CAMRA has thrown its weight behind SIBA’s new Indie Beer campaign, designed to help consumers seek out independent beers and breweries.

The campaign includes a brewery checker tool so consumers can find out if a brewer is independently owned, and an “assured” mark for brewers to use to show their independence.

CAMRA national chairman Ash Corbett-Collins said: “CAMRA is delighted to be supporting SIBA’s Indie Beer campaign. We know that finding independent and local beer is often a top priority for our members and beer drinkers across the UK. It’s great that SIBA are committed to transparent communication about ownership in beer.

“Unfortunately, we often see global brewers market their own brands as if they were independent, tricking consumers in the process. It is vital that consumers have access to the right information about where their beer is being brewed, and whether it’s in independent ownership.”

Find out more about the Indie Beer initiative here.

CAMRA supports and campaigns for cider and perry throughout the year, and we spotlight it with celebrations in October and May.

Why May and October?

Unlike real ale production, which can happen at any time of the year, real cider and perry is generally a seasonal product and can only be made when the fruit is ripe. Production is tied to a natural cycle of the apple and perry pear trees found in orchards around the country.

LocAle is an initiative that promotes pubs stocking locally brewed real ale in order to reduce the number of ‘beer miles’ from brewery to pub cellar. It is based on growing consumer demand for quality local produce and increasing awareness of environmental issues.

Launched in 2007, CAMRA branches around the country will award accreditation to pubs that regularly stock at least one local real ale. The pub can then advertise their support by posting the window sticker in their pubs.

Some of the benefits of stocking locally produced real ale in local pubs includes:

• Pubs can attract more visitors through their doors, including tourists
• Consumers can enjoy greater beer choice and diversity
• Local brewers are supported with increased sales
• Local economy is supported as more money is generated and spent locally
• Fewer beer miles mean less impact on the environment

In March 2024, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) launched ‘Fresh Ale’. These are brewery-conditioned versions of their cask range, which are then kegged and served through cask handpumps. They positioned this as a way to ‘revive’ cask by giving it a longer shelf life. Their announcement can be found here. 

There are two main implications for cask beer and consumers that CAMRA opposes. Most noticeably the dispense method is misleading, but this also creates a more general threat to cask as the beer is not cask-conditioned, but the use of ‘Fresh Ale’ marketing seeks to imply that it is. 

We anticipate that more breweries may release ‘Fresh Ale’ – and believe that the practice of filling casks with brewery conditioned beer has become more common in recent years, if little known or actively advertised as such. 

CAMRA has a long-standing policy on the issue of using a handpump to dispense non-cask beers – which entered CAMRA policy as ‘misleading dispense’ in 1988/89.  

After CAMRA-coordinated complaints to Trading Standards around the country, Local Authority Co-ordinating Body on Trading Standards (LACOTS) started an enquiry in relation to potentially misleading methods of dispensing beer. CAMRA made a submission to the enquiry in November 1988.  

Although no legislation resulted, LACOTS agreed that the use of a handpump to serve keg beers was misleading and this advice was passed to all local Trading Standards departments. As a result, the use of a handpump as the point of sale on keg beers virtually disappeared within a few months making this a major campaigning success.