Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog - In Brief: CAMRA and Key Kegs

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http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/...g_font_672.jpgThis report by Tandleman on*the Campaign for Real Ale annual general meeting is worth a read.

He argues that, on the whole, ‘backward facing motions were defeated, while progressive motions were passed’. Among those carried*was Motion 15:
This Conference instructs the National Executive to investigate a labelling scheme for naturally conditioned Key Keg beer, which would allow customers to identify which beers, at the point of sale, conform with the CAMRA criteria for real ale.
This is significant, as we understand it, because it paves the way for beer in ‘key kegs‘ to appear at CAMRA beer festivals, as long as they meets certain technical criteria — that is to say, that they are unfiltered and unpasteurised, contain a certain proportion of live yeast, and are carbonated without the addition of CO2*from an external source. (Key kegs use gas, but the gas doesn’t actually come into contact with the beer.)
This is*not a wholehearted embrace of keg beer, overturning 40+ years of principles upon which the Campaign was built. Nor is it ‘CAMRA goes craft’. And we suspect it will take a long time for the results to be evident in the wild, too, with much bureaucracy to negotiate.
But it is important as a*gesture, like that simple handshake between Barack Obama and Raúl Castro last December.
The letters page in next month’s*What’s Brewing*should be fun, though, while*those passionate craft beer types who CAMRA has already alienated, will probably*regard this, sourly, as too little, too late.
UPDATE

@BoakandBailey To be fair, real ale served via key keg was approved by CAMRA's TAG some time ago – motion was more about clear labelling.
— Tom Stainer (@WBandBEER) April 22, 2015

Comment below if you like but this is mostly just a pointer to Tandleman’s post where there’s a lively discussion already underway.
In Brief: CAMRA and Key Kegs from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007


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