Craft Beer vs Real Ale

As a long-time CAMRA stalwart I appreciate the clarity of the idea of "Real Ale".  It's a very specific thing: served from the vessel (usually a cask, but not always) that the beer was matured in, on its own sediment with no added carbonation.  It's a realtively simple definition and it's not about taste, quality or size or marketing.  It's about production, maturing and dispense method.

All this does is allow you to know when they say "ale" they are not talking about John Smiths Smooth.

It's only a useful definition in a specific way.

I happen not to like Greene King IPA or Doom Bar but I can't deny when served in the way specified they are Real Ales.  I walk out of pubs where these things are the only things served, but I absolutely wouldn't deny them their status.  Indeed I have friends and relatives who would take Doom Bar over almost anything else. 

Craft beer, on the other hand seemed to start as a general indicator of the boom in small new brewing outfits and that it had been taken up by enthusiasts who started to brew almost knowing that it was a thing that wasn't going to make loads of money but something smaller, more niche, that you do for love and fun.

And now?

Craft beer has been hijacked by cynical marketeers who know damned well there's no real definition and that their mass-produced faint echo of a small batch IPA (yeah, you Shipyard and Maltsmiths) is not as cheap to produce as Carlsberg-Fosters-Heineken (or whatever) but it's not that far off and is a lot less price sensitive.

No, no, I know this isn't some new insight...it's been said by many more erudite than me.

I guess, since I drink in a city with an abundance of micro-breweries who produce some of the very best beer you can imagine, I can see a sign on a pub/bar window that says "Craft Beer" which makes me want to give the place a try.  When I press my eager little nose to the glass all I can see is mega brand beer.  This makes me simultaneously angry and sad.

If a tiny pizza place (mostly takeaway but with about 8 seats to sit and eat) can serve two (count 'em) lovely local keg beers (usually Arbor and Moor) then pretty much anyone could - but they choose not to.

I'd love there to be another definition that would allow me to be confident when I enter an establishment that the thing they have on offer was made with care and (probably) in small volume.

Meanwhile I'll have to redouble my efforts to support smaller producers and independent outlets and champion those that don't fall for the large company "we'll install some lines for you" spiel.