Generously spread over 11 days, Cask Ale Week gets under way on September 23. Events and activities are brewing and will be announced soon. But you don’t have to wait to start drinking it.

Cask conditioned beer, or ‘real ale’ as it’s otherwise known, has had a hard time during the pandemic. Thousands of pints had to be poured down the drain when lockdown closed the pubs, and brewers remain nervous about producing too much of a product that doesn’t keep for long. So try and order something on the handpumps when you can.

Quality remains an issue, though. Cask beer is ‘live’, meaning it undergoes a second fermentation in the pub cellar. That makes it a rare kind of product that’s finished by the person selling it. Skill, patience and passion are required, and not every publican can serve a great pint.

Only five Newham pubs are listed in the 2021 Good Beer Guide, chosen by local members of the Campaign for Real Ale. First among those has to be the Black Lion in Plaistow, not only a genuine freehouse and the Borough’s most historically interesting pub – it’s an 18^th Century coaching inn – but one that prides itself on its cask beer.

There are usually three or four on the pumps, including ‘house’ ale Captain Bob from Essex brewer Mighty Oak. On my last visit I was surprised to see Boltmaker from Yorkshire’s Timothy Taylor. Timmy’s is more famous for its Landlord but Boltmaker won Camra’s Champion Beer of Britain a few years back and you don’t often see it down here.

How to spot a good pint? One tell is the lacing on the glass. It shows the beer has successfully re-fermented or ‘conditioned’ – and it’s a sign of a clean glass, too.

The Black Lion also displays the blue Cask Marque plaque, meaning its beer has been approved by independent experts, mostly retired brewers, so that’s something else to look out for.

The others in the Good Beer Guide are Greene King’s Golden Fleece in Forest Gate, Tap East brewpub in Westfield, and a pair of Wetherspoon’s, the Miller’s Well in East Ham and the Golden Grove in Stratford.

And with the likes of the Boleyn, the Denmark Arms and the Forest Tavern reopening I reckon there could be a couple of additional pubs in the 2022 Guide. Live beer is looking up!

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