A Re-Visit to Wooden Cask Brewing

Recently, I decided to make a trip down to Wooden Cask Brewing in Newport, Kentucky during March Madness to watch my Mountaineers play ball and to enjoy some beer while doing so. Wooden Cask proved to actually be a good choice as surprisingly, I was only one a few there initially. Now this was the day after St. Patrick’s Day so I am not sure if that had something to do with it or not but not having to fight for space worked for me.

Now, if you haven’t been to Wooden Cask, it sits toward the bottom of York Street and is very accessible with a decent size parking lot for sure. I am not sure about if they are pet-friendly or not, although I believe they are. They regularly team up with food trucks and there are also restaurants around that can deliver food for you to the brewery. Although, during my afternoon visit, a food truck wasn’t available but there was one planning to come that evening. They also have wifi which is nice and provide a lot of space, and if you like board games then they have them as well.

But what about the beers right? That’s why I am blogging and that’s why you are reading this. So, on tap they hold a good assortment of beers, I believe the number including their and guest taps is around 12 or 13. I should have taken a picture, but failed to do so. Now I have been here previously, so for me it was about trying ones that I had not had, although I do recommend the 7^th Street Runoff if you do enjoy Brown Ales. But my first four choices via a flight can be seen here.

From left to right: #4 Pacific Time IPA, #9 The Scottsman, #10 Ruby, and #11 Hell Yes

The Pacific Time – American IPA 6.8% ABV

This one delivered a very nice aroma with good dankness. It had a nice bitterness as it hit the tongue and opened up with a great flavor in the mouth. If you like the IPA style then this one does represent it well as it provided the fruitiness and duration that should be expected from the hops used, and it had a decent crisp break from the initial to the finish. It proved to be a very solid IPA for sure.

The Scottsman – Scottish Ale 8% ABV

You talk about a style that delivers some malty goodness and coats the mouth, the Scottish Ale style does just that. This one also was very pleasing in that respect. The texture was syrupy in fashion which really worked well for mouthcoating and delivered a smooth creamy like feel. You will get some of the booziness with this one, but that’s okay and somewhat expected. I can best describe this as some sweet goodness for sure.

Ruby – Irish Red Ale 4.5% ABV

This one provided an aroma that was similar for me to many of the wheat ales and what I usually pick up from the yeast and tend to describe as a horse blanket smell. This is not a bad thing by the way, it’s just what I relate it to from my experience as does anyone that reviews beers or anything else. It did have kind of a different type of sweetness with this one, almost like that of a cereal. The mouthfeel was good and it definitely is light in body which makes it an easy beer to chug, not that you should do that. For someone that doesn’t like bitterness then this one can also work, as even on the initial there was only a little subtleness of bitterness that hit my tongue. It is a little thinner than I prefer and I could detect that watery quality, but at 4.5% I kind of expected it.

Hell Yes – Mailbock or Helles Bock 8% ABV

I tend to like bocks from time to time and are for me, one of the more popular lagers that I prefer. This one though was a little different as it was almost kind of sneaky at the 8% ABV. I didn’t get as much aroma, and didn’t really taste the alcohol. It  was smooth, coated the mouth well and left a good mouthfeel. I didn’t get much on the aroma as expected but overall, it delivered for what I was expecting.

Newporter – American Porter 5% ABV

After finishing the flight there was only one left that I hadn’t tried from Wooden Cask and what a nice way to end, with an American porter. So, I went ahead and called fro a pint on this one and decided to see how this one compared. I was hit pretty quickly with the decent aroma that easily climbed out of the glass with chocolate and coffee notes. It was malty and bready as well with some bitterness in the taste that tapped the tongue nicely. Now there was some slight thinness, which is probably my only knock with Porters and is a key reason why I usually prefer stouts over them. But away from that, the taste and flavor was definitely there despite a little harshness on the finish as it went down.

Overall, it was a great visit back to Wooden Cask and I hope if you are in the Cincinnati area, that you will also decided to pay them a visit. Between the variety of beers available, there should not be any issue in finding something that you will like. My only other thing that I would mention is that there was only one television, and with a few more around I think that could be a great draw for some. But, we are really there for  a beer and there is no shortage of those.

Cheers my friends…and keep drinking those great craft beers!