Options
Real Ale: CAMRA
![[Deleted User]](https://w5.vanillicon.com/v2/5b5b26298dac9328ebb2bc2f316c8cf2.svg)
[Deleted User]
Posts: 9,517 Forum Member
✭
I was wondering what people thought of CAMRA, the real ale group. I enjoy real ale but I have always thought that many of the pubs they recommend are not the best pubs around.
They seem to choose pubs purely on the quality of the beer and on no other considerations. The local, Nottingham, pub of the year, is the NewsHouse which is a fairly grim place, the clientele being almost exclusively elderly men sitting on their own slowly sipping pints. No doubt the beer is good but it is not my idea of a good pub.
About 200m away is a lively pub, with Sky tv and a good mixture of ages, always busy, and a selection of real ales. It is quite difficult if you go to an unfamiliar town to know what kind of place you will come across if you go purely by the CAMRA guide.
CAMRA seem to hate any pubs with music or Sky TV, and that of course is their prerogative. But I do wish they would give a better indication of the type of pub they are recommending in their guides.
They seem to choose pubs purely on the quality of the beer and on no other considerations. The local, Nottingham, pub of the year, is the NewsHouse which is a fairly grim place, the clientele being almost exclusively elderly men sitting on their own slowly sipping pints. No doubt the beer is good but it is not my idea of a good pub.
About 200m away is a lively pub, with Sky tv and a good mixture of ages, always busy, and a selection of real ales. It is quite difficult if you go to an unfamiliar town to know what kind of place you will come across if you go purely by the CAMRA guide.
CAMRA seem to hate any pubs with music or Sky TV, and that of course is their prerogative. But I do wish they would give a better indication of the type of pub they are recommending in their guides.
0
Comments
Campaign for real ale
Good beer guide
It probably answers your question
There are publications called good pub guides, but these don't concenntrate on the beer
As I said , they do actively oppose any pub which has Sky TV and they also campaigned FOR the smoking ban which means they are not just interested in good beer.
Why they cannot tell you something about the pub in their guides, for instance whether it is a place for 18 year olds or for the over 65s, baffles me.
Why can't they give a simple summary of the type of pub they are recommending rather than saying it has great beer , because we know that anyway.
PM me if you need any testing staff
Camra is about the beer, but they also campaign to keep traditional pubs.
Central Nottingham has 9 pubs listed from the tourist trap Olde Trip to Jerusalem, the Newshouse where they show sport on large screens, the Salutation Inn with live rock music and a few smaller and more intimate places. It seems there's a good range listed.
I am a member of CAMRA!
However I do think that Wetherspoons are the best chain pub group for Real Ales, they take the seriously unlike a lot of others that seem to offer one or two mainstream brands (In London this tends to be London Pride and/or Wells Bombardier) on the handpump as a token gesture to Ale Lovers.
Real ale is a British tradition.
I love real ale, stout and proper good lager although not all at once.;)
Real ale has so much more flavour than the mass produced brews supplied by the nasty beer globalists.
Here, Here! agree with you entirely! I am a Real Ale newbie after going to the Greenwich Beer Festival last year I became hooked on Ale after many years of drinking nasty lager.
Wash your mouth out with soap, don't mention the 'L' word
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-taste/news-and-features/2012/04/27/camra-meeting-causes-a-storm-with-local-breweries-61634-30848933/
camra causing a bit of a sh*t storm up north.
Obviously not all Wetherspoons are nice cosy little places but if you are out with a group of like minded friends who want to drink decent beer and chat about nonsense for a few hours then they are ideal.
My bro is a CAMRA person and he always chooses the pubs when we meet up. I am usually disappointed as yes they will sell real ale but it is generally only 1 or 2 types and often they are from big breweries - I like that Wetherspoons seem to bring in beers from all sorts of tiny breweries.
Their beer festivals are generally good too.
And they seem to bet he cheapest places around (although this does lead to some dodgy clients!)
Also the dig at the Wetherspoons vouchers that CAMRA members upon joining or renewing is rather unfair, as Gooby has rightly pointed out many of their outlets offer an excellent range of well-kept real ale these days. It sounds like there's more than one or two people a little "set in their ways" in the Tyneside and Northumberland branch!
I don't mind quiet and appropriate music. Techno is not right for a pub, background jazz or blues can be.
TV ok as long as the sound is down.
I never knock Wetherspoons. When they started even a 'Free House' would normally offer a fairly limited range of ales (and these were often lazily kept). Wetherspoons forced them to buck up their ideas - I think there are far more good pubs now than 30 years ago. If I'm somewhere new, fancy a pint and don't have the bible or electronic assistance on me I know Wetherspoons will provide me with a reliable, and often very good pint and several options. It's a very good fall back.