Category: Opinion

As you are probably aware, the government’s recent activity regarding business rates has not gone down well with the hospitality industry.

The originally planned premises revaluation would have seen large increases in rateable values, and resulted in some pub’s valuations rise by an average of 32%. Over 5,000 pubs would have seen their rates at least double. With this happening at the same time as the Covid-era support being withdrawn it was a hammer blow to the industry and prompted a massive backlash. More than 1,000 pubs banned labour MP’s from their premises in protest, which prompted a government rethink. Pubs will now see a 15% discount on their rates, which are also frozen for the next 2 years. However, this is not enough support, with the phrase “sticking plaster” appearing regularly in the press.

Here’s is the reaction from CAMRA; the Campaign For Pubs; and some of our local pub operators.

Ash Corbett-Collins, CAMRA Chairman

“This short-term announcement is not the ‘permanently lower business rates’ that pubs were promised. While it is positive that the Chancellor has listened and announced extra discounts for pubs facing the threat of closure, it is short-sighted to think that today’s statement will give publicans the certainty they need.

“The plan to review the unfair way pubs are assessed for business rates is welcome, but this leaves pubs in the same situation as they have been for years – still facing a long wait for promised, and fundamental, reforms to make the system fairer.

“CAMRA will keep campaigning to get the Government to support great pubs and independent breweries so they can compete against online businesses and cheap supermarket booze.”

On changes to licensing hours and relaxation of planning rules, Ash said:

“Letting pubs stay open for longer or extending their premises is not going to solve the fundamental problem where otherwise viable businesses face being taxed out of existence. Licensees are already limiting their opening hours and can’t afford to invest in their buildings. The Government should fundamentally review the tax burden on pubs and independent breweries from things like VAT and alcohol duty to see if those systems can be made fairer, to give our locals a fighting chance against cheap supermarket alcohol.”

Dawn Hopkins, Vice-Chair of the Campaign for Pubs, and a licensee in Norwich said:

“This U-turn on the business rates betrayal and the extra relief is essential, to avoid the otherwise catastrophic hikes in business rates, but is just another sticking plaster and whilst a relief, does not address the fundamental unfairness of the business rates system to pubs and the dodgy system of valuation currently used.

“The Labour Party promised genuine reform of the whole system of business taxes and they promised permanently lower rates for pubs, so these are still two broken promises until and unless they deliver that through a new fairer system.

We are deeply disappointed that the Government has left the completely flawed and unjustifiable revaluation in place, which has produced absurd rateable values that bear no relation to the very tough reality of trading for pubs.

“Whilst we welcome a review, the fact is that Labour promised to abolish business rates, not to merely commission a review, this is kicking it into the long grass.

We are therefore calling on all publicans in England and Wales to write to their MP and make it clear that the current revaluation is wrong and that the highly dubious and unfair ‘Fair Maintainable Trade’ system of calculating pub rates must be scrapped and a new system pub in place from 2027, not 2029. Without this, the issue is not resolved so we urge them to listen and deliver the genuine reform they themselves promised”.

Paul Crossman, Chair of the Campaign for Pubs and licensee of three pubs in York said:

“We are disappointed that the Govt has not gone further on business rates and ditched the current revaluation for pubs completely while maintaining existing rateable values and reliefs for at least another year as we asked.

The new valuations are the product of a flawed methodology that has now been rightly acknowledged as unfit for purpose by the Govt.

“While the further discount and freezing of bills for three years is welcome, it cannot be right that pubs are now saddled with higher rateable values going forward when they are clearly the product of a flawed system.

“Replacing this methodology with a fair new system that actively supports pubs will now be key, and it is vital that grassroots rates-paying businesses are consulted and that this time their needs are prioritised over those of the big property-owning corporations that have exclusively influenced and shaped all pub-related policy in the past”.

