We are sometimes asked why keg beers can not be scored. The reason is that the Good Beer Guide is for Cask/ Real Ale.
If you are not sure what Real Ale is, hopefully this article will help.
Article taken from camra.org.uk
What is Real Ale?
Real ale is a beer brewed from traditional ingredients (malted barley, hops water and yeast), matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide.
Brewers use ingredients which are fresh and natural, resulting in a drink which tastes natural and full of flavour. It is literally living as it continues to ferment in the cask in your local pub, developing its flavour as it matures ready to be poured into your glass.
Real ale is also known as ‘cask-conditioned beer', ‘real cask ale', real beer' and ‘naturally conditioned beer.'
The term ‘real ale' and the above definition were coined by CAMRA in the early 1970s.
How can I tell if I am drinking real ale?
Real ale has a natural taste full of flavour with a light natural carbonation (i.e. fizziness) produced by the secondary fermentation that has occurred in the cask. A real ale should be served at 10 – 14°C so that the flavour of the beer can be best appreciated. You can recognise real ale in a pub as it is usually served using a handpump.
What is the difference between real ale and lager?
Real ale is produced by ‘top fermentation' at temperatures up to 22°C which enables the rich variety of flavours which many of these beers possess to develop. After primary fermentation the ale is allowed to mature at 10-14°C in a cask where a slow secondary fermentation occurs.
Lager is produced by bottom fermentation at temperatures of 6-14°C and then it should be conditioned for several weeks at about 0 – 1°C during which time the lager matures. Traditionally lager style beers were brewed during the cooler winter months and then stored in cool cellars through the summer months. The German for store is lager – hence the name. However some UK lagers are matured for less than a week.
What is the difference between real ale and brewery-conditioned beer?
Real ale is a living product. It has not been pasteurised or filtered and has undergone a slow secondary fermentation in the vessel (i.e. cask) from which it is served. It is known in the brewing trade as cask conditioned.
Brewery-conditioned beer undergoes the same primary fermentation as real ale but after that stage it can be filtered and/or pasteurised. If the beer is filtered and/or pasteurised then no further conditioning can therefore take place, and will lack any natural carbonation which would have been produced by the secondary fermentation and so carbon dioxide has to be added artificially. This sometimes leads to an over-gassy product. Today some of these beers have a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide added; these are known as nitro-keg or smoothflow beers.
Other beers are neither filtered nor pasteurised, or may be "rough filtered", where only the bigger yeast particles are removed. These beers can continue to undergo secondary fermentation, either in conditioning tanks in the brewery, or in the container (often a keg), and can be classified as real ale if they are not served using extraneous carbon dioxide.
