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Hello, first post from me, though I've been a longtime lurker. I don't do any homebrewing so I leave the discussion to the experts mostly <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->

Anyway, today I was in Porterhouse Nassau Street and was delighted to see three casks on offer. TSB, Purity UBU, and a different Purity beer whose name I forget. I ordered the UBU, and was heartbroken to smell and taste the unmistakeable vinegar of infected beer. (I gave it back and they gave me a Hop Head - I wasnt chancing another infected beer)
Unfortunately this isn't the first time this has happened in Dublin. Last year it was Trouble Or in B&C - pure cider vinegar again, and when I complained the barman tried to fob me off with 'cask tastes different' but gave in eventually. I know what a good cask beer tastes like...
Then it was Trouble Spelt Saison in Black Sheep, definitely not the right kind of sourness for a saison.
As you can imagine this has put me off trying cask that often, even though the good ones I've had have been phenomenal, some of my all time faves.

So what's going on? is this the fault of poor storage in the pubs, and barmen who don't know what bad beer tastes like? And how come I'm usually the first to complain? I hope people aren't trying them and thinking 'Blech, cask isn't for me at all'...

Welcome to the site!

&amp;quot;hopsichord&amp;quot;:ukkpaadb wrote: So what's going on? is this the fault of poor storage in the pubs, and barmen who don't know what bad beer tastes like? And how come I'm usually the first to complain? I hope people aren't trying them and thinking 'Blech, cask isn't for me at all'...[/quote:ukkpaadb]A combination of all of these, I'd say. Getting a warm or flat pint and being told cask is supposed to be flat and/or warm really boils my piss.

It's great to see the new handpumps in PH Central but I don't think they're being managed properly. I've been finding either the blackboards are wrong, or there's no beer or the beer is off.

&amp;quot;hopsichord&amp;quot;:ukkpaadb wrote: this has put me off trying cask that often[/quote:ukkpaadb]The workaround for this is to ask for a sample before you buy.

Quality problems like this aren't by any means unique to Ireland. Even in Cask Marque'd pubs in the UK you can still get woeful pints served from poorly managed cellars by clueless staff.

I had a purgatory ale on cask in against the grain a while back and it was awful, While not tasting off vinegar it did have a really strong cardboard taste. Embarrasingly enough I had bought a round of it for some work colleagues in a 'wait til you try this..' kind of thing. One of them who is also into his beers said that sometimes new kegs can have this taste. Is this true? Surely new keg taste should be washed out of a keg before it is put before Joe Public? I didn't complain, I should have

The sourness issue can be dealt with in two ways.

1. Better cellarmanship and staff training about the condition cask beer should be served in and when it should be removed from sale.

or

2. Using a cask breather to exclude outside air, thus reducing the chances of infection.

As option 1 is hit and miss in the home of cask I don't see it as a viable solution here. I honestly don't know why Irish retailers don't go for option 2. CAMRA make it a problem in the UK but here, the local beer consumer association is less obsessed with the irrelevant minutia of the beer dispense system used than with the quality of the beer once it's in the glass.

Philgill, cardboard is oxidation. That beer was off and it's not getting any better, new keg or not. Yes, you should have complained.

I had a similar experience in the Palace on Fleet St. a few months ago and posted here.

"Had a late pint in The Palace on Fleet St. Helvick Gold on cask. Not very good, tasted distinctly sour. Had the same experience here in June with Copper Coast. Barman did not look like he knew what he was doing and I wonder have they got the turnover on cask to kep it fresh. The difference between here and WJKs was marked. I handed it back and got a bottle of Leann Folláin intead. No quibbles but the manager tried to justify the taste by telling me it was a different type of beer to keg.

Won't be having cask there again"