There are several things that you may notice about this week’s scorecard below:
- It is pretty sparse with only one cask recorded last week.
- Fifth Hammer have cask available at their taproom again after a long three week hiatus.
- That Fifth Hammer cask is a brand new “neverbeer”.
- And it is dry-hopped with Vic Secret in the cask.
For a while there, it was looking like I would have no casks to report, because much of last week was given over to dog walking (a second career it would seem) and dog sitting, and nursing a sick cat (don’t worry, Mister Bagel is back to his usual cantankerous self again), and helping my darling wife get ready for her latest trip to sunny Florida; a trip that was delayed due to our brief but pretty, and disruptive snowfall this past weekend.
But after bragging about getting out in the cold on my last post, I wasn’t going to let a little precipitation come between me and a beer; it didn’t stop the neighborhood kids from finding the sledding slopes.
Besides, it wasn’t just any beer, but the latest cask offering from Fifth Hammer, a dangerously delicious 5.6% English Pub/Pale Ale, which turned out to be juiced-up with Vic Secret hops in the cask.
It is that juicing-up that I intend to briefly (still on critter watch) prattle on about this week.
For Fifth Hammer, it is continuing a trend that they started two generations of “neverbeer” ago with Hollace Neverholly and continued with Bartholemew Neverbart.
It is a trend that I wholeheartedly approve of.
Over the course of several months, I got to try (checks his records) seven different variations of Neverholly and another three of Neverbart, with only one of those ten pints being the base beer, both of which I believe were hopped with Citra.
And I just stumbled over them; I wasn’t getting the ferry out to Long Island City religiously to see what was on every week.
But I was asking when I got there, after noticing a pattern in the pours.
From NYS Cascade to Zappa, each individual cask showcased the added hop nicely, and it worked because the base beer was solid, with a balanced maltiness and bitter hoppiness.
And while the base holds the whole thing together, the guest hop hits all of the high notes.
Bluejacket in DC used to give their bitters, pale ales, and milds the same treatment in their taproom at the Navy Yard and when making guest appearances at Churchkey, they may still do for all I know.
I have enjoyed their Yardbird bitter with both EKG and Progress hops, their Essex ESB with seven different hop varieties, and their Coaltown dark mild with another seven hop combinations, plus a couple of seasonal variants that we will not go into here.
They have even gone the other way, and juiced-down their Lost Weekend hazy IPA on many occasions (I count fifteen that I have tried), using English or German noble hops to give some nuance, some earthiness or grassiness, to the fruity (but yet again, balanced) base brew.
We are not talking seasonal spices here, not that there is anything wrong with that.
We are definitely not talking adjuncts here, not that there is much wrong with that either … well, at least not in my humble opinion.
We are talking hops, just hops, just delicious hops.
Even the Reinheitsgebot would have no issue with it.
So, how was that beer at Fifth Hammer?
It was fruity, tropically fruity, some may say pineapple, others mango.
Me, I have no idea, my tastebuds are not so discerning, but it was fruity … up front.
And then the underlying sweet bitterness started to come through, and it finished just like a proper pint of ESB.
I can’t wait to see what the next variation will bring.
So, if you do happen to get out to the Fifth Hammer taproom or come across Neverwilly in the wild, do what I would do and ask about the dry-hop treatment, you may be pleasantly intrigued.
Scorecard w/e 12/16/25
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Fifth Hammer Billy Neverwilly: Vic Secret @ Fifth Hammer Brewing
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
- 1/9/26: RIF-RAF Rhode Island’s Finest Real Ale Festival (session 1) @ The Guild Pawtucket RI
- 1/10/26: RIF-RAF Rhode Island’s Finest Real Ale Festival (session 2) @ The Guild Pawtucket RI
- Save the dates! The 2026 edition of NERAX will be from March 25th to 28th next year. Tickets will be available in early 2006.
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- 12/18/25: Strong Rope will be tapping a dry-hopped cask of Pub Ale at City Swiggers at 5:30pm.
- 12/21/25: Strong Rope will be tapping a holiday-spiced cask of Pub Ale at Whisk and Whiskey between 3-7pm for their holiday party.
- 12/31/25: City Swiggers will be featuring a cask of Sierra Nevada Celebration at their New Year’s Eve Party this year.
- 12/17/25: As Is also has a cask of Sierra Nevada Celebration, but will be tapping theirs much earlier, at 6pm this Wednesday.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Drop-off Service
- Rough Draft
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).
- Little Dog Brewing, Bradley Beach NJ (one handpump, Little Dog beer range).
