Uncertainty is a killer. 

It's harming our businesses; the restaurants, the bars, the pubs and all the businesses involved at various levels of the supply chain to each of these.

Sadly, the only thing we can do during lockdown is to share information and try to support these businesses by ordering gear for delivery or collection in lieu of being able to go out for a pint, a glass of wine and some nibbles.

That's what is needed from you - the beer enthusiasts and people who love the independently local Liverpool (and surrounding areas!) flavour, to buy beers from our beloved pubs and breweries.

We're doing our best here at the Liverpool Beer Collective to help in this, sharing information about venues which are still selling beer for collection or delivery via online or social media ordering.  There's no one-size-fits-all approach for businesses at this time, so we will endeavour to update the Beer Availability Page and share information on how to get hold of great beer and support our local and independent businesses.

The next bit is for bars, pubs and breweries...

• If your business is based in Liverpool, wider Merseyside, West Lancashire or Wirral you fall in our catchment and we would be happy to help (message us if you're not sure).
• You need to be committed to supporting our local breweries or small and independently owned breweries around the UK we can include you on our website.

What we need from you as a Pub/Bottle Shop/Bar/Brewery:
We need you to give us information and contact information regarding how you intend on continuing to operate during lockdown.   Are you doing online orders, telephone orders, online menus for the beers you stock? Are you allowing collections or doing deliveries to people locally and deliveries via shipping or courier further afield?  Send this information to us via our contact form, HERE.

Stay strong, support local and #LIVEBEER. x

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
Haul - Mossley Hill
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!!