Beer and Brewer Magazine

Geoff Griggs has a SOBAing message about supporting good beer.

BRITAIN'S Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971 by four disgruntled beer drinkers who were fed up with the gassy, bland, ‘keg' beers and lagers that were increasingly dominating the UK market. From the outset CAMRA's aim was to promote traditional British ales - milds, bitters, strong ales and stouts - the styles of beer that had been drawn by handpump or served direct from casks in British pubs for centuries.

CAMRA coined the term ‘real ale' to specifically identify cask (or bottle) conditioned ales which undergo their final fermentation and conditioning in the vessel from which they are dispensed. The term was deliberately provocative and emphasised real ales as the antithesis of pasteurised or sterile-filtered ‘dead' beers. Ale that's ripened and served from a cask or bottle in which live yeast are still present is inevitably going to be delicate and requires careful storage and dispensing - poorly kept real ale was the main reason ‘keg' beers ever got a foothold in the UK market, but when well cared-for it offers an unmatchable freshness and fullness of flavour. For me a pint of well-kept real ale is truly one of life's joys.

Before migrating to New Zealand in 1995 I had been a member of CAMRA for twenty years. Being a member meant different things to different people but I took the role seriously and attended regular weekly meetings of my local CAMRA ‘branch'. The meetings usually consisted of visiting pubs within the branch area, with the aim of checking which real ales (if any) were available and whether they were served in good condition. (Once opened, a cask of real ale can oxidise and turn to vinegar in just a few days!). If the beer was deemed to be of consistently high quality the pub would then be considered for entry in the national CAMRA Good Beer Guide - one of the UK's annual best-selling books. As you might imagine, the prospect of visiting pubs and sampling real ales in the company of like-minded individuals was something I looked forward to each week.

When I came to New Zealand I missed the sociable atmosphere of the English pub and CAMRA meetings in particular. I still do! Anyone who's visited the UK will know Kiwi and Aussie pubs just aren't the same; indeed the whole beer drinking experience is quite different in this part of the world. Sadly, most Australasian pubs are tied to one of the large brewers and the range of beer styles offered tends to be minimal. Many of my friends, me included, would prefer to gather at someone's house than go to a pub and drink mainstream brands and as a result we're limited to sampling beers from bottles or cans. That's a great pity because, as any beer aficionado will tell you, the freshest beer usually comes out of a tap.

Although there are wine-tasting clubs dotted around all over the country, to my knowledge there haven't been any consumer-driven beer clubs like CAMRA in New Zealand. Until now! The good news is that at last year's BrewNZ, in Wellington, the Society of Beer Advocates (SOBA) was launched.

The acronym SOBA is deliberately contentious, as is the group's challenging slogan, "Beer for all the right reasons". SOBA's website explains; "We firmly believe that there is far more to beer than a vector for alcohol to enter your system. Some of us would prefer it if making great non-alcoholic beer was possible, just so we could drink more of it. We are advocates of finely crafted, flavourful beers. We like beers which have character and individuality. We want the kind of recognition for our beverage of choice that wine currently enjoys, but we don't want to be snooty about it - we just want better product, and more of it available in more places. We do not ask for much!" These are people who care about what beers they're drinking and, given you're reading this magazine, I suspect you do too.

SOBA's stated aims include; "to promote awareness of beer in all its flavour and diversity; to promote quality, choice and value for money and to act as an independent resource for both the consumer, the pub trade, and the brewing industry." Great stuff!

Although they're dotted around New Zealand SOBA members can easily keep in touch using the internet, and informal meetings have already begun in the larger cities. Discounts have also been negotiated with a range of beer-savvy shops and bars and card-carrying members also enjoy free tours of some of the country's leading craft breweries.

Over the last 35 years CAMRA's remit has gradually broadened to a point where it is now widely regarded as the consumer's champion in relation to the UK and European beer and drinks industry. With a membership in excess of 90,000 it has been described as Europe's most successful consumer group.

Although I still retain a life membership of CAMRA and look forward to receiving the campaign's monthly newspaper with all the news of "What's Brewing" in the motherland, I'm hoping SOBA can echo some of that kind of success right here in New Zealand. That's why I joined and that's why I urge all like-minded Kiwis to do the same. And while we're on it, how about setting up an Australian arm of SOBA? Aussie beer lovers have nothing to lose and much to gain. Cheers!

You can check out SOBA online at www.soba.org.nz. Geoff Griggs can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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