Good Beer Guide

The Good Beer Guide is a book published annually by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) listing what it considers to be the best cask ale outlets (pubs, clubs, and off licences) in the United Kingdom.

The book is published from CAMRA's headquarters at St Albans and is currently edited by Roger Protz, but the contents are assembled by CAMRA's 200-plus local branches. The local branches consist of members who have an interest in keeping up to date with what is going on regarding the availability of real ale (cask conditioned beer) in their own branch area. Each branch is allocated a number of entries which may be included in the guide. As each branch is given autonomy to decide which pubs (and other outlets) to enter and which to leave out, there is considerable variation from area to area, depending on the involvement and interests of the local members. While most CAMRA members regard the book to be so trustworthy as to earn the nickname "The Bible of Beer", other readers have found it to be inconsistent.

The pub descriptions themselves have grown from a single line to sometimes quite lengthy little essays that include history and legend. This is a major factor in the doubling of thickness of the Good Beer Guide over the last twenty years.

Although it concentrates on pubs, the guide also includes a list of cask ale breweries in the United Kingdom, with lists and tasting notes on their beers.

The guide was first published in 1972, and was just 18 pages long. Rather than a professional published volume, it was a collection of sheets of paper stapled together and posted out to CAMRA members.

The first printed edition was published in 1974, and contained the comment on Watney's brewery: "Avoid like the plague", which generated a lot of media attention and caused the publisher, Waddington, to recall the first print run and revise the description to "Avoid at all costs".

The guide is published each year, occasionally with multiple bindings:

CAMRA also publishes the Good Cider Guide and the Good Bottled Beer Guide.

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