Chris Bamford, Co-owner of Rutland Arms, The Crow & Harlequin

“The latest business rates saga serves to further illustrate the incredibly challenging conditions pubs, and the hospitality and retail industries in general, are currently operating in. In the budget, business rates were initially sold as being ‘cut’, which transpired to actually for most businesses be an increase, and after the partial u-turn and ‘15% reduction) for some at least is more of a temporary maintenance of the status quo. This is on top of operating costs having spiralled massively during the cost of living crisis, including tax rises and amongst the highest tax burden on hospitality in Europe, at a time when increased pressure has been put on our customers disposable income. Pubs are rightly a valuable source of income for the treasury, as well as significant employers, but a closed pub pays no tax and offers no employment opportunities.

I believe pubs are an often undervalued asset to the community, safe spaces for meeting people, giving a platform, or even just rehearsal space to the arts. In our ever increasingly digital age they give space for real human contact, and unlike supermarket bought alcohol, a regulated environment in which to drink. Too many pubs which would and should be viable if given the right support and conditions have closed already and more will follow. We need a review of Business rates and tax on hospitality to restore balance versus supermarkets and to ensure pubs can continue to thrive as hubs of the local community. The pub should be celebrated for its positive contributions to society, rather than targeted as a cash cow.”

Sean Kelly, Director, True North Brew Co.

“While the latest business rate changes are welcomed, more is required—for operators in the industry we feel too small and too late to counter years of mounting pressure. The mechanics of the discount have not been released, and while the government have a way of spinning it as positive, the reality on the ground is that it doesn’t go far enough and should include all hospitality venues, not just parts of the sector. What’s really needed is a full revamp of the rates system so it reflects modern trading conditions and supports community venues properly. Ultimately, if the aim is to protect pubs, bars and the wider hospitality ecosystem, a meaningful VAT cut is the game changer that would make the biggest and fastest difference.”

Toby Grattidge, Co-Managing Director, Abbeydale Brewery & Rising Sun pub.

“Our rateable value at the Rising Sun has increased by a staggering 70% since 2023. Over the last 6 years, the changes to the tax regime have been relentless in hitting pubs – while we wholeheartedly support staff getting paid a good wage, when coupled with increases to national insurance, raw material costs and beer duty it can make it feel as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel. 

We feel very fortunate at the Rising Sun to be a thriving pub with the support of our community, as well as financial support from the brewery behind us, meaning we’re aware we’re as well placed for survival as it’s possible to be – but if this approach to taxation continues there won’t be an industry left to tax. It’s increasingly difficult for pubs to be a viable business model, and this of course results in a direct impact on the brewery itself too. We are committed as a business to doing all that we can to be there and offer the best possible quality, value and service to our customers and lobby the government to consider the vital community assets that pubs are.”

Happy new year to all readers, and especially our local members in Sheffield & District CAMRA!

We’ve already started planning the branch diary for 2026 which will see

• monthly branch meeting
• monthly pub award presentation
• monthly pub trip social – this will be a walk around an area of Sheffield in the winter, bus or train trip out into the Derbyshire countryside in the summer.
• monthly RambAle during the spring/summer (these are country walks incorporating stops at pubs along the way)
• occasional beer tasting nights, brewery visits and dining socials.

You can find listings of everything we’re doing for the next month or two in the back of Beer Matters magazine and on our website, sheffield.camra.org.uk.

We’re also starting to plan our 50th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival which is to take place at Kelham Island Museum from 21 to 24 October. If you’d be interested in joining the organising committee please come along to the next planning meeting at the Gardeners Rest on 17 February, for more details email festival@sheffield.camra.org.uk. We will of course also be looking for volunteers to help out at the event nearer the time!

There are also more opportunities to volunteer with us – as well as committee roles we need a few more people helping distribute Beer Matters magazines – if any of the pubs in our area you drink in regularly don’t get any copies and would like some, we’d appreciate it if you could deliver some there – pick copies up from the Dog & Partridge snug and let us know you are doing so by emailing beermatters@sheffield.camra.org.uk.

