Sectarianism

I had an odd experience today.

I met a pal for a lunchtime worky kinda meeting in a pub in town.  The Dolphin is a lovely place - nice lunch, a decent range of beer and friendly staff.

Today I particularly appreciated the ease with which I could swap chips and slaw for a salad with no dressing to go with my burger.

We both know the landlady pretty well so it wasn't surprising that she stopped by for a chat.

We got talking about keg vs cask (in a craft beer context) and she looked apologetic for a moment and said "ah, you're a CAMRA member, aren't you..." and then shuffled a bit uncomfortably as if I might suddenly disapprove of the pub because they were thinking about maybe holding an event that would serve some keg craft beer.
Or, worse, that I'd call the CAMRA police and have them banished from the GBG.

That I don't like keg beer, as a rule, is a matter of personal choice.  I generally find it too cold, too fizzy and lacking the subtlety that a really good cask beer can have.  My looking disappointed when she talked about the keg beer was that it would be an event I probably wouldn't rush to attend...rather a look of disapproval.

I would hope that the CAMpaign for Real Ale was more about being for real ale, and less against all other forms of beer...isn't it?

Real Ale is served from a cask but not all Good Beer is Real Ale, surely.

I applaud anyone's effort to produce a lovingly created product in the hope that people will enjoy it.

I'm also a CAMRA member but please don't think that makes me hate everything that isn't cask beer.