By Press Release
Amongst the many important posts that I have accumulated in my life is that of being chairman of the Isle of Wight branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). Founded in 1971 from an idea between four friends, CAMRA harnessed the hearts of many to become the most successful consumer campaign in Europe. The simple aim of the campaign was to stop the demise of traditional British cask beer, under threat from insipid sterile keg beer, Watney’s Red Barrel being an example of what we were fighting against.
Today, after decades of battle, we are inundated with choice, not just of live beers (real ales) but the new hyper-flavoured craft beers, that take the beer-tasting experience to exciting new levels of flavour – coffee, sour fruit, intense hoppy bitterness, and many more examples, only limited by the creativity of the brewer.
Why is this so important? It’s only a drink, you might say, and there are plenty of alternatives. Yes, that is true, but there is far more to real ale than the superficiality of being just a mere drink. It is the unseen symbolism and traditional values that cask ale represents that are so important and viewed by so many as worth fighting for.
Cask-conditioned ale is history in a jar, something that remains peculiarly British, yet employs a process that is thousands of years old. Using natural enzymes to convert sugars results in a nutritional broth that, historically, was safer to drink than local water, and contains essential vitamins and nutrients that boost the immune system. This is somewhat different to pasteurised or synthetically produced drinks. The distinguishing factor being that a real ale can undergo a secondary fermentation in its container. This secondary fermentation produces a light carbonation referred to as a ‘condition’. Holding condition is a delicate matter, as too warm, above 13 degrees C, the liquid loses its capacity to hold carbonation, taking on an unpleasant cloyed mouthfeel, difficult to drink. Too cold, below 11 degrees C, and you risk coagulation of the yeast, tainting and flavour inhibition.
Try drinking a commercial lager at real ale temperature, and you may find the flavours are most disagreeable (unlike a traditional Reinheitsgebot brewed lager).
In a world where many old-fashioned values seem to have been lost, you could be forgiven for thinking that drinking was all about the alcohol. The more liberal cultural attitude of our continental neighbours focuses on the social function that meeting for a drink brings, diffusing the negative effects that arise from our more prohibitive stance, and the misfocus that results in, particularly with the young.
When you delve into the history and tradition of real ale in Britain you will find intrinsic links with the astonishing achievements of this country. A public house became a place where certain activities, symbolised by the pub sign, were conducted; where bankers and traders would set up stall and people of different classes and interests could meet and engage on an equal basis. It was a place that stimulated ideas. Ideas that gave birth to the Industrial Revolution, the Royal Society, and some of our greatest literary works – the world’s most revolutionary book, Thomas
Paine’s The Rights of Man, was written in the Crown Inn, Lewis. The Eagle and Child in Oxford was a favourite watering hole for Tolkien.
It is for this reason that so many people have given support to the tradition of cask ale, because of what it represents and the great history that it has facilitated – it is truly History in a Jar.