We’d also find it incredibly useful to receive pub updates for the national online guide at camra.org.uk/pubs (for example if opening hours, food offering or beer range has changed or you’ve taken a good photo we can use), these can be submitted using the link on the pub’s page. Also don’t forget to score your beers on there!

We are sad to report that long standing CAMRA Sheffield & District member Alan Gibbons passed away peacefully in bed at his home in Banner Cross back in November, not long after returning from one final holiday in Spain, somewhere he enjoyed going each year. He also enjoyed watching cricket, dining out and going to the theatre.

However, we all know him from his many years volunteering with CAMRA and was involved with our branch pretty much from the beginning, when it covered a much wider area and the beer and pub scene was very different. He also got involved in the Yorkshire and East Midlands regional organisation, attending meetings and judging pubs for county awards as well as working at the Great British Beer Festival and attending national Members’ Weekend conferences for many years. Locally, he held many positions on the branch committee, his final role being treasurer, before retiring in 2023. Although he had stepped down from the committee, he continued to be involved with the branch, volunteering at the beer festival and helping distribute Beer Matters magazines, something he had done for around 50 years. He also held the role of Brewery Liaison Officer for Kelham Island Brewery for a number of years.

Over the years he had been involved with a number of campaigns too and photos made it into the press when he took part in a funeral parade marking the closure of Wards Brewery.

My first notable memory of Alan was at the first ever branch meeting I attended, at the Bankers Draft Wetherspoons in Sheffield City Centre, where he made me feel welcome by buying me a pint. I don’t recall whether he asked for a receipt! Since then he was a constant, knowledgable presence that offered advice and encouragement as well as being quick to discourage any nonsense!

During my time as editor of Beer Matters magazine he also wrote a number of the Pub of the Month articles under is pen name “Wils Gee”.

Here are some other people’s memories of Alan:

“Liz and I often saw Alan on the bus going to various pubs in the City. A few years ago, when elected to branch chair, Alan was very supportive. Alan’s extensive knowledge and expertise enabled me to manage this challenging role.”
Glyn Mansell
Vice Chair, CAMRA Sheffield & District

“My earliest recollections of meeting Alan probably go back to the late 1980’s/early 90’s and two particular events stood out:

• the Beer Matters Stapling Socials when a few of us met in the former Royal Standard and upstairs in the Rutland to staple the A4 sheets together. I wouldn’t be surprised if the large staplers we used were still in Alan’s house somewhere!
• the meetings in the Washington when, armed with the latest Camra Good Beer Guide, we would select the beers for that years beer festival.

Andy Morton
Treasurer and Beer Order Coordinator, Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

“Back in 1980, Alan was at the first CAMRA event I attended (a branch meeting at the long-gone Moseleys Arms). Since then, he has been one of the constant features in my life: someone I saw occasionally, someone who did loads for CAMRA, someone who seemed to know everyone, someone was always ready to provide sound advice – the latter was very useful to myself when we recently hosted the 2023 National Members’ Weekend. Alan is the only person who was on the organising committee all three of the National CAMRA weekends which have been held in Sheffield.”
Dave Pickersgill
Pub Heritage Officer, CAMRA Sheffield & District

“Very sad news. I have know Alan for more over 20 years, in the early days at GBBF and since moving to Yorkshire. He was a periodical visitor to the pub when he was in Scarborough for the cricket he much beloved, as well as seeing him every year at Sheffield BF. I will miss especially his very dry humour.”
Mark Bates
Three Bs Micropub, Bridlington

“Very, very sad. Lovely man and always supportive. He also had many friends in the wider CAMRA world both regionally and nationally where he was well respected and liked.”
Christine Cryne
Ex-National Chair, CAMRA

The funeral will take place at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium at 11:15am on Friday 16 January with the wake following at the Greystones pub.

Kevin Thompson, our branch Social/Press Secretary, colleague, and friend, died on 25 August aged 64. 

