The Nog Inn Celebrates Cask Ale Week
Cask Ale Week runs 28th September - 7th October 2012 and to celebrate we will be offering a fantastic selection of ales throughout the week. Cask Ale Week is an event organised by Cask Marque and it is designed to be a celebration of great British beer, helping to support Britain's farmers, maltsters, brewers, pubs and local economies.
We are well known for our ales and have made it in to The Good Beer Guide for three years running now. We have also won the CAMRA Heart of Wessex Pub of the Year Award 2011 and 2012, and in 2011 we also went on to win the Wessex region Pub of the Year, to become one of the best 16 pubs in the UK as judged by CAMRA.
If you haven't yet sampled real ale, this is a great opportunity to get involved. Over Cask Ale Week we will have ales of differing styles, strengths and origins.
Unfortunately Will has not organised these yet, but details will appeal on our website www.thenoginn.co.uk very shortly. However, one treat is a one-off brew from Sharp's Brewery, Honeyed I PA with an ABV of around 6.5%.
We are able to talk you through the different ales available, and Will can advise you on making your choice, as well as offering you a try before you buy!
Whilst we try and buy locally, there are now so many different microbreweries out there that sometimes we search for something a little different slightly further afield for our customers. Real ales are still an area of growth within the pub industry, and according to figures from the Campaign for Real Ale there are 840 brewers in Britain, 99 of which opened in the last 12 months and the majority were microbrewers. The Society of Independent Brewers has more than 500 members.
If you're not familiar with Cask Ale and want to learn more, read on. If you don't care and just like a beautifully crafted natural drink, then skip this bit and get down to The Nog now!
Cask ale is also known as real or cask beer. It is a fresh and natural product which is made from water, malted barley, hops and yeast. When the landlord receives the ale it is an unfinished product and he needs to condition it in his cellar, following its first fermentation at the brewery. A good pint of ale should be totally clear (you may hear some landlords referring to their ales "not dropping" which means the sediment has not fallen to the belly of the barrel) and served at a cool 11-13 degrees centigrade.
Once a cask ale has been tapped and conditioned it is ready for use. As these products are "live" they have a relatively short shelf life of approximately 3-5 days.
Other types of beers (e.g. craft beers, lagers and stouts) are brewed at the brewery and only undergo the fermentation process one, are then filtered to remove the live yeast and are then pasteurised. These beers usually have gas added to them in the cellar to make them fizzy or give them a "smooth" taste. As these products are pasteurised, they have a significantly longer shelf life.
If you are interested in learning more about cask ale then CAMRA is a good place to start and their website can be found at www.camra.org.uk or alternatively pop in and have a chat with us, and whilst you're there, try a pint yourself!
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