Firkin Good Beer at Karl Strauss' Cask Night

Small batch is good. Try a cask-conditioned brew at Karl Strauss Brewing Co. in La Jolla. The local brewing company and restaurant hosts a Cask Beer Night every Thursday.

Cask-conditioned beer undergo a secondary fermentation in small 11-gallon casks at Karl Strauss. The casks are said to give the beers more developed flavors.

Patch stopped by this week to try the Lavender Windansea Wheat. It’s a traditional Bavarian-style hefeweizen cask conditioned with lavender.

Karl Strauss explained cask-conditioned beers are smoother than keg beer because they are dispensed without CO2. Draught beer is pushed from a keg with CO2, while cask beer is pulled out of the cash into a glass using a siphon pump device, it said.

Every Thursday you can try a different cask brew. On August 15, try a Tower 10 IPA with citrus hop flavors. On August 22, try the Pintail Pale Ale with a full American-style pale ale flavors. And on August 29, try the Tower 20 IIPA with citrus and pine aromas (this one’s strong: 9.5% ABV).

Cheers!