In his earlier life Kevin worked in retail management, including in the music sector, and organised events and press releases – skills he brought to bear on behalf of our branch in more recent years.

Kevin joined CAMRA in 2010 and after attending an AGM decided to get more involved in the branch, volunteering to take on more than one role. As press secretary he has been quoted several times in the Star, usually on Pub of the Month related news. This helped raise our profile and that of the pubs we cover – the committee are very grateful for his work.

He was also very active as our social secretary, spending many days scouting pubs on trips both in and out of town to practice routes for social meets he planned. These provided excellent opportunities for branch members to socialise outside of meetings and to explore some of the less well travelled parts of our branch and beyond. Kevin was always happy to lend his hand to chairing meetings, writing trip reports for Beer Matters, and standing in for award presentations.

At Steel City 49 a rare cask of Neepsend Brew Co’s Alcis was dedicated to Kevin, and his friends also arranged various fitting tributes across Sheffield focusing on his other joint loves of Sheffield Wednesday, and live music.

A tribute to Kevin was held on 6 November at Wadsley Bridge Working Men’s Club where many of Kevin’s friends met to celebrate his life, share stories and look at photos.

He will be missed.

Settling The Sparkler Debate

CAMRA’s Members Weekend presented a problem for those of us who volunteer for the Discovery Bars: How to show what we do without coming across as patronising.

For those who don’t know them, the Discovery Bars are part of CAMRA’s Learning & Discovery arm, the area of the campaign that sets about to educate people about beers, ciders and perries, pubs, pints, people, and the industry as a whole. There’s lots of different things that it does, but I only really deal with the Discovery Bars that go to beer festivals around the country; getting people to think more about what they’re drinking and in turn appreciate it more.

We usually do this with our partner breweries for the day, guiding festival goers through a theme. The themes are quite diverse but always fun and always involve free samples of beer. Comparing cask and keg versions of the same beer side by side is always an interesting one where we get to explain how the packaging differs and what that actually does to the beer as it comes to the drinker. Hop varieties are another great one, having hops on hand to get the drinkers opening them up to see the lupulin, to rub and sniff the cones and pellets to get the direct aroma from the oils, and then tasting beers made with those varieties to see how those oils come across in the final beer. And malts too always make for an interesting chat with people, getting them to chew some Maris Otter for its biscuity flavours and then some Chocolate malt for its taste of old ashtrays (I’m not a fan), before pouring them samples of beers made with those malts so they can see how the flavours of the malts can come through, and how they all affect the colour of the finished beer.

But the problem with CAMRA’s Members Weekend is that the attendees will most likely have done those things before. Several times. So how to showcase the effectiveness of the Discovery Bars and get people interested in hosting them at their local festivals in a way that’s more than just a slideshow full of photos of people enjoying themselves?

Well, the team excelled themselves with a new theme: Settling The Sparkler Debate.

Let’s be honest, people have views when it comes to the use of sparklers on their beer. And their views are usually very ingrained and never going to change. It’s either Sparkler Good or Sparkler Bad, there is no middle ground.

But what sort of sparkler? And what do they actually do to the beer? And how do they actually work? These are just some of the questions we thought we’d try and get people to think about and we needed a way to achieve that. We don’t teach people at the Discovery Bars, we don’t lecture them. We try to get them to think, we provide them with the information they need to educate themselves. It works better.

So how to achieve that?

It turned out to be quite simple, we attached a single cask of beer to a gravity tap and four hand pulls. It looked a bit bodged together, and being honest it was. We had no idea going into this if it would be popular or if we might do it again, so a bit of behind the scenes bodging was perfectly fine for this one occasion, and if it was popular, we could then invest in the more expensive kit to do it again.

This allowed us to present attendees with five samples from the same cask: gravity, hand pull with no sparkler, with a “flat” sparkler, a 1mm sparkler, and a vortex creamer. All five samples poured one after the other and set out in a line on the bar. 

