Be an armchair activist

It’s the time of year when you can get involved and influence things without leaving home (although you will need to sometimes leave the house and go to the pub!). Nominations for pubs to be entered into the Derbyshire Cider & Perry Pub of the Year competition have now closed, thanks for those who nominated pubs to be recognised for their outstanding range and promotion of proper cider and perry! We are now looking for local CAMRA members to nominate the best beers brewed regularly in Yorkshire and the East Midlands. This is done by voting online for your top 5 local beers in each category. The beers with the highest votes, along with beers reccommended by the network of official CAMRA tasting panels in the region will be put forward for judging at various beer festivals in our region with the beers winning at those festivals going forward into the Champion Beer of Britain (CBOB) competition. The finals of CBOB are judged at the National Winter Ales Festival or Great British Beer Festival depending on style. To vote log in with your membership number and password (default password is your postcode) at www.camrabreweryinfo.org.uk/cbobvoting/login.asp We have also started the process to select which pubs in the Sheffield & District branch area will get a listing in the Good Beer Guide’s 2015 edition. As there are more good pubs in our area than space in the guide we have to narrow it down to the best of the best. The guide is often used by visitors to the area who want recommendations of the pubs to visit where they are guaranteed good quality real ale and a nice atmosphere. The method of selecting entries in our area is by our members voting. A ballot paper will be available at the next branch meeting with a list of many pubs in our area that always serve real ale to choose from. The pubs with the most votes will then go forward for surveying to check they are still up to Good Beer Guide Standard and to gather information about the pubs to be published in the guide. As well as the survey visit to check the pubs voted for, we also take into account data from the National Beer Scoring System (NBSS). CAMRA members can rate the beer in the pubs they drink in and submit their scores to the NBSS via the WhatPub.com website – simply search for the pub then enter the scores on the form alongside the pub details.. These votes can alert us to pubs where the beer quality is inconsistent , it can potentially also alert us to good pubs that have somehow stayed off our radar! Talking of WhatPub.com we aim to make this website the most comprehensive and up to date free online guide to real ale pubs, to achieve this we need your help! If you find yourself visiting a pub where the WhatPub listing is out of date or incorrect please find out the new details and submit an update via the link on the website.