Rattle 'N' Hum Cask Festival

Manhattan NY,

Late on Friday afternoon Sarah and I headed down to Rattle 'N' Hum on 33rd Street for its cask ale festival. The festival began on Wednesday, April 14 and will end on Sunday, April 18. It was our first time at Rattle 'N' Hum and we were impressed. First we were struck by the huge lineup of cask ales that were displayed immediately inside the door. Besides the many casks available for the festival and the varied beers on tap, there was an enormous bottle list on one wall. It took us a good fifteen to twenty minutes to get through the list.

Our first cask beer was Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops. Wow. The color was inky black with some dark redness on the edges. The aroma was mostly vanilla and oak with some bourbon. It was only a little boozy which surprised me as a beer at 11.6% ABV. In the sweetness you could taste some chocolate along with the vanilla, oak and bourbon.

Our next beer was Fuller's London Pride. London Pride was almost a default after finding out that my next pick, Blue Point Oatmeal Stout, and even my back up, Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire, were not available. Still having never tried it I thought cask would be the perfect way to have London Pride. Still it turned out to be less flavorful than I had hoped.

-Giancarlo

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