Why CAMRA MUST change.

BeerHeadZMiscellaneous 1 Comment

There has been much said in the past few weeks about the future of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Once described as the ‘most successful consumer group in Europe’, it has achieved so much for the real ale drinker or, for that matter, any beer drinkers and general pub-goers, that it is hard to imagine what the beer and pub scene in Britain would be today if CAMRA had never formed. With a membership approaching 200,000 – and that fact alone is impressive – CAMRA still hold enormous clout. But with Real Ale ‘saved’, where do they channel their efforts now? For this reason, CAMRA have announced their ‘Revitalisation Project’ – a year-long consultation of its members on what CAMRA’s new direction should be. And therein lies the problem. With the rise of ‘Craft’ beer – love it or …

Brewers must work together.

BeerHeadZBeer, Breweries, Miscellaneous, News Leave a Comment

BeerHeadZ Phil has had a letter published in the latest issue (Jan 2016) of the CAMRA newspaper What’s Brewing, commenting on the threat created by the recent mega-merger of SABMiller and AB InBev to the many much smaller brewers and micro’s in this country (and indeed worldwide). The chaos has already started. For example, the acquisition of London’s Meantime Brewing by SABMiller a mere seven months ago, only to be put up for sale again to comply with European regulations because of AB InBev’s recent buy-out of the nearby Camden Town Brewery. Such tactics show the callous way in which these mega-corporations conduct business. It happens. That’s big business. But our thriving and exciting brewing industry should be protecting themselves. They need to formulate counter tactics now. I don’t know the answers, but I do know that brewers and suppliers …

Dear Santa…

BeerHeadZMiscellaneous Leave a Comment

Dear Santa, we landlords are a simple breed. We don’t ask or moan a lot (yeah!), so here is BeerHeadZ simple light-hearted wish list of brewers and suppliers this Christmas. Please could we have pump clips delivered with EVERY beer? This will save us the hassle of ringing the brewery to get one sent through the post or trying to find an image of it on the web which we then have to print off, laminate and cut out, which will then look like a cow’s udder stuck on the hand pump. This is not a good advert for the beer or the pub. While on the subject, would it be too much to ask for the pump clips mentioned in 1) above be well designed, professional looking, easy to read and informative? Can we please have brewers supply a …

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What Are Oversize, Lined Glasses?

BeerHeadZInformation, Miscellaneous 3 Comments

Many people are not aware of what oversized glasses are and what it means to them, so we will try to give a brief explanation. Current legislation states that draught beer and cider must be dispensed in multiples of a half or a third of a pint and the glasses in which beer is normally served may be either Government stamped brim measures i.e. the glass must be completely full to the brim, or the glass may have a lined mark indicating the correct measure. Understandably, the vast majority of British pubs use brim measure rather than oversize, lined glasses. Why? Because beer has a head of froth, the glass cannot actually be completely filled to the top. The larger brewing industry claims that the froth is part of the beer and may be up to 5% of the glass …