Look
what I found. South Side has a new real ale destination in the Carson Street
Deli at 1507 E Carson St. One week before tax day Mike had a new beer engine
installed and is now committed to serving real ale. For those that may not
know, a beer engine is a hand operated vacuum device that draws beer from a
cask under the bar or in a cellar. The beer is less carbonated than regular keg
beer, which had been pressurized with added carbon dioxide gas. Cask beer
enables the delicate aromas and finer textures to come through.
What
is called real ale is well made beer that has no preservatives or chemicals to
make it “better”. The brewer does that with clean water, young grain and fresh
hops. The beer does ferment at the brewery as all beer does. But with real cask
ale, the yeast is not filtered out of the beer but remains. The brewer adds
priming sugar to the keg so that it under go’s a secondary fermentation on its
way to the pub and in the pub’s cellar. This keeps the beer under a mild carbon
dioxide blanket but does not over carbonate the beer. This is an excellent way
to drink a craft beer.
Cheers
to Mike.
Check
the Deli’s tweets for updates on what’s coming through the engine.
