London City of Beer - CAMRA

Tonight saw the launch of CAMRA's London City of Beer initiative celebrating London's pubs and beers with a beer and food matching event hosted by Roger Protz at the City, fullers pub , the Red Herring.

During a summer when we are not allowed to mention the O word, the GM words or the LTT words for fear of offending the H word, we are left with promoting London as a City of Beer to celebrate the range of London brewed beers to visitors this summer.

Luckily we now have over 24 breweries in London with a few more to come in the coming weeks. Hopefully there will be plenty of beer events to enjoy in the coming weeks.

Check out www.londoncityofbeer.org.uk and www.londonbrewers.org for more details.

Live blogging again, so forgive the typos, spelling, grammar,and formatting.

Making CAMRA Better

In haste, my first attempt at mobile blogging, shamelessly cut and paste from an email. A test really. Better something than nothing. Your chance to influence CAMRA policies

Steve


Dear CAMRA Member,

As you may be aware, Greater London members of CAMRA have the opportunity
to collectively influence the future of the Campaign at a national level.
London Branches are hosting a conference on Saturday, 3 September 2011, to
hear members' views and to formulate recommendations to the Campaign's
National Executive. The conference theme is 'making CAMRA better'. The
venue is Questors Theatre in Ealing, who's Grapevine Bar was recently
chosen by a panel of judges as Regional Club of the Year for Greater London
because of its excellent ales, support of CAMRA's aims and superb value for
money.

The National Executive plan to review the strategic plan for the Campaign
later this autumn. They will consider the recommendations of the 'Fitness
for Purpose' review that was mandated at their AGM in 2010 and presented to
the membership at the 2011 Members’ weekend earlier this year. Their
focus will be on prioritising a few achievable campaigning goals each year
and increasing the involvement of grassroots members in strategic planning.
The text of the full report is available on the CAMRA website.

The day's programme will permit conference delegates to take part in
in-depth discussions of the major challenges and issues that CAMRA is
facing.

The threat to pubs - What are the social and economic factors that are
making it difficult for pubs to remain open. What, if anything, can CAMRA
do about it?

Responsible drinking. Are the anti-alcohol lobbies hijacking the moral
high ground? CAMRA believe that the pub is the heart of responsible
drinking. What can we do to dissociate ourselves from those who demonise
beer drinkers and pub-goers?

Taxation on beer is spiraling out of control. How can this be organised to
redress the balance between the pub and the supermarkets.

Advertising - is the customer being mislead by the mass media to the
detriment of cask-conditioned ale? Is customer choice being reduced?

Craft beer - What is it? Should CAMRA re-write its definition of real ale
to accommodate lovingly crafted neo-fizz?

Campaigning aspirations and audiences - are we preaching to the converted?

The London Branches are excited about this event and want to make the
conference a success.  All London members are encouraged to attend and
contribute their views. Our collective views will help steer CAMRA into the
future!

Questors Theatre is a short walk from Ealing Broadway Station. There is no
charge for admission. A selection of locally-produced cask-conditioned ales
and real ciders will be available in the Grapevine Bar at attractive
prices. Lunch will also be on sale. The bar is open well into the evening.
The premises are fully accessible for wheelchair users.

Please register at Gtrlondon@westlondon-camra.org.uk. Non-members are
invited to participate by joining CAMRA on the day.

I look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Kind regards
Kimberly Martin
CAMRA Regional Director for Greater London

A CAMRA Fundamentalist View

There has been much noise recently about whether CAMRA should embrace the new wave of craft keg beers that are now available.

As a fully paid up noisome blogger and also a previous CAMRA regional director, it is time for me to throw my tuppence in.

I am firmly of the opinion that CAMRA works best as a single issue Campaign. Focusing on the single issue of real ale gives clarity, strength and focus.

I agree with CAMRA chairman, Colin Valentine, when he says "The clue is in our name. We are the Campaign for Real Ale. Which one of those four words do the bloggerati not understand ? .....We decide what we will campaign for, not the bloggerati and while I have anything to do with it, we will remain the Campaign for Real Ale."

