How And Why to Score The Beers You Drink
WhatPub, Beer Scoring and the Good Beer Guide
How are pubs selected to appear in CAMRA’s flagship publication listing the best pubs in the UK, the ‘Good Beer Guide’?
The answer is that it is largely via beer scores submitted by CAMRA members from all over the country. If you’ve ever wondered why your favourite pub isn’t in the Guide, this may well be because you, and others, haven’t entered scores rating the quality of beer there. By beer scoring, you can contribute to the process of selection of pubs that go in the Good Beer Guide.
See the links below for details of our branch selection process for Good Beer Guide entry and Branch Pub of the Year.
So how do I score the quality of the beer?
You don’t have to be an ‘expert’ to begin scoring your beer. However, it is not about your personal favourite beer receiving the highest scores! You may try a beer that isn’t to your normal taste but what you need to consider is the quality of that beer, how well the pub has kept it and served it, and score it according to one of the two general guides below.
The national CAMRA scoring method uses a simple system of a ten point range from 0 to 5, with half points being used if your opinion of the beer falls between two categories:
0. No cask ale available
1. Poor: beer is anything from barely drinkable to drinkable with considerable resentment
2. Average: competently kept, drinkable pint but doesn’t inspire in any way, not worth moving to another pub but you drink the beer without really noticing
3. Good: good beer in good form. You may cancel plans to move to the next pub. You want to stay for another pint and may seek out the beer again
4. Very Good: excellent beer in excellent condition. You stay put!
5. Perfect: probably the best you are ever likely to find. A seasoned drinker will award this score very rarely.
If you wish to download a paper scoresheet click here.
How do I submit my scores?
In order to submit your scores online you need to login to CAMRA’s pub guide WhatPub.com either from a PC, tablet or smart phone. Here you will find a list of almost 34,000 real ale pubs from all over the UK; these are not all Good Beer Guide pubs, merely pubs that serve real ale.
In order to start submitting scores via WhatPub you need to:-
1. Login using your membership number (without any leading zeros) and your CAMRA password ;
2. Then search for your pub by name. With common names try searching by the pub name and the town. The WhatPub smart phone web page also gives you the option to search for real ale pubs nearby, useful if you are in an unfamiliar area;
3. Once you have found your pub a ‘Submit Beer Scores’ box will appear on the left hand side of the screen (or on the tab bar underneath the pub photo if you are using a smart phone);
4. Simply fill in the date and your score then as you begin typing the brewery, the name should automatically appear. You do not have to enter the name of the beer you are drinking but if you wish to do so, once you have entered the brewery name, you should be able to click on the arrow in the Beer box and a drop down list of that brewery’s beers should appear. Select the correct one click ‘submit score’ and your score will be entered into the database. In some cases the beer you are drinking may be new or a one off by the Brewery so may not appear on the list, if this is the case you can simply type in the beer name.
It is as simple as that. An added bonus is that WhatPub will keep a record of your scores so you can look back to see what beers you have had and how you rated them if you want.
If you score using a paper form, these can be handed to a Committee member at any of our Branch socials or bimonthly open committee meetings, or emailed to beerscores@sel.camra.org.uk or click here to enter your scores online via our website.
Want More Information?
Please see:
National Beer Scoring System – CAMRA – Campaign for Real Ale
