Blog Tracker
08-02-2017, 19:24
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/qa-cask-ends-painted-red/)
https://i0.wp.com/boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/red_end_cask_wood.jpg?resize=650%2C482Q: ‘Why*do wooden beer casks have red paint on the rims?’ The Beer NutHaving been asked this question more than a year ago (https://twitter.com/thebeernut/status/692688933499621376) we got a nudge earlier today*when Barry Masterson issued the same query, with a supplementary question: Is it a special type of paint (https://twitter.com/BarMas/status/829336944886812672)?
Ideally, we’d have liked to find a whole string of historical texts setting out how this came to be, but… Didn’t. Like many of the more functional aspects of brewery life, it seems to have gone largely undocumented, at least in readily available print sources. There is, however, this nice bit from Alfred Barnard’s 1889 book*The Noted Breweries of Great Britain & Ireland in which he describes the purpose of the painted cask-ends at Guinness in Dublin:
The heads of the casks containing single stout are painted with a rim of white, double and foreign stout, red, and export, yellow.
In other words, in this one case at least, it was a pragmatic approach to dealing with the challenges of moving and storing large amounts of different types of beer.
We decided, in lieu of contemporary evidence, that the quickest way to get to some sort of satisfactory answer was to email Alastair Simms (@AlastairSimms (https://twitter.com/AlastairSimms)), Britain’s last master cooper, at the White Rose Cooperage (http://whiterosecooperage.com/). He told us (with some small edits for clarity):
The cask ends are painted to seal the end grain of the staves. When everybody was using wood, the ends of the casks were painted in the brewery colours. After the decline in wood, the most popular colour was red, so by default most casks ended up being painted that colour. Originally, the paint used was a special formula devised to dry quickly so a cask could be painted at both ends in an hour. Now we use acrylic paint.
Until we come across any historic material to contradict it that strikes us as a pretty good answer. Thanks, Alastair! And just to prove Alastair’s point that red is merely a matter of taste and tradition, here’s a cask of Wild Beer Co Shnoodlepip painted*grey!
https://i1.wp.com/boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/oak_cask_shnoodlepip_474.jpg?resize=474%2C242
And, as far as we know, no-one died as a result.
Q&A: Why Are Cask Ends Painted Red? (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/qa-cask-ends-painted-red/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/qa-cask-ends-painted-red/)
https://i0.wp.com/boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/red_end_cask_wood.jpg?resize=650%2C482Q: ‘Why*do wooden beer casks have red paint on the rims?’ The Beer NutHaving been asked this question more than a year ago (https://twitter.com/thebeernut/status/692688933499621376) we got a nudge earlier today*when Barry Masterson issued the same query, with a supplementary question: Is it a special type of paint (https://twitter.com/BarMas/status/829336944886812672)?
Ideally, we’d have liked to find a whole string of historical texts setting out how this came to be, but… Didn’t. Like many of the more functional aspects of brewery life, it seems to have gone largely undocumented, at least in readily available print sources. There is, however, this nice bit from Alfred Barnard’s 1889 book*The Noted Breweries of Great Britain & Ireland in which he describes the purpose of the painted cask-ends at Guinness in Dublin:
The heads of the casks containing single stout are painted with a rim of white, double and foreign stout, red, and export, yellow.
In other words, in this one case at least, it was a pragmatic approach to dealing with the challenges of moving and storing large amounts of different types of beer.
We decided, in lieu of contemporary evidence, that the quickest way to get to some sort of satisfactory answer was to email Alastair Simms (@AlastairSimms (https://twitter.com/AlastairSimms)), Britain’s last master cooper, at the White Rose Cooperage (http://whiterosecooperage.com/). He told us (with some small edits for clarity):
The cask ends are painted to seal the end grain of the staves. When everybody was using wood, the ends of the casks were painted in the brewery colours. After the decline in wood, the most popular colour was red, so by default most casks ended up being painted that colour. Originally, the paint used was a special formula devised to dry quickly so a cask could be painted at both ends in an hour. Now we use acrylic paint.
Until we come across any historic material to contradict it that strikes us as a pretty good answer. Thanks, Alastair! And just to prove Alastair’s point that red is merely a matter of taste and tradition, here’s a cask of Wild Beer Co Shnoodlepip painted*grey!
https://i1.wp.com/boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/oak_cask_shnoodlepip_474.jpg?resize=474%2C242
And, as far as we know, no-one died as a result.
Q&A: Why Are Cask Ends Painted Red? (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/qa-cask-ends-painted-red/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/qa-cask-ends-painted-red/)