The Dublin Underground Cask Ale Festival

On July 22nd I attended the First Annual Cask Ale Festival at The Dublin Underground in downtown Albany.  Albany's beer drinkers might know The Dublin Underground by it's former name Savannah's.  The Dublin is quickly becoming a very respectable bar for any craft beer drinker to visit.  The bar has expanded from 12 tap lines to a whopping 58, with the majority of those lines being occupied by kegs filled with local craft beers. 

While not quite the size of TAP-NY or other New York State Beer "Festivals", The Dublin had 9 casks on their bar waiting for their thirsty patrons.  The list of cask beers:

SlyFox Route 113

Brown’s Brown Ale

Brown’s Whiskey Porter

Brown’s IPA

Warwick Valley Pear Cider

Clipper City Heavy Seas IPA

Clipper City Heavy Seas Smoked Imperial Porter

Middle Ages Beast Bitter

Fuller’s ESB

The event had already start to attract a decent crowd as I arrived about two hours into the event.  I decided on a pint of the Clipper City Heavy Seas Smoked Imperial Porter. The beer poured a very dark brown, blackish color with a thin, tan head.  The aroma was mostly malty, the body was smooth, with big malts, and faint chocolate notes.  The finish was short and dry.  This was a very good beer.  It hides the 8% ABV extremely well making this a dangerously easy beer to drink.    

The festival was small but very promising and a welcome sight to Capital Region craft beer fans.  The event will run from the 22nd until the 25th with the casks being tapped around 5 p.m. on Thursday and running all weekend until there is no more beer.