Blue Point Brewing held its 20th annual Cask Ales Festival at the brewery in Patchogue on Nov. 2, with over 2,400 attendees filling the big tent to enjoy more than 150 cask ales from over 60 breweries. Long Island’s craft breweries were well represented and one of the most popular areas of the festival was homebrew alley, featuring cask ales from Long Island’s three homebrew clubs – Brewers East End Revival (BEER), Handgrenades Brew Club and Long Island Beer & Malt Enthusiasts (LIBME).
Cask ales, also known as cask-conditioned ales, are beers that are naturally fermented in a type of cask known as a firkin and then served from the firkin without forced carbonation. This traditional British beer style became popular with craft breweries and homebrewers in the U.S. due to its ability to produce flavorful beers that are unpasteurized and unfiltered.
“We held the first Cask Ales Festival in 2004 at our original River Avenue location in a blizzard,” said Mark Burford, who co-founded Blue Point in 1998. “A few dozen people showed up on skis and snowshoes to enjoy our cask ales, and now this festival has become a cornerstone of our community for people to enjoy these beers we produce and are passionate about.” At this year’s festival, Blue Point featured several cask ales including a rich Cherry Stout in the ceremonial big cask that was tapped by caskmaster Jim Richards to open the festival.
Blue Point, which is now part of the craft beverage portfolio of Tilray Brands, also launched a new seasonal beer for the winter months that is definitely not a cask ale. Blitz Beer is an American lager made with pilsner malts and flaked rice and hopped with Tettnanger and Calista hops for a crisp, refreshing taste. This lager will join Blue Point’s more full flavored Toasted Lager, the first beer brewed by Blue Point and a two-time World Beer Cup gold medalist. With Blitz Beer, Blue Point is hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and will evaluate after the winter whether to keep Blitz in the year-round lineup.
Bernie Kilkelly is editor and publisher of LIBeerGuide.com.
