Here Comes Casks & Caskets 2014

Casks & Caskets, the Society of Oshkosh Brewers annual homebrew event for charity, takes place this weekend, Saturday, November 1, at the Oshkosh Convention Center from 7-10 p.m. Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door... and you really should go.

I’ll put all the pertinent links down below concerning ticket outlets and such, but first let’s get into the why of why you’ll want to be there Saturday night.

Casks & Caskets Features Fresh Beer
Truth is, most of the beer we get around here has been sitting on a shelf – either in a grocery store or in a distributor’s warehouse – for a good long while before we uncap it. That’s not good. Time is not the friend of most beers. But the beers you’ll be served at Casks will be ridiculously fresh. In almost every case, these are beers that have been brewed within the last 30-50 days. They’ve been given enough time to ferment and rest. When they’re poured on Saturday, they’ll be at their peak. You’ll see what a difference fresh beer makes.

Casks & Caskets Features Real Beer
Not that the brew you buy at the beer depot isn’t real, but let’s not fool ourselves; it’s a commercial product and commercial brewers are often required to make compromises to meet the expectations of the market. Filtration and pasteurization are just two of those compromises. These processes extend shelf life, but they also mute flavor. You won’t get stripped down beers at Casks. You’ll get the real thing, with all of its intended flavors intact.

You’ll Get to Stand Face to Face with the Brewers
At most beer festivals the beer is poured by some poor schlub who has little knowledge of what they’re dumping into your glass. Not so at Casks. You’ll get to meet all of the brewers and find out first hand what they’re about. To me, this is one of the best things about this festival. You get the full, immediate experience of a beer without all of the mitigating middlemen who stand between you and its source. That’s a rare thing.

Casks & Caskets is Not Just Beer
It’s wine, mead and cider, too. And not just a couple bottles of each to placate the non-beer drinkers. There’ll be a wide selection of each with an array of flavors you’ll find nowhere else.

A Few Other Good Reasons
• It's for a good cause. All of the beverages are donated by the homebrewers who made them. They receive nothing (but a good time) in exchange for their work. This means that all of the money taken in goes directly to the Oshkosh Hunger Task Force.
• Sly Joe & the Smooth Operators will play.
• There’ll be a silent auction with everything from beer memorabilia to hand-made soap up for grabs, with proceeds benefitting the Oshkosh Hunger Task Force.
• It’s the best beer festival in the area. Seriously, there no other beer fest like this one.

All right, here are those links.
• Ticket information.
• The Casks & Caskets webpage.
• The Casks & Caskets Facebook Event Page.
• Silent Auction Items.
• Beer List.
• All About Casks.