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&amp;quot;tania_nexust&amp;quot;:11u8vuc9 wrote: Blarney Blonde lager (which was quite nice for a lager, which wouldn't normally be to my taste)[/quote:11u8vuc9]This may have been because it isn't a lager <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

&amp;quot;tania_nexust&amp;quot;:11u8vuc9 wrote: I wish the Hooker had been cask.[/quote:11u8vuc9]I've had Hooker on cask a couple of times and it doesn't really work. Without dry-hopping it loses all its hop character.

I'm sure the first time I had Hooker (which I think was last Feb, but could have been the year before) it was only available in a couple of places, and was cask - and had a great hop aroma and flavour to it. I remember thinking that the Irish craft beer industry had finally discovered what a hoppy beer tastes like!

So, would that actually have been a keg version? (I wasn't the one at the bar getting served, but thought the Hooker pump clip was on the handpull downstairs at the B&C on that visit). Why do you say dry hopping wouldn't work for a cask version? Curious as there are many cask dry-hopped beers over here (England).

&amp;quot;tania_nexust&amp;quot;:2edwx3m5 wrote: So, would that actually have been a keg version?[/quote:2edwx3m5]Definitely. Or a different beer.

&amp;quot;tania_nexust&amp;quot;:2edwx3m5 wrote: Why do you say dry hopping wouldn't work for a cask version?[/quote:2edwx3m5]Sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean it would [i:2edwx3m5]have[/i:2edwx3m5] to be dry-hopped if it's to come out well on cask. It's not dry-hopped at the moment.

Ah I see.
Pity cask is so hard to come by / not enough market to support it viably at the minute in Ireland. Although pleased with the choice in Dublin pubs now, I have to say I find the keg versions of ales generally served too cold which masks flavours, and just lacking a little something. But I guess it's just what I'm used to in having lots of cask available here (England) at cellar-temperature.

Still, think watching the race in O'Neills was a better outcome than being in a bar in Howth, so all was grand!

Sorry to butt in on this chat... But what do you both mean by cask?

Surely not a wooden barrel? Or is this a keg that's not fitted with CO2 and handpumped, ala in the UK..

My wifes English and am there a lot sampling the beers but never seen the kegs (or casks?) they use. I assumed they looked the same as ours but weren't filled to the gunnells with co2 and then piped through some ridiculous brain freeze inducing chill unit, designed to de-sensitise your pallet..

&amp;quot;Felini&amp;quot;:2crk2fkx wrote: But what do you both mean by cask? ... Or is this a keg that's not fitted with CO2 and handpumped, ala in the UK[/quote:2crk2fkx]Exactly.

&amp;quot;Felini&amp;quot;:2crk2fkx wrote: I assumed they looked the same as ours[/quote:2crk2fkx]No, they're shaped differently, bulging in the middle so there's a "belly" for the lees to settle into. They also have two holes: one at the end to let beer out and one in the middle to let air (or gas from a breather) in.