Cask, keg, craft and real ale: what the words on the bar actually mean

Stand at any bar and you’ll hear them: real ale, cask, keg, craft, draught. Some drinkers know exactly what they mean, and plenty of others just point at a pump clip and hope. There’s no shame in either, but here’s a plain guide to what the words mean.

Real ale and cask ale

For most people these mean the same thing. Real ale is beer that finishes maturing in the cask it is served from, in the pub’s cellar. It still has live yeast in it, so it carries on developing after it leaves the brewery. It isn’t pumped full of gas: it’s pulled up from the cellar by the tall hand pumps on the bar.

That makes real ale softer and less fizzy than other beers, and it’s served cool rather than ice cold, so you taste more of it. It also means it needs looking after. A cask has to be kept at the right temperature, settled before it’s served, and drunk within a few days once it’s opened. That’s why a pub listed in the Good Beer Guide is worth knowing about: it means the ale is being kept well.

Keg beer

Keg beer is finished at the brewery, then filtered and sealed in a keg. Gas pushes it to the tap. That makes it consistent, sparkling and colder, and it keeps much longer once opened. Most lagers are served from a keg, and so is a lot of craft beer.

Draught

Draught just means the beer is served from a cask or keg rather than a bottle or can. Draught ales can be either.

Craft beer

Craft beer has no official definition. It usually means beer from smaller, independent breweries, often with bolder flavours: hoppy pale ales, IPAs, stouts and sours. It can come in a cask, a keg, a can or a bottle.

So what should you order?

• If you usually drink lager, try a golden or pale real ale. It’s the gentlest step across, or stick with our own Jolly Owl’s Lager.
• If you like a darker drink, ask what bitters, milds or stouts are on.
• If you like big flavours, ask about the craft beers.

And if you can’t decide, ask. Whoever is behind the bar will happily tell you what’s on and what it’s like. Pints start from £1.85, so trying something new won’t cost much. See what we pour on our On the bar page.