Franconian Beer Message Board

OT: CAMRA GBG 2014
Posted by Nick B. on 2013-12-28 01:59:29
Funny (or not), the 2014 is the first year I haven't got a copy immediately after its been published (Sept?) since probably 2008. Just kind of forgot about it, since we've had no plans to visit the UK in the last year, nor do I expect to in the coming months. (Which sounds sad, now that I think about it.)

Those who aren't familiar with it should know that the Good Beer Guide is primarily a guide to pubs, pubs that have been selected by CAMRA members based on the quality of real cask-conditioned beer availability. Then the back fourth or third of the massive book is a listing of all the breweries in the UK, with tasting notes for as many of their beers as possible.

Indeed there was a bunch of hand-wringing in the blogosphere and twittosphere a year or so ago, when the number of breweries in the UK apparently reached or exceeded the magical round number of 1000. "When will this bubble burst?" Me, I think it's aweso...erm...fantastic. 

Now the range of beer is mind boggling!  No need to wander from pub to pub as many are mini-beer festivals in their own right.

I used to say things like I would never need to visit a CAMRA festival, because wandering from pub to pub in England amounted to a beer festival in its own right. Then I visited a couple, most notably in Leeds (180 casks?) Nottingham (>1000 casks!), and was absolutely astounded by the work put in by the volunteers, let alone the quality of the beers on offer. Not that I ever managed to sample more than a few dozen on any given day, of course.

While I have a soft spot for the Bar Fringe, as it is kind of a lovely place (sort of a bruin café in Manc) and I had what I think was my first ever post-modern, really well-hopped golden ale there in the form of Phoenix Spotland Gold in 2007 (?), which was the first such beer that eventually inspired me to brew my own version 155 times in the past 3 years, it's kind of gone down-hill since then, especially service-wise. Or I've had bad luck, going in when it's been full of rowdier types than I would normally like to share pub space with.

I think the Britons Protection and Peveril of the Peak haven't been listed for several years now.

Also, CAMRA's new pub-finder webbie has nearly 36,000 pubs serving real ale/cask-conditioned beer listed.

Highly, highly recommend Nottingham next October!

 
Followups:
     OT: CAMRA GBG 2014 by barry on  2013-12-28 06:11:21
       OT: CAMRA GBG 2014 by Nick B.  on  2013-12-28 07:22:46