Cask-Conditioned Beer: Are We Getting the "Real Beer" Deal & Are Cask Events Here to Stay?

If you are even remotely connected to the Vancouver craft beer community, unless you have been living incommunicado in a cave, you will have noticed the explosion, sometimes quite literally, of cask beer events hosted around the Lower Mainland. There seems to be a cask beer event almost every day, the latest CAMRA Vancouver Newsletter has ten listed over the next week, with some of weekly scheduled events having developed an almost cult-like following. Take Central City's monthly cask event, which takes place 4 PM, the last Saturday of the month, where unless you are there when the cask is tapped, you are not likely to get a chance to sample what is on offer and even if you are there on time, the chances of getting more than a pint are slim due to the event's popularity. The Whip's "Real Ale Sunday's" draws a regular crowd of Vancouver beer scene's insiders and often sells out in 90 minutes or less. St Augustine's "Manichean Monday's" draws people from all over the city who come to have a sleeve or two to help them ease into the work week while the London Pub's "Tap that Cask" event, held Friday's at 5 PM, has become the official kick-off to the weekend for many craft beer enthusiasts. The current situation brings to mind the song "Old MacDonald" with a cask, cask here and a cask, cask there, here a cask, there a cask, everywhere a cask, cask. And if that weren't enough to motivate and excite real beer enthusiasts, the Alibi Room has three casks on offer at all times, with the beers available dependent on what gem Nigel Springthorpe has managed to get his hands on.

Cask beers have been around the city for a few years but only recently have they become so popular and their availability so widespread. The genesis of Vancouver's cask beer events can be traced directly back to the long-gone-but-sorely-missed Dix BBQ and Brew Pub (may you RIP) which can take credit for being ground zero for the current cask beer explosion in this city. According to the CAMRA BC website, Vancouver's first regular cask night kicked off at Dix in July, 2002, with their first monthly "Cask Saturday". Vancouver's first "Caskival", a festival dedicated to cask-conditioned beer, where local brewers vied for the coveted Golden Bung Award, was held at Dix in July 2003. A month later Dix again produced another first when their monthly cask night went weekly in August of 2003 and was held every Thursday until Dix closed in May, 2010. From those humble beginnings, the current cask scene has developed and grown to the point where new cask events seem to be spreading across the Lower Mainland like airborne yeast in a windstorm.
Due to the shear volume of cask events in the city at the moment, it is virtually impossible to attend them all. Some of the more adventurous and I suspect single, cask beer fans have made a kind of sport out of braving as many cask events in a row as they can with the record sitting at nine, I believe. Things have never been better for the real beer enthusiast here in Vancouver and there are no signs that this current trend is going to change.
But is this cask-event frenzy a craze here today, all the rage, only to be gone the way of the Pet Rock tomorrow, or is it here to stay? I thought I'd take a closer look at the whole cask-conditioned beer scene and offer up opinions on the subject from the World According to the VanEast Beer Blog.

What Exactly is a Cask-Conditioned Beer? 
I have been asked the question, "what differentiates a cask-conditioned beer from 'regular' kegged beer?", by many of my friend's and acquaintances and, to tell you the truth, I was not too sure of the exact details. As usual, I did not let that slow me down in giving them an answer, but I had never really put much more thought into the subject of cask-conditioned beer other than to consider whether I wanted to order one, or not, if they were on offer. As I understood it, cask-conditioned beer was fermented, at least in part, in a cask, was not artificially carbonated and was extracted from the cask by a hand-pump/beer engine style tap or gravity-fed and poured from the cask. In the interest of understanding fully what exactly qualifies a beer as a cask- conditioned beer, or real beer, I have done a little research so I can be better informed about what I am drinking and be able to properly give my friends and acquaintances an knowledgeable answer other than just flying by the seat of my pants.

Since CAMRA UK seems to be the patron saint of things cask-conditioned, I thought I would snoop around their website to see if I could come up with any information. I was not disappointed. According to CAMRA UK's website:

"Real ale is a beer brewed from traditional ingredients (malted barley, hops water and yeast), matured by secondary fermentation, in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide.
Brewers use ingredients which are fresh and natural, resulting in a drink which tastes natural and full of flavour. It is literally living as it continues to ferment in the cask in your local pub, developing its flavour as it matures, ready to be poured into your glass.
Real ale is also known as ‘cask-conditioned beer’, ‘real cask ale’, 'real beer’ and ‘naturally conditioned beer'."