We were then able to talk people through the beers, getting them to focus on the mouthfeel of each, and on the bitterness and flavours that they picked up. As we went through the samples we talked about how the hand pulls worked, a simple beer engine that pushes the beer into the glass, quicker than just opening the gravity tap. How the flat sparkler has an internal cone and two large holes, forcing the beer out and to the sides of the glass. How the 1mm sparkler had lots of little holes (all 1mm in diameter, hence the name) and squirted the beer through at a higher pressure onto the bottom of the glass, and how the vortex creamer had even smaller holes and then a cone on the outside of the nozzle that caused the beer being poured into the glass to form a swirling vortex as it hit the bottom.

As we did this we got people to give us their thoughts on the difference between the beer they were sampling and the previous one. In general these were small increments, slightly less flavour and bitterness, slightly more body and smoothness.
Then when we’d sampled the fifth one, we got them to try the first again, the gravity pour. Each increment between samples may have been small (which is why we chose those sparklers we were using), but the difference between the first and last samples was “like night and day” and “you’d not believe it was the same beer, let alone the same cask” according to those who came and chatted (and drank) with us. 

By talking with people, and getting them to understand how sparklers work, and what each type of sparkler actually did to the beer, we got them to form their own opinions and come to their own conclusions. And the conclusion they came to wasn’t sparkler good or sparkler bad, but was instead whether they preferred their beers with more or less of a smooth body to it or more or less bitterness. The sparkler is just a tool to achieve that.

We then followed on our chats with people, going into how breweries can add extra hops to their beers so that when the sparkler strips out some of those hop flavours and bitterness, there’s still enough left to achieve what the brewer planned the end pint to taste like. About how it’s not just hop bitterness that the sparklers remove, but also malt astringency making them good for stouts. And also how they can remove the “tired” flavours of ageing beer, giving them a new lease of shelf life. 

We didn’t know whether our little stand tucked away in the far corner of the Members Bar would be popular, but it was. We went through our entire cask in the first afternoon. Two and a half intense hours and we’d run out of beer. We had to “borrow” a second cask from the main bar itself just so that we’d be able to do it all again the following day. That one lasted three hours and we finished early. It seemed that the decision to present five different types of sparkled/unsparkled beers side by side was incredibly popular, something none of those who came to us had ever had the chance to try before. Amongst the chat about the sparklers we got to chat about the Discovery Bars and festivals, and there is a definite desire for them amongst the CAMRA branches, so expect to start seeing them around more.

Perhaps for me though the best comment of the weekend was from one member after we’d gone through the samples: “I have to admit, I came over here really sceptical but it’s been great and I’ve learned something.” And that’s all we can hope for, that people enjoy what we do, and that they go away a little bit more knowledgeable about what they’re drinking.

As for what people preferred, it’s really down to personal tastes.

Steve Dunkley, beernouveau.co.uk

From Big Brewing to Local Brewing: What Place Does Sheffield’s Beer Industry have in the City Today?

Dr Nick Groat and Prof Phil Withington from the University of Sheffield give an update on their project, Place, Craft and Alcohol in Historical Perspective, which is exploring the many histories and meanings of alcohol in the city with the help of CAMRA members.

We’re developing a picture of the changing place and importance of alcohol in Sheffield both historically and since the emergence of new trends in brewing and beer marketing often labelled with the term ‘craft’. A key feature of this work is discussions with brewers, distillers, retailers, and consumers about their own experiences of – and views on – the city’s alcohol economy, including their take on the ‘craft’ alcohol movement.

We’re in the process of building a collection of about 20 longform oral histories, and at SC48 last October we recorded the thoughts of 62 visitors and spoke to many more curious enthusiasts about what they thought ‘craft’ means today and what they would like to see change in the city to support the industry.

