An 'Outsiders' view to CAMRA and the Good Beer Guide

I have been on the verge of joining CAMRA for some time, but I have finally decided that I'm not going to bother. While CAMRA has brought real ale back from the depth of despair, it seems that their mission is complete and now they campaign for marginal issues which basically alienate the industry that supports the products that they are so passionate about; The Pubs. For instance, the 'Take it to the top' petition is a trivial campaign that insinuates that one in four pub landlords are deliberately ripping off drinkers. The linked article states that the statistics were generated by a CAMRA survey, hardly what I would call an independent study. Campaigns such as this clearly end up alienating pub landlords who in turn may think twice before deciding to stock real ale. The reality of the situation is that real ale costs more to keep, prepare and serve than lager or nitrokegged bitter and also has a smaller profit margin. Obviously most landlords are passionate about real ale, otherwise from a purely economic and business viewpoint combined with an active campaign branding them cheats, why would they bother?

Secondly the reserved use of the term 'beer' by CAMRA. This is something that has been a minor annoyance to me over the last few days. The blogosphere is currently awash with reports about how the CAMRA publication 'The Good Beer Guide' is produced. I find this process fascinating and appreciate that fellow bloggers such as Tandleman and Maeib have documented the process and how it works with their local CAMRA branches. My issues here is in regards to a discussion raised by Boak and Bailey. The post itself is civil and informative and reflects my own fascination with the process, but when I questioned the inclusion of real ale only in the 'Good Beer Guide' it opened up the true closed minded, elitist nature of the CAMRA commenter's on that particular post.

The official website of The Good Beer Guide states "The best place to find good pubs and good beer" where I interpret beer to mean both ale and lager. I understand that CAMRA stands for campaign for real ale, and that is the interest of the consumer group but surely the word 'beer' implies both ale and lager. This is pure ignorance on the part of CAMRA and in reality the guide should be called the 'Good Ale Guide'. Another issue is the indecision of what the guide actually is. Is it a guide to real ale, or a guide to pubs? Different commenter's on the post in question seem confused. I had a skim through at my local WHS at lunch and basically it features pubs and mentions the real ales served. I see that The Jerusalem Tavern who stock the amazing Moravka lager is listed, but there is no mention of the British produced lager in the guide.

Back over at Boak and Bailey, one commenter Tyson makes the following point;

"CAMRA is an organisation dedicated to promoting real ale. The GBG is a by product of that-it was started and its purpose still is to help find real ale pubs. It is not close minded for an organisation to fulfill its remit-it is normal. The Catholic Church does not print a directory of Anglican churches, nor does the AA print the Good Train Guide"

Interesting enough, but neither The Catholic Church or AA publish a guide which is published under a blanket title such as 'Guide to Christianity' or 'Definitive transport in the UK', which is akin to the the CAMRA title 'Good Beer Guide'.

Finally Tandleman pipes up with;

"As Tyson says it is interesting to hear an outside view, albeit one that seems to miss the point".

Sadly it seems that the CAMRA folk commentating have missed the point. I understand the issue fully, but as an 'outsider' the issue is obviously too complicated for me. Really sometimes I feel like I am shouting at people with hands over their ears!.

I could keep on ranting, but I really couldn't be bothered. I'll speak with my wallet and not join CAMRA. Besides the benefit of not being stereotyped as a plastic bag carrying, bearded freak, I'd rather not let my money go towards pointless campaigns like 'Take it to the top', which inadvertently accuses the industry I like blogging about. I think I'll stick with CAMEL.

Photo atrribution to 46137 @ Flickr