CAMRA votes to allow Greene King ales back into GBBF
Greene King beer brands Ruddles and Old Speckled Hen are to make a welcome return to the Great British Beer Festival following a controversial ban at last year's event.
The Suffolk brewer said it was pleased the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), which organises the festival, had apparently stepped down over its decision to ban the brands.
CAMRA claimed the brands were never banned from the festival but had argued that the beers, bought by Greene King from the now-defunct Oxfordshire brewer Morlands, were mislabelled since production had been moved from the Morlands site. CAMRA said this affected the "natural ingredients" and "local taste" claims of the beer.
Greene King caused a media frenzy last year when it put up banners at the festival objecting to what it saw as a ban on the ales.
But delegates at CAMRA's annual conference this year voted to allow the brands to appear at the festival.
Spokesman for CAMRA Tony Jerome said: "Greene King, for whatever reason, chose to represent this to the public and media as a ban, although this was simply not the case.
"CAMRA maintains that it will not sell any beer which is mislabelled and, therefore, brewers should not try to misrepresent who is brewing the beer or where it is being brewed."
But Rooney Anand, managing director of brewing and brands for Greene King, told thePublican.com that since the events of last year the company had not changed its labelling, but that CAMRA had stepped down.
Mr Anand said that the events of last summer were "unfortunate" and that he was glad the beers would be displayed this time round.
"It was unfortunate in that we had given the brands a future, yet we weren't allowed to display them because we had moved production. We had done our best to keep hold of the roots and history of the beers and take great steps to ensure that these were not lost," he added.
Since acquiring the two ales, which were in serious decline, Greene King has boosted sales of Old Speckled Hen by 31 per cent and Ruddles by 50 per cent. The Great British Beer Festival takes place from August 6 to 10 at London's Olympia.
This year's festival will see the launch of the next phase of CAMRA's "Ask if its Cask" campaign, aimed at encouraging wider sales of real ale. This is understood to include posters featuring a female "Goddess of Beer".
Related articles:
Take a look at the deabte that was generated by our coverage of CAMRA's controversial ban of the Greene King ales: CAMRA sticks by cask ale ban (3 August 2001)
