Have I missed a CAMRA sea change?

[rpadam]

CAMRA's website continues to promote real ale but not craft.

Camra's official position is summarised here: What is live beer? So, KeyKeg craft beers should all qualify for Camra purposes.

My main gripe with Camra's "hey, some of this keg beer is pretty good" policy is that it is not normally possible to tell which is key keg (good) and which is not (not).

That's my main problem too, apart from usually being served too cold, and often with more carbonation (albeit natural) than most cask beers.

It has been suggested to me that I should ask...

And the same point has been made to me, but I would expect somewhere selling a good range of craft beers to people who are generally interested in the subject to make that clear at the point of sale (which a few do on screens or beer menus, so it can be done).

[sheffield hatter]

KeyKeg craft beers should all qualify for Camra purposes.

I would expect somewhere selling a good range of craft beers to people who are generally interested in the subject to make that clear at the point of sale (which a few do on screens or beer menus, so it can be done).

If Camra were serious about Key Keg they would be campaigning for point of sale information, but I suspect they are happy to stick with their catchy slogan, albeit vague and as far as I know unstated anywhere apart from here: "hey, some of this keg beer is pretty good". This allows them to be all things to all drinkers, in so far as anyone is bothered. And yes, I am still a Camra member.

Personally, I don't mind trying the occasional half of a keg beer, but when the money starts running out I'll probably stick to cheap and reliable cask beers in my local pubs, or wherever I can get to without having to fork out for train fares. (My beer of the year at the moment is Blue Bee American Five Hop at the Kelham Island Tavern - still only £3.40 a pint. Always brilliant and now in its 57th iteration - a different combination of hops every time.)

[sheffield hatter]

Aren't key kegs single use?

That's my understanding, and if it is still so then it's a disgrace. The cans you are drinking at home - whether steel or aluminium - are easily recycled, and normal beer barrels/kegs in pubs are reused if anyone can be bothered to go and get them, so why not the plastic key kegs?

[rpadam]

Aren't key kegs single use?

That's my understanding, and if it is still so then it's a disgrace.

Not quite as simple as that: KeyKeg | reduce, recycle, reuse materials.

[sheffield hatter]

Not quite as simple as that: KeyKeg | reduce, recycle, reuse materials.

Yes, that's better than I imagined, but it still reads like a work in progress:

"Our goal is reusing all empty KeyKegs as recycled materials for new Kegs instead of letting them be incinerated or used as landfill."

"To further our ambitious goals for sustainability, we are assembling a worldwide Collection Network of partners to collect and process empty Kegs for reuse as materials in the production of new KeyKegs."

Why didn't they set up the "Collection Network of partners to collect and process empty Kegs" at the start? How many have been incinerated or used as landfill, or continue to be?

[Tris39]

Yes, that's better than I imagined, but it still reads like a work in progress:

"Our goal is reusing all empty KeyKegs as recycled materials for new Kegs instead of letting them be incinerated or used as landfill."

"To further our ambitious goals for sustainability, we are assembling a worldwide Collection Network of partners to collect and process empty Kegs for reuse as materials in the production of new KeyKegs."

Why didn't they set up the "Collection Network of partners to collect and process empty Kegs" at the start? How many have been incinerated or used as landfill, or continue to be?

If this is the case, then it's pretty disgusting.

[Pangolin]

Yes, that's better than I imagined, but it still reads like a work in progress:

"Our goal is reusing all empty KeyKegs as recycled materials for new Kegs instead of letting them be incinerated or used as landfill."

"To further our ambitious goals for sustainability, we are assembling a worldwide Collection Network of partners to collect and process empty Kegs for reuse as materials in the production of new KeyKegs."

Why didn't they set up the "Collection Network of partners to collect and process empty Kegs" at the start? How many have been incinerated or used as landfill, or continue to be?

Indeed - it would be interesting to know how many they actually manage to recycle, rather than their "goal".

[Quinno]

I remember a few years ago during the great 'revitalisation' phase that Pub Curmudgeon posited that maybe it was time for CAMRA to split between the progressives (beer we like) and traditionalists (handpumps and traditional pubs).

Felt like that wasn't a bad idea. Certainly at the moment CAMRA seems to be in a bit of a no-man's land which satisfies neither wing fully.

[london calling]

Camra's official position is summarised here: What is live beer? So, KeyKeg craft beers should all qualify for Camra purposes.


That's my main problem too, apart from usually being served too cold, and often with more carbonation (albeit natural) than most cask beers.


And the same point has been made to me, but I would expect somewhere selling a good range of craft beers to people who are generally interested in the subject to make that clear at the point of sale (which a few do on screens or beer menus, so it can be done).

Key kegs can contain real ale,filtered beer ,unfiltered beer or just plain old pasteurised keg.There is no way of knowing so cask is the only safe thing to drink if you worry about these things. If it comes out of a keykeg and its too cold or too fizzy it may still be cask.

[london calling]

Progressives (we like craft beer also) Traditionalists (we believe the earth is flat) LOL