We also hosted two events – Craft in Conversation with broadcaster Pete Brown and Pints of Interest: Pubs as Social Landmarks with a panel of landlords and pub-goers – which provided plenty of opportunity to hear views on these matters. The conversations highlighted that while there is some consensus that ‘craft’ is now a controversial label in the context of the brewing industry, the term nevertheless represents an ethos that values attentive, experimental, skilful, and locally orientated brewing practices. Moreover, many people still used ‘craft’to describe brewers in Sheffield offering beers that they regarded as distinct from other major breweries. Others suggested ‘independent’ as an alternative label, emphasising the importance of beer producers that position themselves outside of large corporations. By sheer coincidence, YouGov published the results of a survey the week after SC48 which overwhelmingly showed how consumers felt “misled” by seemingly small, independent ‘craft’ brewers which were really owned by multinational brewing conglomerates such as Heineken, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Asahi. The survey suggests that ‘independent’ is an equally contentious identifier and it will be interesting to see how much of an impact that new initiatives such as the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates’ (SIBA) “Indie Beer mark” will have on how these terms are used in the future. For now, it seems that ‘craft’ is one term among several which people use to identity high-quality and skilfully brewed beer outside the monopoly of the global corporations.

This issue, unsurprisingly, extends to where alcohol is bought and consumed. In our conversations to date, local independent establishments have been repeatedly noted as a valued asset in Sheffield (and more generally across the country), with several pubs in the city repeatedly mentioned as ‘good’ places to spend time buying and drinking exceptional beers and ‘craft’ alcohols. Indeed, there seems to be a growing, albeit dispersed sense that the proliferation of micropubs and bottle-shops, together with independent and quality breweries and eateries, plus the unique heritage of the city and region, are distinctive and attractive enough to be a driver of the city’s service and tourist economy and a key feature of Sheffield’s image nationally and internationally. This is not to say, of course, there isn’t also room for big chain-owned pubs selling well-kept ‘real ales’ at affordable prices – people felt that in a city as large and diverse as Sheffield the one was not exclusive of the other, with many people appreciating the basic reliability of craft-orientated chains. It was clear from talking to people that locality and independence in brewing, and the values often associated with craft, do not necessarily translate to where beer is drunk.

The other main component of our project has been mapping Sheffield’s pubs, breweries, and other alcohol establishments to better understand the place and impact of the industry on the city’s many neighbourhoods over time. To date we’ve recorded 1022 ‘historic’ pubs in Sheffield: it’s exciting to map such a large and important feature of the city’s heritage and to visualise its changing dimensions. We’re also mapping Sheffield’s contemporary ‘alcohol topography’ to see where and how it sits alongside the historical geography, paying especial attention to places which align themselves to a ‘craft’ ethos. We hope the maps will serve as a useful tool for Sheffield’s growing independent alcohol sector, linking it to the city’s rich and powerful heritage, and to this end we plan to use the dataset to produce a series of maps and trails targeted to specific areas of the city. The datasets and maps will be available digitally later this year.

Place, Craft, and Alcohol is a collaborative project by and for people interested in beer and Sheffield. We’re always on the lookout for people to speak to about the place of alcohol in the city and its neighbourhoods (past and the present) and what that place will or should be in the future.

If you’d like to talk to us about your experiences and memories of Sheffield’s intoxicating history and/or your views on alcohol’s role and place in the city today and in the future please contact n.groat@sheffield.ac.uk  or scan the QR code below to get in touch.

The new Chancellor is presenting her budget on 30 October. With a brand-new government, and a large number of new MPs, we would like to see targeted support for pubs, social clubs, breweries and cider makers in the upcoming Budget. 

We are calling for a further reduction in draught beer and cider duty, a reform of the Business Rates system in England, a VAT cut for hospitality businesses, a review of the definition of cider and a 50% juice minimum in cider, as well as the removal of unnecessary rules that prevent sales of takeaway pints. The more people who use our template to email their local MP, the higher the chances of ensuring our pubs, independent breweries and cider makers are at the heart of the new Government’s Budget. 

