Cask Ales in the USA.

I will perhaps repeat myself here and there, but I just read an article in the Spring 2026 edition of CAMRA's BEER magazine about how 'cool' cask ale is becoming in the USA. I'll write a wee bit about my experiences with ale from the USA, I have written around beers and bars in the USA a few times before, for example regarding the beer writer Michael Jackson (blog), and a friend's bar in Florida, the Brown Dog (blog). The article is called USALE and written by Ruvani de Silva.*

The image above is from Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago (website), which I visited towards the end of the last millennium whilst in Chicago delivering a paper to an academic conference; I had some time off thankfully. 😁 Anyway, I visited this brewpub in what seemed like a middle of nowhere industrial estate. I had had some advice from someone I knew who used to live close by before she moved to England, and her boyfriend, who really was the person I knew, and he had been to Chicago too. Since I visited, Goose Island has grown and been taken over by Anheuser-Busch since 2011: more in the Michael Jackson blog.

At Goose Island I had the choice of quite a number of different British style ales, Stout and Porter, traditional and Extra Strong Bitters, and an IPA/APA or two too, and served from traditional handpull beer engines. So good to see their cask ale variations, and not just at pubs and bars, but at cask ale festivals too. The image above is from the New England Real Ale Exhibition (NERAX), which is in its 25th year, indeed, it was just recently held, 25-28 March 2026 (website). It is also great to see that ales are served in British sized pints at the festival, in 20 fluid ounce glasses, and with other variations, half pints and less. 😕

Ruvani discusses bars and breweries from the East, bars like Jones Wood Foundry, 401 East 76th Street, New York, NY 10021, above (website), to the West, brewpubs like Steeplejack Brewing Company, 2400 NE Broadway, Portland, OR 97232 (website), and down South, Acopon Brewing Company, 211 West Mercer Street, Dripping Springs, TX 78620, image below (website). Jones Wood was established 15 years ago by Englishman Jason Hicks, who has lived in the USA for 30 years, and is an authentic British style bar. His cellar manager Ryan Leonard goes along with the 'cool' assessment of cask ale, stating that the number of women and younger drinkers has definitely increased over the last five to ten years.*

Anna Buxton, Head Brewer at Steeplejack Brewing, agrees that Millennials and Gen Z drinkers are turning to cask ales from stronger 'craft' beers, saying that "historically, a Portland cask ale customer was a middle aged cask enthusiast, drastically different from the new customer I'm seeing, who more consistently is late 20s and early 30s." *

This image of Acopon Brewing Company's brewpub is with thanks to the Destination Dripping Springs website, showing a rather more laid back Texas establishment. 😁 Dave Niemeyer and John McIntosh, the founders, chose to brew British style ales as they are easier for new beer drinkers, but appeal to craft beer drinkers too. John says that "people are very appreciative of the more nuanced flavours, are less bloated than when drinking carbonated beers" and like that more session strength ale "allows them to enjoy a few, not just one or two high-strength IPAs." *   

So a growth in cask-conditioned ales is happening over the other side of the North Atlantic, good to have such excellent news from the "cool" cask ale drinkers of the USA, cheers folks! 🍺

Letter from America - Guest Blog and the Brown Dog

Guest Blog by Stacey: 

If, like me, the first things that come to mind are Alistair Cooke's radio programme that my brother used to regularly listen to (BBC), or a certain Scottish band's song (YouTube), but no, I really have received a missive (electronic) from America, many thanks to Stacey! 

The missive was about The Brown Dog, 215 St Joe Plaza Drive, Palm Coast, Florida, US, FL 32164 (website), which has been running for a little over 7 years, and was very recently bought by 2 friends; they also have a facebook page. Opening times are 4.00pm to 9.30pm Tuesdays to Thursdays, 4.00pm to 10.30pm Fridays and Saturdays, and closed on Sundays and Mondays.  I will comment about beers and hops later, but the blog is Stacey's, cheers. 👌

The Brown Dog is a clean and bright bar (ed: see above), with a friendly atmosphere, keeping a casual vibe, and the new owners, having worked here for years, have retained their many amazing regulars. Food-wise they are renowned for their creative burgers and their wings; the kitchen closes 1 hour before the bar closes. Just this week they have installed a new beer line, increasing the number of beer 'taps' from 16 to 17. They keep many Florida beers on tap, and typically run 3 IPAs, 3 stouts and/or porters, with a whole range of beer styles in between.

