tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post6116935358462336447..comments2024-03-28T17:11:52.333+00:00Comments on The Pub Curmudgeon: Inside the big beer tentCurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-66388922859449355332014-02-19T10:23:30.466+00:002014-02-19T10:23:30.466+00:00I don't know, the majority of camra members ha...I don't know, the majority of camra members have been saying this for years now, and every year the NE ignore us and carry on as before. I'm getting deja vu.<br /><br />Every year the same, beer sales falling, pubs shutting, the prohibitionists growing stronger and greedier, and CAMRA looking more and more irrelevant and out of touch. 40 years of hard work and dedication squandered.pynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-2909036540091669532014-02-18T21:59:23.500+00:002014-02-18T21:59:23.500+00:00“CAMRA has always campaigned on subjects well beyo...“CAMRA has always campaigned on subjects well beyond real ale. It presents itself as a champion of all beer drinkers and pub goers, not just real ale drinkers. So I don’t see why it can’t adopt a more open-minded attitude to non-real beers while still retaining its core objective of protecting and promoting British cask beer. It simply needs to accept that CAMRA publications and spokespeople are allowed to discuss, review and praise non-real products rather than just pretending they don’t exist. “<br /><br />To be fair CAMRA has started doing this already. Des de Moor’s CAMRA Guide to London's Best Beer, Pubs & Bars includes quite a few craft beer bars amongst its selection, and whilst it obviously concentrates on cask, it does also mention “craft keg” and brewery-conditioned, bottled beers. Granted it doesn’t give chapter and verse on these products, but at least it doesn’t ignore them completely.<br /><br />I firmly believe that the "softly-softly" approach will bring sensible reforms to the Campaign without the need for possibly contentious National Conference motions, and that these changes will happen sooner rather than later. Also, as others have pointed out, the last thing CAMRA needs is to tie itself up with definitions that are too rigid, and hence unworkable. After all, look what's happened to cider, and that's not even beer!Paul Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678639237696546268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-19243119209565657982014-02-17T18:42:12.374+00:002014-02-17T18:42:12.374+00:00The beer festivals are a big factor - I know plent...The beer festivals are a big factor - I know plenty of people round here who are members who don't even really like real ale, but they do like getting pissed and it works out cheaper to buy membership than to pay full price for the beer festivals.pynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-86823771518594447362014-02-17T18:39:00.736+00:002014-02-17T18:39:00.736+00:00Cookie. CAMRA is relevant to anyone, young or old...Cookie. CAMRA is relevant to anyone, young or old, who likes drinking in 'spoons. Those vouchers are a major incentive dcbwhaleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585310584555592882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-62336702103692136572014-02-17T14:37:58.585+00:002014-02-17T14:37:58.585+00:00It always makes sense for likeminded consumers to ...It always makes sense for likeminded consumers to get togeither and campaign for the products they like and enjoy, especially when they feel as strongly about them as people do about beer and pubs and when the products they like are constantly under threat from a variety of different sources.<br /><br />CAMRA was set up in the 70s to do exactly this, and succeeded. Mainly by accident, it has since transformed from an active political, economic and social campaigning organisation into a beer drinkers club.<br /><br />This is a shame, because although the old threats to beer and pubs have faded, new, more dangerous ones have come to the fore and are gaining ground.<br /><br />Unfortunately the powerbrokers in CAMRA have either failed to recognise this or simply don't care anymore.<br /><br />It would be nice if CAMRA could remember what the CAM stands for in their name and started doing something useful, I'm not really interested in a social club, I have enough mates of my own thanks, and they don't try to tell me what to drink either.<br /> PYnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-67059953212084383132014-02-17T11:27:03.186+00:002014-02-17T11:27:03.186+00:00The bit I don't get is regarding the assumptio...The bit I don't get is regarding the assumption that a new generation will eventually alter CAMRA is the assumption that CAMRA has any relevance at all to them. I'm not having a beardie slag off, but campaigning for better beer in pubs is a fairly bourgeois idea to begin with. As the market seems to be responding to consumer demand anyway why bother? Do 20 year old drinkers feel the need to campaign for it? If so why? The direction CAMRA appears to be going is one of changing into a pubs campaign rather than real ale which sort of makes sense. They just need to realise that isn’t the same thing as an anti tesco campaign.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-36862168620697406262014-02-17T09:05:25.497+00:002014-02-17T09:05:25.497+00:00Your last paragraph reminds me of Max Planck's...Your last paragraph reminds me of Max Planck's famous quotation<br /><br />"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."<br /><br />Just replace "scientific truth" with "definition of real ale" dcbwhaleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585310584555592882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-36801873701761832032014-02-17T08:34:55.318+00:002014-02-17T08:34:55.318+00:00Thin end of the wedge, drinking this chemical fizz...Thin end of the wedge, drinking this chemical fizz muck.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-62994733208991129002014-02-16T11:00:46.029+00:002014-02-16T11:00:46.029+00:00I don't think anyone is suggesting CAMRA shoul...I don't think anyone is suggesting CAMRA should get rid of the focus on real ale; but it would be good to come to an understanding that in inspiring an interest in beer among the young, craft keg is far more likely to bring people to real ale than it is to take them away from it, and with a bit of support from a large influential organisation like CAMRA it could do this much quicker.pynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-61008579983837390482014-02-15T12:21:19.837+00:002014-02-15T12:21:19.837+00:00Although I don't like keg beers myself, I thin...Although I don't like keg beers myself, I think that CAMRA should review it's policy. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08202924822116900889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-44021131366959374422014-02-15T10:13:21.595+00:002014-02-15T10:13:21.595+00:00It has starred creeping into beer but always as a ...It has starred creeping into beer but always as a secondary to cask ale and always mentioned in inverted commasAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-27809471623138207462014-02-15T09:57:16.881+00:002014-02-15T09:57:16.881+00:00Very well said.Very well said.deadmanjoneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17920080723618205512noreply@blogger.com