I would bet that even most beer nerds wouldn't know if a beer was bottle conditioned from taste alone. I once believed that bottle conditioned beers had finer/softer carbonation bubbles but in a blind test, same beer, set to the same psi, were damn near indistinguishable and I attribute the differences to batch variations.

Cask is a whole other story, but you can't bottle a cask beer so the point is sort of moot there. There are many wonderful bottled bitter and esb beers. Some people prefer cask beer and some don't. The problem is that, in America, most people don't know how to properly cask a beer so it ruins the perception to us, which is unfortunate.

Edit: fun fact, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in cans and bottle are bottle conditioned, in kegs it's not. They use slightly different recipes as well.

I would bet that even most beer nerds wouldn't know if a beer was bottle conditioned from taste alone. I once believed that bottle conditioned beers had finer/softer carbonation bubbles but in a blind test, same beer, set to the same psi, were damn near indistinguishable and I attribute the differences to batch variations.

Cask is a whole other story, but you can't bottle a cask beer so the point is sort of moot there. There are many wonderful bottled bitter and esb beers. Some people prefer cask beer and some don't. The problem is that, in America, most people don't know how to properly cask a beer so it ruins the perception to us, which is unfortunate.

Edit: fun fact, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in cans and bottle are bottle conditioned, in kegs it's not. They use slightly different recipes as well.

When in San Jose, CA:  Trials Pub
Specifically for the hand-pulled (no jokes please)
English Ales:  Cask Conditioned 20oz -$6
Black Prince Porter ABV 5.0
Ramsey’s Fat Lip Ale

I also dig it when there are nitro offerings at good places.  Look out for Oskar Blues "Old Chub" when offered on draft + Nitro version.


Belgian people here in this thread?  Erm, any help with Westvleteren 12?   

I would bet that even most beer nerds wouldn't know if a beer was bottle conditioned from taste alone. I once believed that bottle conditioned beers had finer/softer carbonation bubbles but in a blind test, same beer, set to the same psi, were damn near indistinguishable and I attribute the differences to batch variations.

Cask is a whole other story, but you can't bottle a cask beer so the point is sort of moot there. There are many wonderful bottled bitter and esb beers. Some people prefer cask beer and some don't. The problem is that, in America, most people don't know how to properly cask a beer so it ruins the perception to us, which is unfortunate.

Edit: fun fact, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in cans and bottle are bottle conditioned, in kegs it's not. They use slightly different recipes as well.

Those people don't like beer then or haven't had cask ale properly done. Lesser carbonation is one benefit but the main things are the additional yeast flavors and slight oxidation to produce a fruity flavor (living ale yeast continue to shit fruit phenols; oxidation accentuates this) that American IPAs attempt to mimic. Most US craft brewers aren't great technical brewers to being with so of course they fail at cask, especially as they tend to use it as a radler. Most bars and distributors are completely incapable of proper handling too so you just have a giant lack of competence hanging over the US craft beer movement. Then you have the massive lack of quality control, shitty hop blends, recipes that hold up worse at cellar temperature than Yuengling, etc. It's the same as in headphone manufacturing and the actual music being played by most new bands (don't even get into production): most of these guys are not very good and thinks they are ready to industrially brew as they made a few good batches of homebrew.

Bottle conditioning is less flavorful as you can't oxidize the beer or have as much yeast present (casks have finings and sit for while after being racked to let everything settle). Rather they centrifugally filter or bright rack the beer before bottling with priming sugar or wort (krauesening) sometimes with additional yeast. Deschutes, Sierra Nevada, Bell's are just very good at this and plan everything to get the finished product which is why you won't see sediment until you let their beers sit for months. The Belgian beers with the massive amounts are just older.

Dude you nailed the simplified amerikan Craft beer scene!
Especially with these words "shitty hop blends".
Bravo to you.
 

Is the beer pyrate Jeff Hanneman with the Heineken?