They are working with some new distributors to increase their selection of beers, with the bar's locals getting excited about the thought of new beers! They are also planning to expand the selection of beers available in bottles and cans, and are bringing back previously popular Tap Nights. On these nights they will be 'tapping' several beers from a brewery, whose reps will come and talk about their beers, often bringing with them 'give aways' and/or raffle items. Currently my favourite beer on tap is Oh-J Double IPA from Lone Pine Brewery, a 'New England' style.

Many thanks again Stacey! 👍

Ed: Well, I had to look up Stacey's recent 'favourite' IPA and can see why she likes it so much! It's brewed by Lone Pine Brewery (website), and the Oh-J Double IPA, at 8.1% and packed with hops, provides depth and big fruit flavours. The hops used are listed as Amarillo, which provide orange citrus flavour; Centennial, developed from 'inter-marrying' Brewer's Gold, Fuggles, East Kent Goldings and Bavarian hops; and Falconer's Flight. Now, I had never heard of Falconer's Flight before, but looked to good old hopslist for help, and many thanks to them, to find out that Falconer's Flight is a blend of Pacific Northwest hops, including the following seven Cs: Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Cluster, Columbus and Crystal, many of which I've recently written (eg blog), PLUS other experimental hop varieties... no wonder Oh-J Double IPA is packed with flavour, cheers Stacey! 

Oh, and to prove I have just a wee bit of knowledge about beers from the USA, I noticed The Brown Dog has recently had Goose Island IPA available, which is from a Chicago brewpub I visited many years ago, although it's moved on a bit since then... I have written about Goose Island a couple of times, including in this homage to the Beer Hunter (blog). However, I do need to find and drink many more of the more adventurous American brews, cheers!

Goose Island, Chicago, Shoreditch, and Sheffield!

I recently read, in CAMRA BEER Spring 2022, an article by Matthew Curtis about cask ale in the USA, and very interesting it is too but, sadly, only available to CAMRA members, presumably unless you buy a copy from them. Anyway, it took me back to 1998, when I visited Chicago to deliver a paper to a social science conference at the impressive Palmer House Hilton. On the Saturday I had sufficient free time to visit Goose Island for the afternoon. Goose Island is a brewpub, which is now owned by one of the biggie brewers, AB InBev, but it still brews in Chicago, and since 2018 has had a brewpub in what has become a very fashionable part of East London too (website).

Goose Island, Shoreditch Huigh Street E1

Anyway, back to Chicago, and before I had flown out I was provided with local information from a friend who was married to a lass from nearby in Illinois, and I was very happy with my visit to Goose Island (website). There were quite a number of excellent real ales brewed on the premises, and all types of English styles: IPA, Extra Special Bitter, Porter, Stout, Best Bitter, they had the lot, and very nice they were too! The only error I made there was to order 'chips' with my burger ("How would you like your burger?" was a surprise question too) and being given crisps, oh well, a learning experience. I also found out you could get their beers bottle-conditioned, indeed, I drank a few bottles of their Honkers back at the Palmer House that evening, also very nice. Although this was another learning experience, they DO like their beer ice cold out in the USA, the Honkers was dragged out of a sink full of icy water! 😄

Fat Cat & Kelham Island Brewery

Anyway, I do need to get to Shoreditch some time soon, although I expect prices will be very high, but it has to be done for old times sake. 😉 Oh yes, and Mr Curtis said he drank an ale in the USA brewed by Hogshead (website), which reminded him of Kelham Island Pale Rider, which was "one of the first in the UK to feature" Cascade hops. Now, when I was up at university in Sheffield, and worked part-time at Kelham Island Brewery (website) up to about 20 years ago, I remember brewing Pale Rider with Willamette hops... Did they use Cascade in the early days, or do they use them now? I do not know, but am visiting Sheffield soon, so shall make a point of asking.

Memories, cheers! 

American Beers and Michael Jackson.

A few years ago I wrote a blog about beers from the USA and included a homage to Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter, not the singer, and last year was 10 years since his death. I meant to write again last year but I wasn't so great with my ale blogging last year, so have decided to make up for it now by re-writing the original! My interest in beers brewed in the USA started in 1998, when I visited Chicago whilst I was delivering a paper to a social science conference out there, and I went to Goose Island for an afternoon. Goose Island was a brewpub, and is now owned by one of the biggie brewers, but it still brews in Chicago I believe.

