Photo by Jennifer Yin
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Alex Hall is a beer guy, but not just any beer guy. The British-born New Yorker makes a living bringing cask ales to the masses. Whether he’s selling beer engines to bars across New York, writing about real beer for the Ale Street News or curating cask ale festivals across America, Hall takes his evangelism seriously. So who better to pick the top 12 places to drink cask in the U.S.? Here’s where the expert expat says you’ll want to go the next time you’re craving a cask-conditioned ale.
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Birch & Barley/ChurchKey
1337 14th St. NW, Washington, DC; 202-567-2576
Two bars on two levels equals five cask beers perfect for pairing with the upscale cuisine.
birchandbarley.com; churchkeydc.com
d.b.a. Brooklyn
113 N. 7th St., Brooklyn, NY; 718-218-6006
A friendly beer bar with three cask ales on hand pumps and hearty muffaletta sandwiches; holds occasional festivals with more than a dozen tapped casks.
drinkgoodstuff.com/ny
Firkin
515 N. Milwaukee Ave., Libertyville, IL; 847-367-6168
A firkin is a traditional nine-imperial-gallon cask, one or two of which (depending on when you go) are tapped here alongside more than 20 drafts and two dozen bottled beers.
firkinoflibertyville.com
Fred's Rivertown Alehouse
1114 1st St., Snohomish, WA; 360-568-5820
This pub offering more than 30 taps (and dozens of single malts) promotes cask ale through its own cask club, which meets every Tuesday night at 7pm.
Horse Brass Pub
4534 S.E. Belmont St., Portland, OR; 503-232-2202
A leader in the craft beer movement, this 33-year-old English-style pub offers dozens of draft beers and five casks.
horsebrass.com
James E. McNellie's
409 E. 1st St., Tulsa, OK; 405-601-7468
Until this pioneering Irish-style pub installed its cask line—alongside dozens of keg lines and hundreds of bottled beers—the state of Oklahoma hadn’t seen cask ales for many decades.
mcnelliesokc.com
Lord Hobo
92 Hampshire St., Cambridge, MA; 617-250-8454
A gastropub with three cask lines and often an additional cask on gravity, plus a menu featuring the likes of duck confit and Maine lobster mac and cheese.
lordhobo.com
Magnolia Pub (pictured above)
1398 Haight St., San Francisco, CA; 415-864-7468
With several cask ales regularly on offer and chow like scotch duck eggs and braised lamb shank, Magnolia is a beer geek’s haven, not to mention a foodie’s dream come true.
magnoliapub.com
Mahar's
1110 Madison Ave., Albany, NY; 518-459-7868
Read the infamous rules and regulations before entering, and you'll be rewarded with a choice of no less than six cask ales.
itsonlybeer.com
Pints Pub Brewery and Freehouse
221 West 13th Ave., Denver, CO; 303-534-7543
Housed in a rambling building that's more than a century old, this is as close as you can get to actually experiencing cask ale in England.
pintspub.com
Rattle 'n' Hum
14 East 33rd St., New York, NY; 212-481-1586
The ultimate Irish bar, professing “no crap on tap” and offering several casks—plus occasional festivals with up to 30 tapped casks.
rattlenhumbarnyc.com
The Tap and Table
4226 Chestnut St., Emmaus, PA; 610-965-1009
Sip a cask ale alongside Kobe beef burgers and Cuban sandwiches made with boar.
tapandtable.com
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Check out our list of cask ale festivals happening across America.
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