As my friend Rob pointed out, beer bloggers like nothing better than slagging off CAMRA. Recently such scandals as CAMRA's evil conspiracy to make you get a full pint when you buy one and some CAMRA members are twats who also spot trains and some CAMRA members are twats who won't drink crap beer even when it's free have been posted about. Now I like a good whinge as much as the next person, so of course I've whinged on about CAMRA myself, but I'm finding it a bit tedious now.
I'm begining to suspect that the reason people like to go off on one about CAMRA is because as far as an organisation for beer lovers in Britain goes CAMRA is the only game in town. CAMRA engages in far more activities than "saving cask beer" now so there's always something it does that people disagree with or think it could do better. To help people get the whinging out of their system I've decided to compile a list of the things CAMRA gets up to, and once they've been listed we can systematically work through them and say if they're good, bad or indifferent.
CAMRA:
- Promotes cask beer
- Promotes bottle conditioned beer
- Promotes mild in May
- Promotes real cider
- Promotes local beers
- Promotes Budweiser Budvar
- Publishes the Good Beer Guide
- Published local beer guides
- Publishes Beer magazine
- Publishes What's Brewing newspaper
- Publishes local magazines
- Publishes other beer books
- Sells merchandising whatnots
- Organises the Great British Beer Festival
- Organises local beer festivals
- Organises local social events
- Runs the Champion Beer of Britain competition
- Runs local beer competitions
- Runs a bottled beer competition
- Campaigns against brewery closures
- Campaigns against pub closures
- Campaigns for full pints
- Has a policy of opposing multinationals advertising beer
- Provides Wetherspoons discount vouchers to its members
- Has a bottled beer club
- Has an investments club
EDITED TO ADD:
- Campaigns for minimum alcohol pricing
- Campaigns againsts cask breathers
- Campaigns to get its members discounts in pubs
Please post a comment about anything I've forgotten.
Campaigns to increase beer and cider prices?
ReplyDeleteOnly game in town? You wilfully forget the Campaign for Greater Cooking Lager Appreciation. CAMRA is the 20th century. Lout is the 21st.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, they supported minimum pricing didn't they? A very bad idea.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the good things they do that bother us, and very many good things they do too, but it's the things they fight against, which are not bad, such as cask breathers, unfiltered keg beer, non-bottle conditioned beer and publicans and others in the beer industry making an honest living.
ReplyDeleteDave - "CAMRA fight against publicans and others in the beer industry making an honest living" do they? Please explain. (Oh and campaigning for something doesn't have the corollary of being against other things.)
ReplyDeleteDave may be alluding to the pub discount scheme. I'm not sure CAMRA does campaign against unfiltered keg beer and non-bottled conditioned beer though, surely it just doesn't promote them (unless they're foreign)?
ReplyDeleteDestroyed the progress of proper real keg.
ReplyDeleteWhy not add "Gives a sense of belonging to odd balls" ?
ReplyDeleteI think that comes under organising local social events.
ReplyDelete