April 2025. Sheffield.
That title comes from reader Stu; usual prize, Stu.
Well, I was very excited leaving Alder that Friday Thursday, rushing to tell the new keeper of the Bass Directory (“Custodia Bassista”) the Good News.
Joy too, at the Great Stuff This Bass Facebook group, who all wanted to know “But is it permanent ?“.
Is anything permanent in life, mate ? *
I dragged Mrs RM back to Kelham the next day to find out if it had lasted the night at least.
She likes Alder as much as I do. Actually, we should hire their gardener.
“You MUST have a pint of Bass !” I said, while she surveyed the keg.
Lads, NEVER tell a woman what to drink.
At least she picked the local cask Triple Point Simook, a pint so good (NBSS 4, since you care), as the good CAMRA life member she is.
But my Bass (again NBSS 4) was even better.
And I watched as a succession of unapologetic young folk arrived at the bar, went “ooh” and pointed at the red triangle.
Yes, a national is finally putting a bit of money behind Bass, though frankly only pints this good will keep the pumps flowing and make sure it stays on the bar.
Not everyone is delighted by this enthusiasm for Bass, whether because of ideology;
CAMRA’s Conference instructed the NE to “ensure that all relevant CAMRA publications and communications pledge preferential support to beer producers and suppliers that are independent of the influence of the multinational brewers, and to make the case persistently for this stance.”
or an obsession with history “it has tasted nothing like Draught Bass of old“, or tired references to “brown beer“, always in a derogatory tone.
Mark Gibson nails it on Discourse;
From campaigning for good cask 50 years ago to slagging it off now,
* Apart from BRAPA’s iron-willed determination to finish the GBG.
retiredmartin 
Young people? You mean Camra members under 80?
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Be fair, Scott, 76
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Agreed. CAMRA has definitely had its day!
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NPSS 4 for “Mrs RM drinking whatever she fancies” & “Young people almost queuing at a bar with pint of Bass foreground”
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But they’re not slagging it off. They’ve used the word “preferential” doubtless deliberately. They’re *not* saying it’s not a good beer and they’re not slagging it off. You’re imposing a binary that CAMRA has conscientiously not, and that’s unfair of you.
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Comment above from me (not a CAMRA member).
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This comment got sent to spam originally, Beer Nut, I’m glad I can put a name to your comment.
And you make a very fair point that CAMRA as an organisation have, over many decades, been very careful with wording of motions and careful not to slag off other drinkers in the pub. So sorry if that I was the impression I gave. It’s the relentless abuse of Bass drinkers from CAMRA members on Discourse I’m calling out, as someone who personally drinks lots of different beers without letting politics get in the way.
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Silence carries its own message.
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Oh, but they (and I mean CAMRA members on Discourse) have slagged it off, for many many years. And in the actual example I gave I was advised to discourage young people from drinking Bass in favour of independent brews.
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Discourse thankfully is only for members.
Worse is a branch magazine thrice on a page mentioning “Doom Bore” and that penned by branch Chairman who’s won Pub of the Year !
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That’s a good example of the way that CAMRA members, often in leadership positions, seek to denigrate beers that folk actually drink and enjoy.
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Well said Mark Gibson! The spectacle of CAMRA complaining about Carlsberg-Marston’s discontinuing a list of beers they’d spent years rubbishing was particularly unedifying.
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Yes, “How DARE you discontinue Wainwright etc etc”
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Going back many years I have criticised CAMRA for tasting the policies of the brewery in the beer itself.
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I drank many a pint of Bass, from stillage, at the Chequers, in Stanton-By-Dale of Alan Winfield’s home pastures, during the 1970s and 1980s.
I always thought that it tasted a bit like a Christmas brew.
It’s perhaps a little different now, but that might just be me, and it’s still a cracking drop whatever.
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Well, you know my general opinion of Draught Bass but, having said that, I would not allow the words ‘Doom Bore’ or similarly derogatory comments about any beer to appear in Opening Times.
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Indeed, John, and Stockport and South Manc CAMRA has always made a point of visiting as many pubs in the branch as possible, whatever beers they stock.
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The issue with Bass is that it lost lot of its character, complexity and depth of flavour when they abandoned the Burton Union System in the 1980s in favour of stainless steel conical fermenters. This is not just a ‘it doesn’t taste like it used to’ lament but an actual and radical change to the way the beer was brewed.
I’ve recently been able to sample both Thornbridge The Union and Thornbridge Jaipur Union. The character, complexity and depth of flavour of the latter—a beer I know well—are all noticeably intensified.
Tim Mars
Stroud CAMRA
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