Tasting Notes
Cask conditioned beer (real ale) is different to mass produced beer because it is a living product that continues to ferment and increase in flavour in the cellar, until the moment it is poured into a glass. The cask contains live yeast which continues to turn the beer’s remaining sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide helping the beer mature right up until it is drawn through unpressurised lines, typically via a hand pump, and served to a customer at a temperature of about 12 degrees.
Real ale comes in bottles too. Again it continues to ferment, mature and condition within the bottle which contains a visible amount of yeast to ensure this fermentation takes place.
The main myth about cask ale is that it is all strong. It isn’t. Real ale comes in many forms and a range of strengths from milds (typically less than 4% alcohol by volume) and bitters (ranging from 3.5 to 5% abv) up to the more special brews (which can reach 11% abv).
The care required creating, storing and serving cask beers, together with the rich, ripe and tempting aromas and flavours they contain, often lead to claims that real ale is the champagne of beers and that getting production right it is the pinnacle of the brewers' art.
Today, over 2,000 real ales are being brewed with Stockport’s 3 Rivers Brewery one of the country’s leading exponents of the process.
Tasting notes for some of our featured beers can be viewed or downloaded from the following documents:
