Firehouse Brewery & Grill Cask Ale Night Recap

By the time I showed up to Firehouse Brewery & Grill, the party was pretty much in full swing. There were a surprising amount of people I knew at the bar—a combination of Firehouse regulars, craft beer fans, homebrewers and an unpaid assistant brewer—all hanging out and enjoying the cask conditioned pale ale. It’s good to see the community come out and support not just Firehouse but Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue. He’s an award-winning, yet unhearalded, brewer who has a well-earned following that continues to grow despite his best efforts.

“I try and brew beer people won’t like,” says Donohue. Judging by the amount of people at Firehouse last night, he’s not doing a very good job. And I’m OK with that.

Cask conditioned Pale Ale dry-hopped with Citra

Cloudy, pale amber in color, with a thin white/off-white head. Aroma is pungent, slightly earthy, with light citrus character and resiny. Malt flavor has caramel flavors but citrus, funky, resiny hop flavors are more dominant. Hop bitterness seems at the upper limit for a pale ale, but isn’t harsh. Low carbonation,  smooth, medium-low body.

Quite possibly the only downside to last night was the band playing upstairs. Despite how loud they were, I liked many of the covers songs they played but it made for a lot of yelling and leaning in close to hear what your neighbor was saying. If we where having trouble hearing what was going on downstairs, I can only imagine how difficult it was to hear anything upstairs. Speaking of upstairs…

The band was part of the Wine & Beer Tasting Event the brew pub was concurrently hosting in the brewpub’s upper level. Firehouse General Manager Leticia brought me upstairs prior to the event starting to show me how things were set up. The event set-up was relatively straightforward: the band greeted you at the top of the stairs while additional seating was to the right of the band. To the left of the band, a couple of tables were set-up featuring several wineries that were separated by a robust spread of various cheeses and fruits. The lights were dimmed, perhaps a little too much, to set the mood. I hope they had a decent turnout. Since I am admittedly not a huge wine fan, I never went back up to see how things were going.

If you didn’t make it to this Cask Ale Night, the next one is tentatively set for September 16th or so.

Related posts:

1. Cask Night at Firehouse Brewery & Grill All I can say about this is, about damned time....
2. Beer & Chocolate Dinner at Firehouse Brewery & Grill Tonight is the Beer & Chocolate Dinner being held at...
3. Brewery Night at the Rose & Crown: Palo Alto Brewing Company and Firehouse Brewery Continuing the SF Beer Week goodness, Rose & Crown hosted...
4. Wine and Beer Tasting at Firehouse Brewery & Grill Firehouse Brewery & Grill is putting on a Wine and...
5. Beer & Chocolate Dinner at Firehouse Brewery featuring Pete Slosberg Recap I had been looking forward to this event for some...