Campaign For Real Ale Festival.

CAMRA was founded in Kruger's Bar in Dunquin, Co Kerry, by four young men from the NW of England who were on holiday. Michael Hardman, Graham Lees, Bill Mellor and Jim Makin were fed up with the increasingly bad quality of beer in Britain, that was too fizzy, lacked character and had no taste. They decided to form a Campaign for the Revitalisation of Ale in 1973. A year later the first AGM was held at The Rose Inn, Nuneaton. Now known as Real Ale and with 140,000+ members, it campaigns to preserve traditional, real ales and ciders also traditional pubs. Apparently there are still many good regional brewers who have survived the glut of takeovers by international companies. I found out this information whilst visiting the beer festival on Jesus Green, Cambridge. There were well over 100 barrels to sample, although I didn't try any today. It was cold this morning so I opted for coffee.