the times they are a changin', Roger

March 31, 2011

I’ll start by stating a couple of things: firstly, I am a fully paid up member of CAMRA (that’s the Campaign for Real Ale) and, secondly, I also think they have achieved an awful lot for the brewing and pub industries in the UK for which they should be applauded.

That’s that out of the way then.

As a member of CAMRA, I receive a copy of their newspaper, “What’s Brewing”. I read it, some of it I find interesting, some of it I find rather dull (too many photos of brewers and landlords in their novelty ties, holding up a pint of old whasisname and grinning at the camera).

April’s edition - or, at least, one article - has got my back up.

The article is a regular feature by Roger Protz, a man who is without doubt a true aficionado of all things beer and author of some excellent books on the subject, including 300 Beers to Try Before You Die (unfortunate title, very good reading). So why has Roger got my goat?

Keg beer.

I know, I know, CAMRA is all about cask beer and real ale but, seriously, oranges are not the only fruit and all that. But Roger himself is hacked off because people have been writing on their blogs and in press articles that, hey, keg beer isn’t all bad; in fact, some of it can even be very good. So, come on CAMRA, why not give it a try?

Nope. Not on your nelly. That would be, well, heresy. And Roger turns the clock back 40 years to prove it.

I was too young to drink beer in 1971 (just the one candle on the birthday cake for me, thanks) but I do know that it wasn’t the best of times for the British brewing industry. So, CAMRA is formed and they get behind the country’s breweries and that staple of the traditional pub, cask ale. The British cask ale stood firm against, by all accounts, some pretty dreadful mass-produced beer.

A brewing industry that was on it’s knees now boasts over 700 breweries across the land. Well done, everyone.

But that was 40 years ago. In 1971, World War II had only finished a mere 26 years previously. We were still using ‘old money’. Rolls Royce went bankrupt and was nationalised. Jim Morrison popped his clogs.

Times have changed, Roger. I agree, not always for the better, but if you’re going to boast about the number of members that CAMRA have (120,000 at the last count) then you need to appreciate that, to a lot of them, what happened 40 years ago is no longer relevant.

To a lot of people (not just, and I quote, “noisome bloggers”) good beer means just that, good beer. Sure they want to know why it tastes good, who brewed it and a little more about it’s provenance, but they sure as hell don’t want to be lectured to and they most certainly don’t want to be told what’s good and what’s bad based purely on whether it’s cask or keg.

I would like to challenge you and CAMRA on this front: stop preaching, stop lecturing and try educating by helping drinkers make an informed choice, not just telling them that it is good because it comes from out of a cask.

Far too often I’ve seen beer being lauded for it’s real ale and local credentials, but the liquid has been verging on the undrinkable. I am fortunate enough to live in Cumbria, a county with over 30 breweries and which I’m happy to help promote but - hand on heart - I cannot truthfully say that all of their beer is good, but I will continue to support them.

Yes, cask beer may have been lost in the UK* had CAMRA not been established, and yes, the real ale market is doing very well, but don’t think for one minute that every pub in the land would suddenly see a massive reversal in fortunes off the back of introducing more cask ale.

To bring this to conclusion, I feel your article shows that you and many CAMRA members are still in a mindset that was relevant in the early 1970s - to illustrate, in the very first paragraph, you make reference to Spitfire aircraft in the last world war. This outlook reflects a generational attitude which CAMRA could do well to distance itself from should they wish to continue in any meaningful fashion for another 40 years.

By the way, this was an insert which came with “What’s Brewing”, a very good example of marketing targeted at a specific readership profile.