Beer Appreciation & CAMRA Tasting Panels

Beer glasses with different styles of beer.

One of CAMRA’s main objectives these days is to improve its members knowledge about beer and cider through its Learn & Discover programme including Discovery Zones at beer festivals and an extensive range of educational materials at https://camra.org.uk/learn-discover/

The Learn & Discover website content has three levels:

The Basics is open to all visitors. Learn More and Discover content has introductions for non-members and full access to CAMRA members.

It also includes a video by Jane Peyton, author and beer writer, on how to taste beer: https://camra.org.uk/learn-discover/the-basics/introduction-to-tasting-beer/

Beer Styles

CAMRA has defined 12 broad styles of beer which are used for dividing beers into categories for Champion Beer Of Britain judging.

Milds up to and including 4% ABV
Session Bitters up to and including 4.3% ABV
Premium Bitters 4.4% – 6.4% ABV
Session Pales, Blond, Golden Ales up to and including 4.3% ABV
Premium Pales, Blond, Golden Ales 4.4 – 6.4% ABV
British and New World IPAs 5.5% and above
Brown and Red Ales, Old Ales and Strong Milds 4.1%-6.4%
Session Stouts and Porters up to and including 4.9% ABV
Strong Stouts and Porters including Imperial Stouts and Baltic Porters 5% and above
Barley Wines and Strong Ales 6.5% and above
Speciality Beers (differently produced) Wheat, Wild/Sours, Saison, Lager
Speciality Beers (Flavoured) Fruit, Honey, Chocolate, Coffee, Fortified

The Learn More area on Learn and Discover provides more information on Beer Styles and on Live Beer.


Tasting Panels

What is a Tasting Panel

CAMRA Tasting Panels are regionally organised groups of members who have been trained in the tasting and assessment of beers.

The Greater Manchester Tasting Panel are responsible for tasting all the beers that are regularly brewed within the Greater Manchester Region. The Tasting Panel submits the descriptions of regular beers which are listed in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. They also put forward beers to CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain Competition.

Taste training

Through the local Tasting Panels, CAMRA can provide training to members depending on the level of volunteer involvement desired:

  1. Introduction to Beer – Basic ingredients of beer
  2. Beer Appreciation – general introduction to beer tasting.
  3. Tasting Panel Training – for those wishing to join a tasting panel.
  4. Beer Judging – for those interested in Champion Beer of Britain judging.

Information on beer tasting training is available here:

https://camra.org.uk/volunteers-area/training-for-volunteers/taste-training-and-beer-judging/

How do Tasting Panels work

All of the panel members are volunteers, who have been trained. From time to time, training sessions take place to bring in new tasters and no experience is necessary just a willingness to fill in tasting cards throughout the year and seek out local breweries’ beers.

Beer Tasting can be a solitary activity carried out in pubs on a regular basis throughout the year by trained tasters. The idea is to collect data on the beer using a tasting card (these days generally an electronic version, although paper versions are available to complete, see below).

The Greater Manchester Panel gets together a couple of times a year to visit pubs and breweries and test beers together. This helps to standardise the scoring on the cards.

CAMRA Beer Tasting Card
CAMRA Beer Tasting Card

Tasting cards enable us to create a collective piece of data called the “profile” of a beer, which is used for three purposes:

  1. Writing a description for the Good Beer Guide for a specific beer. Only descriptions written by tasting panels are included in the Good Beer Guide. This ensures descriptions are consistent and free from brewery marketing speak.
  2. Confirming the ‘beer style category’ in line with the beer styles defined by CAMRA https://camra.org.uk/learn-discover/learn-more/learn-more-about-beer/beer-styles/
  3. Selection of beers for the Champion Beer of Britain competition (CBOB)
Champion Beer Of Britain Tasting Panel
A Champion Beer Of Britain Tasting Pnel

You may well be familiar with the basics of beer scoring if you use the National Beer Scoring Scheme via WhatPub.com or the Good Beer Guide App.

Entering a tasting card is like an advanced version of Beer Scoring.

If you would like some training or are interested in getting involved in a Tasting Panel then please contact Chris Sandison, Regional Tasting Panel Co-ordinator at northwest.tprc@tasting.camra.org.uk or check the CAMRA website for details of forthcoming training sessions.