Towards the end of September 2020, the annual Cask Ale Week will return across the UK.  No doubt celebrations and participation will be slightly muted this year, sadly due to current restrictions on venturing to pubs, bars and taprooms from the ongoing pandemic.

However, there is still cause to celebrate a strongly British contribution to brewing and beer with Cask Ale.  Whilst opportunities may be limited, they are not completely gone.  Many pubs, breweries and bars across the UK are doing take out beers from cask (as well as other small package and dispense of course) and our brewers are still working hard to produce some excellent beers for your enjoyment.

So, what is Cask Ale?  The waters are muddied a little with cross over with 'Real Ale', which is a term coined by CAMRA, with some people (not completely correctly) using the terms interchangeably.  Hence Real Ale can be served from bottle or can, but there is some reticence in allowing kegged beers (which still meet the technical definition of Real Ale) to be labelled as such.  CAMRA themselves do recognise that key keg conditioned beer can be Real Ale, although some branches and committee members disagree with this.  Cask beer is usually served from a cask handpull or can be served under gravity straight from the cask itself.   Confusingly, it can even be served from a keg font; the handpull is often an affectation; long draws from the cellar can mean many cask beers are actively pumped to the handpull.

Cask conditioned beer (and Real Ale) is a living entity; undergoing secondary fermentation in the container it is served from - in this case, a cask.  This secondary conditioning of the beer allows for flavours and the mouthfeel of the beer to develop and mature whilst it is stored in the cellar, prior to serving.  It is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of brewing and producing great beer.  It's not a specific style in itself, as it can encompass many different styles including but  not limited to pale ales, saisons, stouts, lagers and barley wines.  The cask beer itself is never served warm (an horrendous misconception), but at cellar temperature (approx 11 to 12 degrees celsius, sometimes even lower at 10 degrees depending on a cellar person's preference) and is then drunk as it gently increases in temperature and the flavour depth develops.

Cask Ale Week runs from Thursday 24th September to Sunday 4th October.

The website, providing details of how to get involved and showing a list of events or other notables is right here: caskaleweek.co.uk.

We have a great selection of pubs on Merseyside that serve well kept cask beer, we've listed a few of these for you to check out, just below.

Venues in Liverpool, Wirral & around Merseyside worth investigating for their Cask offering:

The Angus Tap and Grind - Liverpool
The Baltic Fleet - Liverpool
​The Bard - Prescot
Beer Station - Freshfield
The Belvedere - Liverpool
The Blackburne Arms - Liverpool
The Bridewell - Liverpool
The Caledonian - Liverpool
CASK - Stoneycroft
​Carnival Brewing Taproom - Liverpool
CRAFT Taproom - Wavertree
The Denbigh Castle - Liverpool
The Dispensary - Liverpool
Doctor Duncan's - Liverpool
The Excelsior - Liverpool
The Fly in the Loaf - Liverpool
The Four Ashes - Crosby
The Freshfield Hotel - Freshfield/Formby
Gallagher's - Birkenhead
The Grapes - Liverpool
The Handyman Supermarket - Wavertree
Head of Steam - Liverpool
Kelly's Dispensary - Wavertree
The Lady of Mann - Liverpool
The Lion Tavern - Liverpool
Little Taproom on Aigburth Road - Aigburth
Love Lane Brewery Tap - Liverpool
Maghull Cask - Maghull
Neptune Brewery Taproom - Maghull
The Pen Factory - Liverpool
Peter Kavanagh's Victorian Pub - Liverpool
The Philharmonic Dining Rooms - Liverpool
The Pilgrim - Liverpool
The Roscoe Head - Liverpool
The Ship and Mitre - Liverpool
Tap and Bottles - Liverpool
Thomas Rigby's - Liverpool
Three Piggies - Allerton
Trap and Hatch - Waterloo
The Volunteer Canteen - Waterloo
The West Kirby Tap - West Kirby
The White Lion - West Kirby
Ye Cracke - Liverpool

If you take any good pictures of cask beers out on your travels across Merseyside, tag us in on Twitter or Facebook!

Cheers Everyone!!

Siren Craft have made a really big impact on the UK craft beer and brewing scene since they started producing beers back in 2013, with Maiden and then the likes of Liquid Mistress, Soundwave and Broken Dream hitting shelves and cellars.  

Siren also fostered a sense of community and collaboration, with former head brewer Ryan Witter-Merithew bringing together breweries from across the UK to make beers based on the colours of the rainbow.  This grew and grew, seeing collaborations become international and exposing enthusiasts to many great brewers from across the Atlantic, across continental Europe and over in New Zealand.