Oh, and by the way, as a CAMRA fundamentalist member of the bloggerati, I don't think the Campaign should spend its time, effort or resources on supporting, promoting or campaigning for any of the following :

Cider
Perry
Historic Pubs
Public Transport
Cheap Beer
Beer is Healthy
Beer for Women
Belgian Beer
German Beer
Czech Beer
Budveiser Budvar
Any Foreign Beer (that is not "real")
Good, Traditional Beers from Foreign Countries
Craft Keg
Any Keg Beer
Clubs
Beer Duty
Beer and Food
Drinking Beer at Home
Real Ale in a Bottle
Bottle Conditioned Beers
Full Pint
Licensing
Discounts for Members
Museums
Overseas Travel
Alcoholic Ginger Beer

This is not an exhaustive list.

I'll accept generic pub campaigning given that the on-trade is the only place to get good, fresh and tasty cask conditioned beer, but bring back the Campaign for REAL ALE and be rid of all the other detritus.

CAMRA's External Policy Document, clause 15 states :

CAMRA supports :
- the promotion of real ale as an environmentally friendly product.
- the promotion of the provenance and local identity of real ale, brewers and pubs.
- all real ale breweries,..., encouraging activities in line with CAMRA policies.....
- the consumption of real ale in pubs.
- campaigning activity against market distortions which damage real ale.

That's enough for me !

Good Beer Guide 2011

CAMRA books have been busy again this summer. The most recent offering is the latest edition of the Good Beer Guide, for so long the CAMRA members' bible.

This year's book (or should that be NEXT year's book ?)is another monster. 888 pages, 4,500 pub entries and almost 800 breweries including 88 opened in the last year.

This year's book also finds space to include the sixteen regional pubs of the year and also includes the details of each of the CAMRA branch pubs of the year. There are also the names of all of the finalists in this years Champion Beer of Britain competition.

This is the 38th edition and I buy a copy each year to maintain my collection. I think it is by admission out-of-date the day it is published given the fast moving pub scene - new ones open and sometimes even good pubs close. However, I trust the selection process and its coverage nationwide is complete. It cannot include every good pub but I think it is the best guide available to give you a pointer to good pubs across the country.

The cover price is £15.99, but my copy through the CAMRA direct debit scheme was £10

I was also lucky enough to receive a review copy from my friends at CAMRA HQ though that copy is already falling apart at the seams - a slight problem with the binding.

If it is in danger of being left behind by electronic guides and social media sites it is doing its best to keep up with Sat-Nav and mobile phone versions for an extra fiver - very useful for finding pubs in country lanes.

The spine has a quote from the Independent : "indispensable" - for all of it's misgivings I still tend to agree.

Ealing Beer Festival

My beery recommendation this week will take you to Walpole Park, Ealing where West Middlesex CAMRA are hosting the twenty first Ealing Beer Festival.

Over 170 cask ales will be there including plenty of fruit beers from Coach House Brewery and rare casks of Fuller's Porter and Vintage (2009). I will be seeking out the Grateful Deaf beer from Yorkshire's Elland Brewery; a true American pale ale created by Ken Fisher of the Grateful Deaf Brewing Society based in Oregon. Ken is a regular visitor to the Great British Beer Festival and I am expecting his liaison with the superb Elland brewery to be something special.

There will be the usual mix of ciders and perries for those odd-folk who prefer them (no comment from me). The foreign beer bar has been excellent in past years and I expect it to have a good range from Belgiuum, Germany and Holland including a Dutch mushroom beer for the real fun guys and the legendary Rochefort 10 from Belgium - one of the World's greatest beers.

The festival is open from Wednesday 7th July to Saturday 10th and is a short walk from Ealing Broadway station. Directions are clear on the web-site. Free entry for CAMRA members before 4pm. If it stays dry and the sun comes out, I recommend a visit - see you there perhaps.

CAMRA National Chairman

Today, I am going to post a few pieces of news that may have passed you by.

Firstly, last Saturday, Paula Waters stood down as CAMRA National Chairman. Colin Valentine was elected by the National Executive as the new Chairman with immediate effect.

Although many of the "figurehead" duties of the CAMRA Chair are now delegated to the head office team led by Chief Executive, Mike Benner; it is vital that the National Chairman is able to demonstrate leadership.

Leadership to the 110,000+ members, the 200+ branches, the 10,000+ active members, 1,000+ members at conference, 250+ beer festivals, 30+ HQ staff members - and that is just internal affairs. It is a thankless task and very difficult to be all things to all people.

Colin Valentine is a strong leader and I, for one, wish him the best of luck in his new role for the Campaign.

Retirement

Well, that's it. I am no longer CAMRA's Regional Director for London.

After four and a half years in the job, I feel it is time for a change and I did not put myself forward for re-election. Kimberly Martin was last night elected as CAMRA's new RD for the coming year. I wish her well.