A 20% discount for tax on pints in pubs would create thousands of new jobs and contribute £70 million to the economy, as consumers are encouraged to move from supermarket alcohol back to being able to support their local pubs and social clubs. 

The Chancellor has also been urged to stick by the Labour manifesto promise on reforming Business Rates in England. The current system unfairly penalises pubs and makes it harder for all bricks-and-mortar businesses to compete with online shopping. CAMRA’s own figures show the shocking extent of churn in the pub trade, with over a thousand businesses closing their doors so far this year.  

Now the Campaign is calling on all beer lovers and pub-goers to get involved and use their simple online tool to contact their MPs ahead of the Budget. The quick and easy to use e-lobby tool can be found on CAMRA’s website. 

What used to be known as beer Twitter (do we refer to it as beer X now?) has often loved a good argument and whilst in my opinion X has become something of a negative cess pit good only for damaging your mental health, some good conversation does come along now and again!

This one is to be fair one beery people have had on a regular basis for as long as I’ve volunteered in CAMRA (about 25 years now probably) and the same points keep getting made. However the beer scene has actually changed in those years and I don’t think the cask ale scene is in any better or worse health, it is just different, in a positive way I’d argue!

The metrics that usually come into the discussion is the variety of beers on the bar, the proportion of national brands versus smaller local/regional brewers and interest from younger drinkers or diversity of drinkers choosing cask ale.

The absolute worse thing for putting drinkers off cask ale are quality issues – beer that has gone off and turned to vinegar will never give a good impression and if someone trying it for the first time has that experience and assumes that’s what it is normally like probably won’t give it a second chance. My personal experience is not having many such bad experiences in recent years and some of that ones I have had has been in a certain bar I won’t name that is simply making the mistake of putting a cask range on that is too big to turnover fast enough to maintain quality. I would suggest another common theme of pubs with poor quality beer are those owned by a chain where the manager has to sell specific national brands that aren’t popular with their customers. In contrast I’ve seen some excellent examples in our area of bars with only one handpump which has a popular local brand such as Abbeydale Moonshine or Bradfield Farmers Blonde at a reasonable price and it sells like mad to a broad mix of drinkers!

Back in my younger drinking days most fun places around town didn’t sell any beer worth drinking – you either went to a fun bar or a good beer pub, one or the other, there was no crossover. In the peak of the craft beer boom the number of venues with cask ale and/or good craft beer on keg increased, however that has started to move back the other way with faux craft brands owned by the likes of Heineken, AB Inbev, Molson Coors and Greene King muscling local beers off the bar. We still have a number of fun late night venues with cask to choose from such as the Washington and the Bessemer plus of course some more traditional places like Shakespeares Ale & Cider House that open fairly late. I’d suggest we still have an amazing choice of cask ale venues to choose from. The range of beers may have shrunk a little in some places to maintain quality but I think this reflects the economic climate and people going out drinking less, rather than cask ale being less popular.

So finally – are young people drinking cask ale? Well, the University of Sheffield real ale society is still going strong and their student union continues to run a very successful annual beer festival whilst in the pubs and bars they are like any other drinker – have the right ales on the bar in good condition and properly promoted – they will drink it.

The cask ale market is far from dead!

Do you keep seeing talk of real ale and craft beer and wonder exactly what it means? Hopefully we can answer your questions in simple terms!

Most beer is brewed in the same way at a basic level – Malt added to water which is boiled, hops are added into the boil and the result is cooled then fermented with yeast into beer! (ingredients may vary and I know that’s an over simplification!)

Real Ale is a term originally coined by CAMRA activists in the early days. It can be applied to bottled beer that has a yeast sediment, however the most common use is for “cask conditioned” beer (or live beer to use a more modern term) where the brewery has racked fresh beer into casks with live yeast which allows secondary fermentation to take place in the cask in the pub cellar, meaning the beer is not only fresh but has a natural sparkle without needing to add gas on dispense to make it fizzy. However on the flip side, as it is a fresh live product it has a short shelf life and if on the bar too long can go off, oxidising and gaining vinegar characteristics!

