Samuel Smith's in the Good Beer Guide

[OnTheDrink]

You maybe would say that Ian, but so would I.

I've been saying it for years, as a Camra member, former licensee and former brewery sales manager. The Good Beer Guide is, in fact, the guide to the favourite watering holes of Camra members, regardless of beer quality.

[ian]

I know of a pub that is run a active CAMRA member and the beer is warm and crap but it's still in the GBG.

ian

[alepaul]

You maybe would say that Ian, but so would I.

I've been saying it for years, as a Camra member, former licensee and former brewery sales manager. The Good Beer Guide is, in fact, the guide to the favourite watering holes of Camra members, regardless of beer quality.

Very good comment. The name 'The Good Beer Guide' is IMO an inappropiate name as it suggests objectivity

[OldBreweryDrinker]

I have been in several CAMRA pubs and the beer has not been the best. Don't know how some of the pubs get in the guide.

[OnTheDrink]

I've noticed that there are no (as far as I can see) Samuel Smith's London pubs in the Good Beer Guide, despite some excellent buildings and top quality cask beer.

Are there any Samuel Smith's pubs in the Good Beer Guide at all?

DB.

From the 2010 Good Beer Guide:

Prince of Wales Tavern, North Shields
Colpitts, Durham City
Angel & White Horse, Tadcaster
Golden Ball, Scarborough
Berkeley Hotel, Scunthorpe
Ivanhoe Hotel, Sprotborough, S.Yorks
Shoulder of Mutton, Bradford
Queens Head (Turners Vaults), Stockport
Crown Inn, Glossop
Wortley Almshouses, Peterborough
Old Murenger House, Newport
Cittie of York, London

Er, that's all folks and I doubt the 2011 guide will be much different.

[DarkieBoy]

I've noticed that there are no (as far as I can see) Samuel Smith's London pubs in the Good Beer Guide, despite some excellent buildings and top quality cask beer.

Are there any Samuel Smith's pubs in the Good Beer Guide at all?

DB.

From the 2010 Good Beer Guide:

Prince of Wales Tavern, North Shields
Colpitts, Durham City
Angel & White Horse, Tadcaster
Golden Ball, Scarborough
Berkeley Hotel, Scunthorpe
Ivanhoe Hotel, Sprotborough, S.Yorks
Shoulder of Mutton, Bradford
Queens Head (Turners Vaults), Stockport
Crown Inn, Glossop
Wortley Almshouses, Peterborough
Old Murenger House, Newport
Cittie of York, London

Er, that's all folks and I doubt the 2011 guide will be much different.

Cheers for checking, OnTheDrink.  I did not see the Cittie of Yorke in the 2011 edition.  I've got a feeling that Samuel Smith's pubs are slowly falling out of favour for one reason or t'other.

DB.

[whizz]

Does the good beer guide mean just that, good beer, or do they mean good pub guide which would be or could be different?

[OnTheDrink]

Does the good beer guide mean just that, good beer, or do they mean good pub guide which would be or could be different?

My earlier definition of the GBG: The Good Beer Guide is, in fact, the guide to the favourite watering holes of Camra members, regardless of beer quality.

My local Camra branch are well known for putting pubs in the guide where the licensee or brewery panders to them, putting on guest beers, flattering them and otherwise encouraging their custom.  Some of them do sell great cask beer but there are plenty that don't. As an example, there's one run by a wonderful lady in her eighties who was born in the pub and took it over after her parents died. It doesn't have a bar, serves beer in jugs from the cellar and is a fantastic piece of pub heritage: A real 'public house'. Unfortunately, the beer is s**t, and has been for as long as I can remember, but it goes in every year, and is one of a handful of pubs nationally which has appeared every edition of the GBG because no-one within the branch is willing to put their head above the parapet.  Probably an extreme example but it serves the argument.

Sam Smiths pubs aren't 'sexy' to Camra members, despite the brewery being an icon of English brewing, regardless of all the issues with staff and the Managing Madman. Another problem is management turnover. Many Camra branches rigidly enforce the 12 month rule for a manager being in place before the pub can be considered. Others enforce the rule when it suits them.

Anyway, bringing my rant to an end, the GBG, in my opinion, is a Good Pub Guide where you stand a better chance of a decent pint, the chance of finding a herd of beer anoraks 'ticking' the latest guest beer in their book, or simply a pub with bad beer that's somehow in favour with the local arbiters of taste.