CAMRA Good Beer Guide puts West Yorkshire first

Sep 11 2009 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“Huddersfield is well-blessed with breweries and while you can buy a can of Carlsberg for 50p in the supermarket, people are prepared to pay a premium price for real ale.”

Good Beer Guide editor Roger Protz said: “For the first time since the 19th century, Britain is the undisputed top brewing country in the world. It has more small craft breweries per head of population than all other major industrialised countries, but it also offers tremendous choice.

“While most other countries offer mainly mainstream lagers, Britain has milds, bitters, strong ales, porters, stouts, barley wines, old ales, Christmas ales, spring beers, golden beers and harvest ales to name just a few.”

Mr Protz said the rebirth of British brewing was due to the pioneering work of Camra and the enthusiasm and innovation of independent brewers, adding: “There are now more than twice as many breweries as when Camra was launched in 1971.”

The Society of Independent Brewers said membership rose by 7% through 2008 and total beer volumes rose by 10%.

The Good Beer Guide features 1,297 new pub entries and 71 new breweries. All 711 real ale breweries are listed.

Mick Moss, Camra’s regional director for Yorkshire, said: “Despite many pubs struggling in the current economic climate, this year’s Good Beer Guide highlights that the real ale scene in Yorkshire is thriving.

“Camra members in the local area have been busy all year locating the best pubs for submission into the guide.

“Only pubs serving a consistently high standard of real ale have been considered.”