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The short and easy to understand new definition was developed by CAMRA in order to make it easier to identify which are real ciders and perry:

• CAMRA defines real Cider or Perry as being fermented from the whole juice of fresh pressed apples or pears, without the use of concentrated or chaptalised juices

• Within this, a number of real ciders and perries can be additionally described as ‘live’.

CAMRA encourages and promotes cider and perry which retain active yeast with the potential to carry on fermenting, however, slowly, right up to the moment you drink it.
Cider and Perry are not brewed like beer, but fermented like wine. The fermentation process is both through the presence of active or ‘live yeast’, and through the action of bacteria (the friendly kind).

Beer is amazing. Cider and Perry are amazing. Depending on your tastes, on those two things I am sure we can all agree.

Our favourite drinks, their rich social, cultural and economic history unite us in a common narrative of enjoyment and craft. Although, the diverse cast of people involved are not always as visible as they could be.

There are so many ways to brew and ferment and a multitude of settings within which to relish them. It’s unsurprising then that there are many different kinds of people involved in the creation, promotion, distribution and service of beer, cider and perry. Not to forget those who educate on and celebrate them.

Our contemporary brewing, making and drinking culture is a diverse scene. Whether it be the fact that one of our most prominent brewers and industry activists is a woman of colour or that many of our most celebrated writers, broadcasters and educators are women, people of colour or members of the LGBTQI community.

Up until the middles ages (1500s-1600s), British ale remained an unhopped drink made by fermenting sprouted barley grains known as malt. If ale was flavoured it was done with a range of bittering and potentially psychoactive herbs and spices such as wormwood, bog myrtle and yarrow. Brewers then, as they do now, combined a pragmatic approach to brewing beer (using whatever is to hand or locally available) epicurean (what tastes good) and functional approach (accessing improvement of beer and how to keep it for longer).

Hops were introduced to English brewing in the 1600s by Flemish brewers emigrating to Kent from Flanders in Dutch speaking Belgium. By the turn of the 17th century, hops had superseded other bittering ingredients. Hops remain the dominant bittering, aromatic and flavouring ingredient in worldwide beer production.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, literally sugar fungus (in latinised greek), is a species of yeast. Yeast are microspcopic single-celled fungi. Along with other fungi such as mold, yeasts are collectively responsible for a myriad of luxury and staple drinks and foodstuffs; beer, wine, bread and cheese are somewhere near the top of a very long list.

MalMalt. You’ve probably heard and uttered the word countless times: Maltesers, malt whisky, malt biscuits, malt extract. The list is endless. The reason we have such a wealth of malt products in our lives? Beer!

Water is fundamental to brewing. Without it there would be no wort and no volume of liquid to take on the flavours and textures of the ingredients and adjuncts used in brewing. Equally as important are the pH of the water and the dissolved minerals and trace elements it contains.

In the early 1970s, CAMRA coined the term ‘real ale’ to describe traditionally kept beers, served from a specific type of barrel called a cask, without the injection of additional carbon dioxide gas.

The Campaign launched a vocal effort to promote these ahead of the mediocre, artificially carbonated, often pasteurised, brand name beers backed by extensive advertising campaigns, which had come to dominate the beer trade. These products of mid-20th century industrialisation of brewing, were reducing consumer choice and threatening the future of a more flavourful type of beer that could trace its origins back over a thousand years.

Susannah Mansfield has developed this video guide on Cider Quality to encourage drinkers to think about all aspects of the cider drinking experience: the approach by the venue towards selection, cellaring, dispense and the condition of the cider itself.

A series on outlining the beer making process. We explore the how’s and why’s of brewing, for beer fans who want to find out more on how their favourite drinks are created.
In this first episode we look at the 4 main ingredients of beer and discuss their roles and what they bring to the final product, a glass of beer in your hand.

For the first thirty years of CAMRA’s story, most of the better flavoured beer in the UK were the type of ‘real ale’ that is served from a type of barrel called a “cask”. While stored in a pub’s cellar, the beer inside these casks develops its character, or “condition”, for up to a week, thanks to the presence of live yeast in the beer. It is then served without the injection of carbon dioxide gas.

This additional maturation should add elegance to the beer’s character, while the absence of gas injection makes its carbonation gentler.

We all know what we like. We buy, we taste. We love or reject what we drink and build our own repertoire of favourites. It’s not always easy to articulate exactly why we like what we taste. In this video guide Jane Peyton sets out how we can begin to describe how our palate experiences beer in relation to the ingredients and processes that have gone into brewing it.

What makes a great beer? That’s the question we wanted to answer when we came up with this book. You might think that would be an easy question: after all, how many beer books don’t simply tell you the best beers in the world? Well this one does. But we decided that just telling you about the best beers wouldn’t do anyone any good; it certainly wouldn’t change your life or make you love beer more. We wanted to find out what made these beers so special, and what they had done for those who drank them. So we asked eight of the world’s most renowned beer writers and influencers to select their own list of great beers: not just the ones they thought should be in this book, but also the ones they loved themselves. To earn its place on their list, each had to be more than just a drink; it had to connect to something: a place, person, cherished memory.

In this five-part series filmed by the Craft Beer Channel in partnership with The Malt Miller, Andy guides you through everything you need to know to brew your own beer. Introducing each stage of the brewing process for Elusive Brewing’s very own Level Up – an American red ale. The recipe and additional guidance can be found in CAMRA’s Essential Homebrewing. Level Up was formerly one of Andy’s home brew recipes and the foundation for building Elusive Brewing into a successful pro brewery. Follow the videos, grab the book and your recipe kit and brew along with Andy.