You are more than likely aware of the ‘Good Beer Guide’, CAMRA’s flagship publication, that lists the best pubs in the UK, but what you may not know is how those pubs are selected. Mainly, it is as a result of beer scores being submitted by CAMRA members from across the country, the unfortunate reality is that those scores are mainly derived from the few branch activists that visit the pubs within their branch.
As a CAMRA member you can send in beer scores to West London or any other local CAMRA branch via the WhatPub website. If you have ever wondered why your favourite pub that sells really good beer, isn’t in the Good Beer Guide then this may well be because it hasn’t had enough visits rating the quality of the beer. Entering the scores doesn’t automatically get your pub into the Good Beer Guide as scoring beers is the first stage of a multi-stage process, but beer scoring on a consistent basis contributes to the process of selection of pubs that go into the Good Beer Guide.
You don’t have to be an ‘expert’ to begin scoring and the process is pretty simple. Please remember though that it is not about your personal favourite beer receiving the highest score, or that the reason that you are doing it is just to get your favourite pub into the Good Beer Guide. You will more than likely try a beer that isn’t to your normal taste but what you need to consider is the quality of the beer. Ask yourself whether the publican has kept it in good condition and how have they served it, and score it in accordance with the scoring system in WhatPub, which is quite simple to use.
In order to submit your scores you need to login to WhatPub which is CAMRA’s online pub guide. The address is www.whatpub.com and you can access the website by using your smartphone whilst you are still drinking your pint. The website contains over 31,000 pubs from all over the UK.
Here are the steps to submitting a beer score, or if you prefer you can watch a video taking you through this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSgRLWj7q20.
- Login on whatpub.com. To do this you will need your CAMRA membership number and your CAMRA password.
- Start searching for your pub by name of the pub, the location or nearest tube/rail station. Postcodes and postcode areas eg W14 can also be used, but note that W1, WC2 and SW1 don’t work (you need to use SW1E etc instead). If you’re scoring while in the pub using your smartphone though you can just tap the ‘Nearby pubs’ button.
- Locate the 'Submit Beer Score' on the tab bar underneath the pub photo if you are using a smartphone or on the right hand side of the screen if you are using a computer.
- Enter the date, score, brewery name and the name of the beer as the fields automatically pop up. If the beer that you are drinking is new or a one off by the brewery then you may need to type in the full name.
- Click the 'submit' button and your score will be winging its way to the branch’s Pubs Officer.
Another added bonus is the fact that the website will automatically keep a record of all your scores and when you made them so you can look back to see what beers you have had in a particular pub and how you rated them.
As an alternative you can also use the Good Beer Guide app at www.goodbeerguide.org.uk to score your beers. See https://camra.org.uk/about/publications/camras-good-beer-guide-app/ for information about this app.
In West London branch we have over 700 pubs and clubs listed in WhatPub. As you can imagine it’s quite difficult keeping track of how all of these are doing! Scores submitted by members are hugely valuable in identifying which pubs are consistently serving beer in excellent condition and can be considered for inclusion in the Good Beer Guide. The scores also help us to identify pubs which require further surveys.
We warmly welcome scores from CAMRA members regardless of whether you live locally or have just been to one or two pubs while visiting the area.
Also, if you have any updates of the details in the WhatPub entry for a pub you’ve visited these would also be very helpful! Just click on the ‘Submit Updates’ tab in WhatPub and fill in the form with your updates.
You can learn more about beer scoring on the national CAMRA website at www.camra.org.uk/nbss including details of what the different scores mean and some frequently asked questions.
(This article is adapted from articles by Danny Clark in ‘Draught Copy’ and Sonia James-Henry in ‘Mersey Ale’ CAMRA magazines. Thanks!)
