Ken Newbury
Active member
ale can be sold as cask conditioned (where a bit of the residue/yeast from the brewing process remains in the cask and the beer conditions) or can be bright (which has been poured from a cask and placed into a container and the residue is not present - the beer will not improve any further).
In essence, Bright beer is easier to store and transport because you dont have to lay the cask down to settle (ensuring the reside remains in the cask and not in the pint that is served). It means ale can be transferred in and out of a venue the same day. For the suppliers it means they can use it elsewhere.
The disadvantage of bright is that once it's put into the container it has a limited shelf life whereas cask conditioned can be stored for far longer.
These days you will also find that bottled ales can sometimes come as bottle conditioned which means that the residue is also present in the bottle and the beer continues to prove.
... and of course as ROSM knows from experience, you can move a container of bright beer, however if you move or shake a conatiner of cask conditioned beer it renders it undrinkable for 24 hours until it re-settles!