Channel Island pubs make the CAMRA Grade

More than 20 Channel Island pubs are featured in the latest edition of the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide.  The Guide, which is published this week, is the bible for discerning beer drinkers across the UK. The 39th Edition shows that brewing and beer drinking is enjoying a renaissance in the British Isles with three breweries opening and 62 new Good Beer Guide pub entries in the Wessex and Channel Islands region alone.

Research carried out by CAMRA shows that the number of people around the country who have tried real ale has risen by more than 40% in the last five years. The Guide, which is completely independent and free to entrants, is compiled by CAMRA's 130,000 members, who exhaustively update and revise the book each year.

Only pubs serving the best real ale are considered for entry, and John Buckley, CAMRA Wessex and Channel Isles Regional Director, said: "With so many fantastic community pubs in the area, it is becoming harder every year for CAMRA branches to select their choice of local pubs to feature in the Guide. Only pubs serving a consistently high standard of real ale are considered for inclusion, and it’s been a busy year for CAMRA members surveying their locals. In CAMRA’s 40th year, we hope readers find the Guide as useful as ever in tracking down the perfect pint of real ale."

Eight of the Pubs recommended in the Guide this year are part of Liberation Group including the Post Horn and Peirson in Jersey and the Houmet Tavern in Guernsey. Liberation Group Chief Executive Mark Crowther said: "Pubs have always been an important part of community life and it appears from this year’s Guide that that is as true today as it has always been. We’re obviously delighted to be recognised in such a prestigious publication and I think the Channel Islands should be proud as a whole to have so many pubs listed. As the Jersey Beer Festival gets underway, this underlines the quality of locally produced beer among our national peers and as one of the Islands’ two breweries, it sends out an important message not only to local drinkers, but to visiting beer lovers as well: the Channel Islands are among the best in what is a growing market for quality, well-produced beers."

The Good Beer Guide is published today (15th September) and is available in bookshops and online at camra.org.uk