It's the Grandaddy
by The PMA Team The Good Beer Guide can lay claim to the title of Guide Grandad. First published in 1972, a year after Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) was founded, the print-run of 50,000 copes of the Good Beer Guide 2005 has virtually sold out already, just two months after publication, prompting a 10,000 copy re-print. Last year, Camra published 45,000 copies of the guide and found itself sold out by the time of the Great British Beer Festival in August. "The guide's success, this year particularly, is part of the real ale revival," says guide editor and Morning Advertiser columnist Roger Protz. "It's clear that people want to drink cask beer. The belt and braces of the Good Beer Guide is beer if a pub serves good beer, everything else in the pub is likely to be good as well." The guide, at a stonking 848 pages, is the most inclusive of the pub publications, featuring 4,500 venues serving good quality beer. Since Protz took over the editorship of the guide in 2000, it has introduced fuller descriptions of individual pubs that take note of items such as pub architecture, history and warmth of welcome. There's also been a real effort to improve design with pages notably less cluttered than before. The list of featured pubs amounts to a labour of love for Camra members around the country. Six months from autumn through to spring each year is spent compiling lists of notable pubs before submission to Protz. All the words in the guide are written by Camra members.
