Handpull Hijack

Why does this matter?
We are CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Real ale is a live product served and conditioned in a cask by a cellar person in a pub. Real ale is unique and we believe it is the best drink available. If we lose cask conditioned real ale we will lose the traditional skills of cellar conditioning of ale for ever. "Fresh Beer" is an attack on the basic and unique principles of cask ale. It will be the thin end of the wedge.

Who is doing this?
Carlsberg Marston Brewing Company (CMBC) is the biggest name rolling "Fresh Beer" out across the country. Wainwrights Gold, Wainwrights Amber and Hobgoblin IPA are CMBC's first products to be rolled out in this format. In short they are hijacking handpulls in pubs to dispense keg beer from them.

What can we do and what do we say?
The public should not be conned, duped and mislead with this practice. You should know what you are paying for. If you buy a beer from a bar, dispensed from a hand pull then it should be cask conditioned ale. CMBC says they will clearly label the pump-clip with the type of ale it is.
This is not the point and we do not trust this will be the case. Other neighbouring branches have found this is not the case and reported the practice to local Trading Standards officers. If you see these brands in our great pubs we need your help.

• We will update WhatPub to clearly state that the pub in question sells beer in this misleading way.
• We will not recognise pubs that use this dispense in Pub of the Year or in our Good Beer Guide selections.
• We will report this practice to local Trading Standards.
• We will lobby our MPs to get this stopped and demand cask conditioned ale be recognised as a protected product in this country.