Not quite a Yorkshire Autoback, But Sufficiently Creepy…

Sadly, the big cunt is not pictured. It is his colleague in the photo, who is also a big fellow.

     Back in about 2015, I attended a Master Brewers Association Meeting. All the technical talks at this particular meeting were on English cask, or “real” ale. I learned about a unique piece of kit that used to be common in the Yorkshire area. It is called a “Yorkshire autoback”. You see, when cask ale is forced through the “sparkler”. It degasses the beer, and creates a lot of foam. Instead of letting that foam settle, they just let it overflow the glass until it is full. That foam is collected in a drip tray. That drip tray returns the beer back to the cask. So, it  then gets dispensed again. That way there is no waste. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Beer has a low-ish pH, (3.8-4.3 for English ale) and the cellar is about 10°C/50°F. The low pH prevents food born illness, and the cool temperature retards microbiological activity. The beer is consumed before it can go sour. Some folks are grossed out by this. I doubted I would ever see this technology, and I have not. Well, not quite….

     Up in Edinburgh at a place called The Bow Bar, I spotted some taps that looked similar to a Czech side pull faucet. The bar tender was a charming fellow. He towered above us. When uncle James asked him if he was standing on anything behind the bar. He replied, “I am a big cunt. I’m about 6’5”.” Since we were chatting. We asked him about his unique Draught system. He explained, compressed air forces the beer out of the cask. When the handle is pulled 45º straight toward him. It dispenses beer straight from the cask. There is a hole that he keeps his thump over. (I reckon this hole is called a carburetor.) If he then turns it 90º, it pulls the beer out of the drip tray. If he removes his thumb from the hole at 45º, it depressurizes the faucet, and allows the beer to foam more. He explained that he is very careful to keep things clean. So, as the big cunt pours the pint, he controls both the amount of foam on top of the beer, and the amount of reclaimed beer that is dispensed into the pint. My friend James seemed alarmed by this. I was excited, and exclaimed “Yorkshire autoback!” As I sipped me delicious pint, I asked the big cunt how much reclaimed beer he put in it. He said, “typically 10-20%.” James got a WTF look on his face. I got excited, and said, “this is similar to a Yorkshire outback!”