Washington Brewers’ Guild presents the 2016 Washington Cask Beer Festival on March 19th, at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall.  Over forty Washington breweries will be showcasing their unique and creative cask-conditioned brews at this highly anticipated festival.

Although many people assume that Cask Conditioned Beers mean that it has been aged in barrels to give the Beer wood or additional alcohol flavors like bourbon, but  that isn’t the case. You will find a number of Washington beers at the Cask Beer Fest that have benefited from their hibernation in a wine or whiskey barrel but that doesn’t make it cask conditioned.  Cask conditioned  means it is unpasteurized,  unfiltered and not artificially carbonated.

The Washington Brewers’ Guild states the Cask Fest is an opportunity to:

Experience the artistry of craft brewing in the form of traditional cask-conditioned beer. To remain true to the spirit of “real ale” all beers are conditioned naturally without artificially introducing CO² into the cask and will be poured by gravity or via a beer engine.

Cask conditioned beer is considered “real ale” by many people because cask conditioned beers allow the nuances of the malt, hops and even hops to show through. This is because because:

1 This is a fresh beer, after secondary fermentation it lasts hours  to a couple of days

2 It is served at cellar temperature 50-55º

3 Cask Beer is ALIVE

Over 40 Washington breweries will be pouring their cask conditioned brews for your tasting pleasure. Your $40 ticket includes a commemorative tasting glass and up to 25 beer samples! Check out the amazing list of cask conditioned beers planned for this year. Food vendors will be available to help deal with those hunger pains and soak up the alcohol.

With so many delicious beer samples available at this beer festival, please don’t drink and drive.

Designated driver tickets for $5 will be available at the door.

There are a number of bus routes that stop within walking distance from the venue including:
Metro bus routes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 13, 24, 32, 33, RapidLine D Line

Or use your favorite taxi/personal ride service