Before I flew out I was provided with some local information from a friend who was married to a lass from nearby in Illinois, and I was very happy with the visit to Goose Island (website). There were quite a number of excellent real ales brewed on the premises, and all types of English styles: IPA, Extra Special Bitter, Porter, Stout, Best Bitter, they had the lot, and very nice they were too! The only error I made there was to order 'chips' with my burger ("How would you like your burger?" was a surprise question too) and being given crisps, oh well, a learning experience. I also found out you could get their beers bottle-conditioned, I drank one that was called Honkers back at the hotel where I was staying, although another learning experience for me, they DO like their beer cold out there, the Honkers was dragged out of a sink full of icy water! 

Secondly, a friend of mine, Anne, who's first wedding, at Wandsworth Town Hall I was a witness at many many years ago, now lives in Florida, and she sent Ken Wells' Travels with Barley to me as a present. It's an interesting read, and, although I haven't been able to grab hold of any of the 'extreme' beers mentioned therein, eg Dogfish World Wide Stout, weighing in at a hefty 23.6%, nor the same brewer's 120 Minute IPA, packed with hops, and a meagre 18%, I did manage to find the 4 following weaker beers, available at the local supermarket.

You'll notice that these are mostly IPA style, or APAs (American Pale Ales), which was not such a hardship for me, knowing my preferences! The first of which was the bottle-conditioned, and extremely well known, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (5.6%). I thought that this may not be that good, being as it's considered a bit 'run of the mill' for American beers apparently, but it was bottle-conditioned, so... Magnum and Perle hops are used in the brewing process, and it is finished with Cascade, so promising, and it definitely had the citrus fruit you would expect. I got grapefruit in the flavour, and have seen another reviewer say tangerine, whatever, it had a very nice flavour and quite bitter too, what a pleasantly surprising start! More at the brewers website, if you want to research further.

OK, I was getting into this now, I do love research, and I moved on to my second choice, Steven Point (website) being the brewer, and their IPA, which is actually brewed for the UK market, that's how popular some of these beers are becoming! This is also 5.6%, and uses Magnum and Perle hops too, and dry hopped with Cascade, so I'm guessing they're competing directly with the Sierra Nevada... Indeed, I had already made a note of cascade hops used before checking, so that hop's flavour definitely came through, a wee bit apple in the flavour, hint of sweetness, and a bitterness coming from the grapefruit flavour provided by the cascade hops. Not bad at all, I wrote "goodish" in my notes, though not as much to my liking as the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

My penultimate beer was another IPA, this time brewed by Shipyard Brewing Company (website) and 5.8%. The Shipyard version is a single hop variety, and even has a subtitle Fuggles IPA, and yes, you've guessed, Fuggles are the hops of choice for this ale. I've seen quite a few reviews of this beer saying "traditional English style", oh dear, what a shame, though I didn't catch the grapefruit taste others did. Maybe I know the Fuggles hop a little too well, but I did pick up a fruitiness, apple and plum though for me! Another not too bad beer, but my IPA, or APA, of choice in this tiny sample has to be the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, thank you very much!

I finished off my American beer adventure with the Shipyard Blue Fin Stout (4.7%) a very different style of beer obviously. The Blue Fin Stout is described as a "classic Irish Stout" and has an array of hops used in the brewing process, Warrior, Cascade, Tettnang and Goldings, though, excepting 'Black IPAs", I have trouble spotting the hops in darker beers. This was very enjoyable, though, with a subtle malt and caramel flavour, and a nice dry roasted barley finish, 'twas a bit like a traditional stout, indeed, cheers!

So, I say a big "thank you" to the Yanks and their growing influence in the world of brewing, particularly to their willingness to chuck in loadsa hops, cheers m'dears!

Regarding Michael Jackson, the "Beer Hunter", he was a well known writer who loved many different styles of beer, including American and Belgian beers. A friend who works at Fullers Brewery gave me a bottle of the 'Extra Special' Fullers ESB Michael brewed for the American market, and it was very good too. Indeed, another customer I knew asked why I hadn't got Michael to sign the bottle label as he had (he was going to see if he could sell it on e-bay). Silly man, I'd already drunk it the night before!

But Michael did like to knock back pints of his favourite ale in a jug, the merely 3.5% Chiswick Bitter brewed at Fullers in nearby Chiswick. His last evening on earth was spent drinking Chiswick Bitter at his local pub, the Andover Arms in Brackenbury Village near Hammersmith, whilst I was relief manager there... 

R.I.P. Michael Jackson (1942-2007).