This blog will continue - at least for the time being - I might not be able to bring information from within the Campaign nor act as a CAMRA spokesman, but hopefully I will be able to break free from my CAMRA shackles and bring some interesting commentary on beer, breweries and pubs in and around London. There is enough of a following to maintain the blog but I will easily see if readers drop off if my musing are less than interesting.

I am also the CAMRA Brewery Liaison Officer for Sambrook's Brewery so, apart from their web-site, this will continue to be the place to find their news and events.

Stay tuned !

I now turn my attentions to other things. I will now have upwards of 20 hours a week spare so if anyone can find me a similar job that involves visiting pubs and drinking beer, I could be tempted.

CAMRA Tasting Panels

On the Saturday session of Pig's Ear, I attended the CAMRA taste training course. This was a three hour session hosted by Christine Cryne, the chair of the London Tasting Panel.

CAMRA's tasting panels annually check and write the beer descriptions in the back of the Good Beer Guide and historically have nominated beers for the Champion Beer of Britain competition.

The first half of the course was to help trainees identify different beer faults. A standard beer had been watered down and doctored with chemicals to replicate the tastes such as phenol, diacityl, dms, cheesy, skunky etc etc that are sometimes found in beer.

The second half was a beer tasting session of about 6 beers and a tutorial on how to fill in the beer tasting cards.

I have enough trouble completing the National Beer Scoring System cards to score beers and pubs. The tasting cards are a different kettle of fish.

Each beer has to be completed as follows :

Date, Surveyor, Panel, Brewer, Beer, Pub, OG, ABV

Style :
Mild/Bitter/Best Bitter/Special Bitter/Speciality/Old/Porter,Stout/Barley Wine/Golden

Dispense : Handpump/Gravity/Electric/Air Pressure - Sparkler/Swanneck

Temperature : <12C/Cellar/>12C

Colour :
Black/Dark Brown/Red/Brown/Tawny/Copper/Pale Brown/Amber/Gold/Yellow/Straw

Clarity : Bright/Clear/Hazy/Cloudy

Head : Tight/Loose/Clingy - big/Medium/Small/None

Carbonation : High/Medium/Low/Flat

Mouthfeel : Smooth/Creamy/Grainy/Watery/Other

Then the scores each marked 0-4

Aroma : scores for Malt/Roast/Caramel/Hops/Fruit/Sulphur/Yeast

Taste : scores for Malt/Roast/Caramel/Hops/Fruit/Sweet/Bitter/Sulphur/Yeast

Aftertaste : scores for Malt/Roast/Caramel/Hops/Fruit/Sweet/Bitter/Sulphur/Yeast

Body : 0-5, thin to thick

Finally, if you are still with me, an overall score for style 0-10 and any other comments.

Bloody hell, that is an effort. I have yet to complete a form for a beer in the pub but if you do spot me sniffing, holding up to the light, gargling and writing, just humour me. It is an important job !

Activation

CAMRA branches are making an effort this year to engage more members to take part in social and campaigning activities. Something that is working for North London branch is a new email list for for general discussion of local pubs and social events.

The North London branch covers the London Boroughs of Camden, Islington, Brent, Haringey and parts of Hackney. As well as organising the well known London Drinker beer festival every March it also holds weekly social meetings in pubs and at beer festivals in the branch. Details of all events will be publicised on this email list.

This email list is open to everyone, not just those that live within the branch area. It is also open to non-CAMRA members.

The weekly "what's on" message is gathering momentum and includes a variety of useful information.

Details on how to get the weekly message are hopefully here

Or send an email to subscribe to
camranorthlondon-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Membership

The latest mailout from CAMRA HQ includes the latest analysis on membership numbers.

Membership currently stands at a beefy 94,585.

On current growth the 100,000th member will join sometime over the next 6 months and will be rightly trumpeted as a fantastic achievement.

There will be a photocall of that new member and care will undoubtedly be taken to make sure that our 100,000th member does not fit the usual CAMRA stereotype that is oft-time trotted out by the media.

In London we are approaching our 10,000th member over the same period.

Perhaps it is time for the landmark to be marked with a photocall of a middle aged man, with a beard, a large belly and sandals. Someone with a notebook, a trolley and some panda pop bottles. A brewery T-shirt, a fleece jacket and a baseball cap. Maybe someone who lets his membership lapse each year so that he can rejoin at a beer festival to take advantage of the usual joining offers.