Do you know where your beer is actually made? In this episode, we’re getting stuck into CAMRA’s latest Beer in the UK report and, as you might expect, we have Thoughts. We’re talking about independent breweries, the Big Four, tied pubs, provenance and the question of whether beer drinkers are really being “lied to” about what’s on the bar. We also get into some terminology that was new to at least one of us – including CAMRA’s rather intriguing “fig leaf brewing” – and debate whether greater transparency around who owns and brews your beer is actually the thing consumers care about.
But this isn’t just a CAMRA-bashing episode. We’re trying to be fair and look at both sides, including where we think CAMRA is moving in a really positive direction. We dig into why independent breweries can struggle to get their beers into pubs, how tied houses and line-cleaning arrangements can restrict choice, the impact of Brexit on beer exports, and whether beer taxation is making life even harder for the industry. We also question some of the report’s assumptions about why people are drinking less beer, from the changing role of pubs and the cost of living to remote working, drinking at home and whether wine really is the villain of the piece!
Ultimately, we come away cautiously optimistic. There are some genuinely important issues here, but we’re left asking: what happens next? How do we get beyond another report explaining the problems and actually make change happen – and, perhaps most importantly, what can ordinary beer drinkers do to help? And yes, we may have a few things to say about whether anyone is genuinely shocked that Madri isn’t made in Spain…
Read the report here:
https://camra.org.uk/beer-report
What SIBA hhas to say:
https://siba.co.uk/2026/07/06/independent-brewers-welcome-camras-call-for-fairness-and-transparency-in-british-beer-market/
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Music: Higher Up by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
