Cask, keg, can — three ways to drink the same beer, and three genuinely different experiences. None of them is "the proper way." They're just different, and knowing why makes you better at ordering the right pint for the mood you're in.
Cask
Cask beer keeps fermenting gently after it leaves the brewery, conditioning naturally in the cellar it's served from. No added CO2 — the carbonation is soft, the serving temperature is warmer than you'd expect, and the flavour is at its roundest and most complete. It's also the most fragile format: cask has a short window once it's tapped, which is exactly why it's a cellar skill, not just a tap to pull.
Keg
Keg beer is sealed and force-carbonated at the brewery, then served cold and lively under CO2 or a mixed gas. You get a crisper, more consistent pour every time, with more lift and sparkle than cask — better suited to hop-forward, fruit-forward styles where you want that brightness up front.
Can
The newest addition to how we package beer, and the one we control most tightly. We built our own canning line during the pandemic specifically so we could seal beer at its peak and keep light and oxygen out entirely — the two things that age beer fastest. A can from us today should taste the same as the one before it, and the one after it.
So which is "best"?
Genuinely, it depends on the beer and the moment. A big, malty stout can be glorious on cask, gently warm and full. The same beer in a can, chilled properly, is a different but equally valid experience. What matters is that whichever format you're holding, it's been handled with the same care — that's the bit we obsess over.
Try it yourself: if a beer's available in more than one format, grab both and taste them side by side. It's the fastest way to understand your own preferences, and it's exactly the kind of thing we'd do on a Friday afternoon in the brewery.