You can't underestimate the impact Siren have had over the years.

Add to this that they are now hosting the venture of "Siren In...", as a Committee we've decided to have a bit of introspection and dwell on past fond memories drinking Siren beers.

Ian Goodhead: ​

​Jaipur, Timothy Taylor Landlord, both were mine, but so was "Broken Dream on Cask" - indeed it still holds a special place in the hearts of my heart and indeed that of my Best Man.  When spotted in the wild, it sets up a chain of WhatsApp messages that inevitably ends up in it not lasting long on the pump... Indeed, that happened once over Lockdown with the excellent Craft Taproom - the two milk jugs I recovered were quickly dispatched...

Siren's Pompelmocello was on their beer board and the name got stuck in my head, so I had no option other than to give it a whirl. ​It was the exact beer I needed after a heavy session of DIPAs and impies, so I stood there with a big grin, absolutely content and losing myself in the waves of fruit and lactose sweetness.
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The beer's subsequent success is by no means surprising, and I hope that many folks around the country are now enjoying a similar experience with it!

I know my friends would say that my most memorable Siren memory was at Indy Man 2019 in which I was eagerly waiting for the Maiden on cask to be released (it didn’t come out until later in the day).  I had a 1/3 of Accept All Cookies in my hand, singing a song called Barley wine I made up on the spot in the tune of the song Bottle of Wine by Beck. This is only a vague memory of mine personally, too much of the cookies I guess!

The most memorable and clear memory was back in 2018.  I was asked to pick a beer from the ‘ageing box’ to share; I set my eyes on the the Speyside barrel aged Broken Dream.  I can’t remember if it was 2-3 years aged, but either way it really opened my eyes to how sometimes ageing beer can really add to the flavour.

Our first visit to Siren's Tapyard was a memorable one, everything seemed perfect - the weather, the beers, the food from the Big Butty Bar and the company from people we met there and in the tap (including Darron Anley himself, fetching growlers of beer for a barbeque!).

We ended up staying much, much later than we planned.  Probably had one or two more beers than planned, because Santo and sunshine - why not?  We certainly had a brilliant time and really can't wait to go back down again.

When my husband and I opened our bottle shop, Cat Hop Beers a few years ago, we managed to get hold of some of Siren's Soundwave IPA and it was one of the first beers we stocked at the shop.  The opening night was celebrated with some Soundwave and because of that, we will always have some fond memories of a Siren beer from our first day running the shop!

I have heard positive things about the barrel-ageing programme which was due to restart.  Fingers crossed!

​Bones of a Sailor (pt III) was one of those beers that I wasn't really expecting to be as good as it was.  I bought two bottles in a now sadly departed craft beer venue in Liverpool, one to sample myself and the other a gift for my old man for Christmas.  I wish I'd found another beer to give him for Christmas - does that make me a terrible person?

The barrel-age from Sherry barrels, the generously tart but balanced punch of raspberries and the chocolate and vanilla notes all harmoniously bathed my senses and caused an ache as 330ml, simply was not enough.

I have had many excellent Siren Craft beers and enjoyed the Tap Yard, but trying that beer tops the lot.

Make it again, guys!

Whilst we weren't able to bring you a fresh serving of Liverpool Beer Week in 2020 due to some very unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances (we had SO much planned for you too!), you may have heard that another week long beery event in Liverpool is due to happen!

#SIRENINLIVERPOOL is starting, 14th September online and carries on with some Tap Takeover events and other online goodness which includes interviews, competitions and giveaways.  Full details are over on Siren Craft's website, right here:
https://www.sirencraftbrew.com/stories-and-events/events/siren-in-liverpool 

Not only that, for that week only, you can take advantage of free delivery of their beers from their online store to your door, if you have a Liverpool postcode.

There is a photography competition taking place throughout the week, beginning on Monday 14th September.  The competition will close and the winner announced on the following Sunday, 20th September.  More details are below.

Stay tuned to our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts and give Siren Craft Brewery a follow to keep up to date with details on the week, as we update them! 

The Competition: 
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To enter: We want to see your best beer memories of Liverpool! Send your photos via twitter, tagging @sirencraftbrew and using #SirenInLiverpool hashtag.  To qualify, the photo must be Liverpool themed, so either in Liverpool, or drinking Liverpudlian beers! Good luck!