • September 28th: Blocktoberfest 2025 (there have been casks in the recent past) @ Strong Rope Brewing, Red Hook, Brooklyn NY
  • September 20th through October 5th: Eckhart Beer Oktoberfest featuring both marzen and festbier styles dispensed from stichfaß on the weekends; festbier on Saturdays and marzen on Sundays.

Upcoming Random NYC Casks

Festbier casks popping up all over town:

NYC Cask Venues

Known Operational/Active Beer Engines

  • Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
  • Fifth Hammer
  • Wild East
  • The Shakespeare (x3)
  • Cask Bar & Kitchen Last day will be next Sunday. Now we are down to just three locations in Manhattan
  • 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

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