Revelation’s Firkin Fest draws a crowd

Revelation Craft Brewing Co. held its fourth Firkin Fest event April 27, and for the first time, the event was held at Revelation’s Georgetown brewery.

The fest brought together 13 Delaware breweries from around the state to show off their best cask beer creations. The event is a test of a brewer’s creativity, as cask beer is a bit different from regular beer.

For starters, cask beer is unpasteurized and unfiltered. Its secondary fermentation comes from natural elements instead of being boosted by carbon dioxide. This is why cask beer is often referred to as “real ale.” In general, cask beer is served a bit warmer, so the flavors within the beer are much more noticeable. 

A firkin is typically the vessel used to hold cask beer, and usually holds about a quarter of a barrel of beer. For reference, barrels are the measurement of a volume of beer; the larger beer kegs familiar to anyone who went to college or visited their local liquor store are known as half-kegs, as they hold a half-barrel of beer. 

For the brewers and servers taking part in Firkin Fest, the most anxiety-raising part is tapping the firkin itself. If the firkin has built up too much carbonation, it will shoot a gusher of beer as soon as it's tapped. To put everyone at ease, and as the host brewery, Revelation went first, as brewer Douglas Lowe tapped Revelation’s Extra Special Bitter, a take on an English bitter. In addition, Revelation offered its blended Mother-in-Law IPA with apricot and a pure cask version of Mother-in-Law.