DuClaw hosted it’s 5th annual Real Ale Festival at the first DuClaw Brewing Company in Bel Air Maryland earlier this month. 21 craft breweries featured two cask-conditioned specialty ales each. The Real Ale Festival house band, Acoustically Sound jammed on the outside stage while event goers enjoyed unlimited beer samples and a food buffet that featured 3 huge roasted pigs and plenty of meats and cheeses.
Those of you familiar with DuClaw may already know their staple beers such as the Black Lightening (American Black Ale) and the Hellrazer IPA as well as their seasonals – look out for the Devil’s Milk Barleywine (brewed in July and aged until November) or the Retribution (Single Barrel Bourbon Aged Imperial Stout). DuClaw has three locations throughout Maryland – but if you live in D.C. or Virginia and can’t make the drive, don’t fret – DuClaw is distributed in Virginia, D.C., Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
As with most beer festivals, each attendee was presented with a 4oz tasting cup, and let loose in search of their favourite beer styles and breweries. What made this festival in particular stand out from other beer fests was that (as the name implies) each beer was cask-conditioned and served unfiltered at cellar temperature.
Real Ale is brewed using pure and traditional ingredients and left to mature in a cask. It is considered a living product due to the fact that – unlike keg beer – the yeast (which is a large component of taste and aroma) is not killed off through pasteurisation and there are no additives like carbon dioxide and nitrogen (that gives keg beer a uniquely sharp and fizzy carbonation.) If you’ve never had Real Ale before, this would be the festival to go to next year, as you can taste organic and all natural rare and living beer from your favourite craft breweries!
This festival hosted quite a few Maryland-based breweries some new and some well known.
The Brewer’s Art (Baltimore, Maryland) offered a firkin of its famous abbey brown ale “Resurrection” which was absolutely perfect as cask ale. It is already known for being “easily drinkable” which ordinarily I would raise an eyebrow at considering that beers in that style are Dubbels and tend to have a sticky and roasted sweet alcohol character. Not to mention the ABV is around 7-9%… Yet the Resurrection really honestly was easily drinkable even with a higher serving temperature and lower, natural carbonation. The cask-conditioned state of the Resurrection had a hazy amber color with a musty, dry nose, herbal spicy hops, sweet earthy malts and a creamy undertone. The temperature and lower carbonation really kept the focus on the complexity of the flavours and how they interacted rather than the mouth feel.
Union Craft Brewing (a month old brewery located in Baltimore, Maryland) featured its first two beers: the Duckpin Pale Ale and the Balt Altbier. The Balt Altbier was phenomenal on cask! This beer was a dark copper colour and had a strong aroma of bourbon and vanilla. Initially I thought “uh-oh!” (…being outside in the sun with 40 other beers to try) – however in some truly magical moment the taste that confronted my taste buds was not bourbon but rather, melon, kiwi seeds and pumpernickel. The bourbon smell seemed to have only existed in the waft! Amazing! After tasting, I was able to detect other notes of toffee, and berries in the aroma, and if you live in Baltimore you are one of the lucky few that have a chance to try this out yourself. The Duckpin Ale was featured alongside the Balt Altbier. The Duckpin Ale is a Pale Ale that is brewed with grapefruit zest. What I appreciated was the introduction to the potential flavour of hops without the bitterness that seems to turn people off. Hoppy beers seem to only be loved or hated, and the friend I was with was not a fan of hoppy beers at all. This beer however, he really enjoyed! I think it’s a great introduction to IPAs, and a unique twist on Pale Ales. Both selections are a great example of drinkable craft brew and are actually designed for cans rather than bottles in order to be more accessible.
Stillwater Artisanal Ales – oh how I love thee! Stillwater is a gypsy brewer based in Maryland. The most popular brews I’ve seen around the D.C. area have been their Saisons (The Debutante, Cellar Door, and – my favorite the Stateside) but they also make a black saison (spiced with rose hips and hibiscus) called A Saison Darkly, as well as an awesome Belgian Strong Ale Black IPA! Stillwater’s cask-conditioned versions of their beer are not to be missed on the next event, and if you see it somewhere else don’t hesitate to give it a shot! They are currently featured on draught at Of Love and Regret in Baltimore. While visiting their booth at this festival I learned a tantalizing project was in the works – look out for collaboration between Stillwater, Stone, and Evil Twin.
Tröegs Brewing Company based out of Hershey, Pennsylvania really impressed me as well at this event. Normally if a pub around the DMV area has Tröegs it seems to always be the Troegenator – and don’t get me wrong, it is an excellent representation of a Double Bock – maybe that’s why we don’t see too many of their other offerings. So I was happy to try the Great American Beer Festival award winning seasonal: Dead Reckoning Porter. It had a juicy cocoa character and a balancing dry bitterness from the Vanguard and Chinook hops. It is more hop forward than classic porters, but it pairs beautifully with its tart fruit undertones (from the hops) as a dessert beer with rich and fudgy chocolate. I would also love to see the Perpetual IPA more often, it’s a straw coloured quintessential IPA with 7 different kinds of hops (dry hopped with Citra and Cascade) It’s mild and mellow yet subtly complex – a lovely combination! Both beers shined as Real Ales.
New Belgium Brewing from Fort Collins, Colorado was there too, and not only were they set up with lots of stickers and pins (yay!), but they also happened to have one of the most special and rare offerings (for New Belgium fans!) at this event – the single barrel version of La Folie Sour Brown Ale. Aged in French Oak barrels, La Folie is a gorgeous dry and earthy, mouth-puckering (and watering) refreshing sour beer. La Folie – in it’s final and commercial form is a blend of 1 year, 2 year, and 3 year aged barrels. It is blended in order to create balance while still achieving the range of taste that comes with time. The featured firkin was from the first year. With its classic Ranger IPA (even better on cask!) to back it all up, New Belgium did not at all disappoint and was one of my favourites at this event.
Stone Brewing Company from San Diego, California was also pouring some brilliant beer at the Real Ale Festival. They sampled their 16th Anniversary IPA – a Double IPA with a nice dose of rye malt giving it a spicy backbone, mixed in with some lemon verbena and multiple hop varieties including Amarillo and Calypso. A thick, complex and aromatic beer, the 16th Anniversary IPA is expectedly delicious. Their other featured beer was this exotic concoction: The Chipotle Smoked Porter – I couldn’t get enough, the chipotle pepper really did creep up and kick the back of my throat – exciting enough to make me want more! This beer is available in bottle form as well but the peppery kick is not nearly as present with the typical bottle temperature. In fact, this beer excels as a cask-conditioned Real Ale. It is a deep dark brown with a light tan head. Smokey malts with dark roasted grains, chocolate and toasty coffee notes upfront – and of course, the earthy fresh zap of chipotle pepper to shock and restart your taste buds! It would pair swimmingly with dry bread, smoked meats and cheeses – breakfast of champions.
The DuClaw Real Ale festival is definitely a craft beer lover’s festival. Many of us have gone out of our way to try new and different beer styles. Many of us have tried almost all of what is locally available, but the cask-conditioned ales are harder to come by, and harder to tame. The real craft of each brewery is tested by its ability to present an unmasked version of their beer without added carbonation and low temperatures – just pure and simple unfiltered brew. Some of the beers featured from these breweries work best as Real Ales and are not to be missed! The next DuClaw Annual Real Ale Festival [https://www.realalefest.com ] is (you guessed it!) next year, but in the mean-time, keep your eye out for cask beer and you might get lucky enough to try some of these at your local pub!
-MLC
Editor’s Note: MLC’s bio is now available on our About page.
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And from JAY’s friend, Ami:
