In Praise of Keg

Yorkshire 357-5
v Worcestershire
close on Day 1
at Scarborough

Sunday 19 July 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

New place for me, The Stumble Inn. Proper MicroPub. 5 handpulls. List of ciders & perries. No discernible lager or cooking cider. Discount with a CAMRA card. Single room, muck in on the tables & chairs. I love an argument. Didn't expect one in here mind. My friend had partaken of a Wold Top KEG beer at Scarborough Cricket. He liked it. I was holding court. If a small outlet bar doesn't have the throughput to justify putting multiple casks on, craft keg is a viable alternative. They can serve something other than John Smiths, Carling & Guinness. They lose less money. Us punters have a close second to cask, tasty alternative.

Some fella in the bar not having that. How could it be any good without sediment? My argument that I had had a lovely pork pie with no sediment didn't win him over.

There wasn't even a definition of Craft Beer other than size of brewery, which he felt the Americans favoured as a definition. My confident assertion that sounded like a great definition didn't win him over.

In England, we live on a postage stamp with a sensible climate. That means we can easily ship ingredients to brewery, and finished product to pub. The distances & temperatures involved don't require refrigeration. Real, cask Ale makes perfect sense in England. But less so in say Australia. But matey is essentially a flat earther.

I'm proud to have a CAMRA Membership Card & a BrewDog Equity Card in my wallet. I'll put Salt AND Vinegar on me chips. So called undefined Craft Keg is a sensible choice for low throughput sports clubs outlets. Bring your own sediment....

I went, Otley, 05 Hop Angeles 4.8%. Darkish amber, leaning red. Zing & refreshing to smell. Hops dominate at first, but not as you get more into it.

Loch Lomond, Kessog 5.2%. Nice mix of malty bitterness first up. Hints of red fruit. Nice & rich. Settles in, and then a nice, powerful, but mainly background bitterness.  Some liquorice.

What else must Jonny Bairstow do to convince the selecters he is worth a place in the Test Squad? Not fail & get found out the first time he had a go. That'll always help. He is at the top of his game at the moment.

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