The Campaign For Real Ale: Keeping it real, UK-style
When I was in Edinburgh, Scotland the week before last, I spent a lot of time in the place pictured above. No, it’s not a church…it’s a pub (I’m sure this surprises no one who knows me) — specifically John Leslie’s pub, which was the Campaign For Real Ale’s pub of the year in 2004.
The Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA for short) is something that has no significant American equivalent that I know of. It is a group that is dedicated to preserving old pub traditions: this includes promoting hand-pulled and bottle conditioned ales (you can read about what “real ale” means at the wiki here). But it means more than that: it means supporting small, family-owned pubs, some of which are architectural gems.
The group has what I would call an “anti-corporatist” agenda: “no” to mass-produced beers and “no” to big pub chains (which are taking over throughout Great Britain sadly). “Yes” to having a couple ales from a smallish producer in a quiet, old pub run by hard-working small business people.
What’s interesting is this: CAMRA is not an “elite” organization, it’s very working-class. In the United States, failure to drink Budwesier and eat at Chili’s often makes you suspect in the eyes of some (specifically, in the eyes, I suspect, of nearly all Republicans). Insisting on food and beer that tastes like something, and on eating in a place with a little character makes you a “limousine liberal” to those who watch Fox News.
This is something we need to fight against. Progressives should align themselves with small businesses, with places with character, with food and drink that tastes distinctive and has a connection with local traditions. I used to resist the idea that political identification should extend beyond the specific issues that confront our government. But now I think it is necessary to go beyond that, to embrace an entire philosophy that encompasses how and where we spend our time and money. We could do worse than to emulate some of CAMRA’s ideas.
It looks like a bank!
I totally agree with what you’re saying. We need a paradigm shift.
CAMRA has also been pushing a campaign that I’m squarely behind - full pints.
I can’t tell you how irritated I get when I go to a bar/pub and the bartender asks if I want a “pint” or a bottle. I always get a pint, but the “pint” inevitably turns out to consist of something between 12 and 14 fluid oz.
I realize the Brits get 20 oz. in their pints, but is it too much to ask that I get the 16 oz. we Americans are supposed to be content with?
It could be worse — in Stockholm (where I was just after Scotland), the beers are only .4 litres…and they cost 8 bucks.
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