Craft beer doesn’t really have an officially recognised definition and as a term is often abused by marketing people. It was intended to promote beer where the production is the opposite of industrial – smaller scale brewers using quality ingredients, manual processes and a love of the product where the recipe is dictated by the brewer rather than the accountant.

Of course there are success stories of craft brewers that have grown and the question is then whether they are still considered craft. Beavertown sold a good share of their brewery to Heineken who invested in a much bigger scale brewery and bigger distribution and there is a view the beer isn’t as flavorful as it used to be whilst Brewdog is now a multinational industrial scale brewer that supplies supermarkets and chain bars. On the other hand closer to home we have Thornbridge that has expanded significantly over the years with investment in bigger production facilities for their core brands, on site lab facilities, canning/bottling lines, a sales & marketing team and more – however the care for product, visions and values and an excitement to experiment (for example their barrel aging programmes and the installation of a Burton Union set) lives on, suggesting they still deserve to be called craft!

You may also see talk of cask versus keg for how draught beer is packaged. Typically real ale is in a cask as if facilitates secondary fermentation (although some single use keg products such as keykeg can also be used for real ale) and in CAMRA’s early days it was very much cask is good and keg is bad as the brewers that were replacing their traditional cask beer with keg products were filling their kegs with a poorer quality product made with cheaper ingredients with a process designed to make the beer long life rather then fresh with the lower production costs and lower wastage from expired beer proving financially attractive to both brewers and publicans.

These days things are less simple with craft brewers putting beer in kegs that are a good quality product (with decent ingredients, not pasteurized and often not filtered) and has much more flavour than the big industrial brands. The craft term isn’t tied to a specific format with such brewers often choosing cask or keg based on which they feel suits the style of beer best – for example a high strength stout that is likely to sell slower may be best in keg as it won’t go off so quick or a continental style lager may be enjoyed with some extra carbonation whilst a mild, malt bitter or gently hopped blonde might taste better on cask.

CAMRA does continue to champion the tradition of real ale, it is a fantastic part of our beer heritage we want people to continue to enjoy and are still passionate about that, however often now at CAMRA beer festivals other formats will be showcased alongside the cask where it is a good quality example of the genre (after all CAMRA was founded on the basis of wanting a choice of good quality beer) and campaigning priorities have moved on with issues facing consumers, publicans and brewers, particularly with the cost of living crisis!

Next is the subject of what we refer to as “real cider” or “real perry”. Similar to real ale it is the traditional, fresh, good quality product, however the key thing here is slightly different – it needs to be made from freshly pressed apple or pear juice that has been fermented rather than the more industrial product made from concentrate. Also any additional flavouring should be the real thing, not just a syrup chucked in.

Many of you will have noted the recent advertising for a ‘craft Brew Festival’ to be held in Neepsend in September. The ticket price is £35 upwards, depending on the session attended. Included in this fee is ‘five hours of unlimited craft beer.’ 

I believe that offering unlimited alcohol over a five hour period is irresponsible and will lead to attendees over indulging. It does not encourage responsible drinking.

It is also divisive: many of us, for many reasons, are restricted in our alcohol intake. For example, while recovering from radiotherapy, I recently attended Indie Beer Feast in Sheffield: almost five hours attendance saw me drink seven beers, a total of 2 and one third pints. I had an excellent time, meeting many friends, aiding my recovery. However, such a price tag would have meant non-attendance. 

Why not have a pricing policy similar to the forthcoming Sheffield Steel City Beer and Cider Festival? Thursday 17 October will cost non-CAMRA members £17. This includes £10 beer tokens which are refundable if not used plus a glass (£3) which is also refundable on exit. If you don’t drink, up to eleven hours on site, including the entertainment and the river Don Steam Engine will cost you the princely sum of £4 (CAMRA members, £2). If you do sample some of the over 200 beers available, you will pay for exactly what you imbibe.