CAMRA UK, who state on their website that they developed the above written definition in 1970, goes on to explain that both cask-conditioned beers and kegged beers go through the identical primary fermentation process but then part ways when cask-conditioned beer is placed in the cask where it undergoes the "slow secondary fermentation in the vessel (i.e. cask) from which it is served". Cask beers are then served straight from that cask, bypassing the pasteurization and filtration step, which filters out and kills the yeast, that most kegged beers undergo after primary filtration, preventing further fermentation. It is important to note that I stated "most" kegged beers and the reason why will become apparent a little later in this post.

Now I am going to leave the safe confines of the CAMRA UK website and venture out into the wild blue yonder, flying, once again, by the seat of my pants while pontificating about the current cask beer scene here in Vancouver. But if you chose to follow me on my adventure, please remember, these are my personal observations, thoughts and ideas and in no way reflect those opinions held by the owners/operators and employees of the VanEast Beer Blog.

Are We Getting the "Real Beer" Deal at Cask Events Here in Vancouver?

This is a more complicated question than it first appears. While there are some brewers who are actually transferring their beers into the casks, unfiltered, suspended yeasts and all, immediately after primary fermentation,  where they are introducing whatever ingredients they chose to to create their unique brews before sealing the casks up to allow secondary fermentation, I suspect that not all the beers served at our cask beer nights fit CAMRA UK's definition of cask-conditioned beer. Actually, this is  more than a suspicion, it is something I know to be true. What is true is that all the beers served at the cask events are coming from casks with seemingly no "extraneous" CO2, or any other gas, being used to aid in transferring beer from cask to glass. But some of the beers are not being "conditioned" in the "vessel" that they are being served from, which seems to be a key part of the CAMRA UK definition and description of cask-conditioned beers. This is not to say that those who don't follow this method are cheating us and serving substandard beers. I am simply saying that some purists would not consider many of the casks we are served at these cask events to be cask-conditioned.

Have you ever watched the casks be hauled up onto the bar just before they are tapped, or watched the person behind the bar tip up the cask to drain the last drops into your glass as you thirstily awaited and noticed that there is no sediment or cloudiness visible in your perfect pint? Maybe I am a little simple, but this puzzled me at first. If a beer is transferred, unfiltered, into the cask and allowed a secondary fermentation there, should there not be yeast sediment settled on the the bottom of the cask that would be stirred up when the cask is moved which would result in cloudy beer with coodies and ya-ya bits floating about when the cask is jostled about? I know I am not the only one who has thought this because I have had comments directed my way and watched others wince when they saw the casks being tipped and flung about. When I started to write this post, I did some thinking about this - if you were close enough to me you could have smelled the wood burning as I worked through this problem - and suddenly I understood why some of the casks are good to the last drop.

It is my belief that these "clean casks", those without sediment, do actually undergo secondary fermentation and are not filtered in any way, but they are not technically "cask-conditioned". These beers are similar to the "regular" kegged, craft beers we drink, which differs from the definition of "regular" kegged beers CAMRA UK mentioned. The craft breweries do keg their beers, and introduce extraneous CO2, but most, if not all, do not filter or pasteurize their beers after primary fermentation. They are instead transferred from the primary fermentation tank to a secondary fermentation tank, where the beers are allowed to undergo the all-important secondary fermentation.Once the secondary fermentation is complete and the yeasts and particles in the beer have settled to the bottom of the secondary tank, sometimes aided by finings dropped into the fermenter, the beer is transferred to a keg, CO2 is added and the beer is ready to be delivered to your local watering hole, or the beer is transferred to a cask, extra ingredients, if applicable, added and the cask sealed, ready to make its grand entrance at the next cask event gala.
By this method, no actual fermentation is taking place in the cask we have our beer from. This may also explain why some of the cask beers we are being served are so flat, due to the lack of natural carbonation in the cask that would have been produced if the cask had been allowed to actually ferment there. It also explains why these casks do not have any sediment and why the beer remains clear to the last sleeve (or pint if you are lucky) even when tipped, flipped, shaken or turned upside down.

Is that cask-conditioned beer?
I would say no. According to the CAMRA UK definition, no as well.
Is that real, craft beer?
To this question, I say yes.

The craft breweries are brewing using traditional methods and ingredients, sometimes with their own personal twists, are allowing the beer a slow, secondary fermentation and are not filtering or pasteurizing their beers. It is just taking place in a larger tank, not the cask. Many of these types of casks I have tasted have been excellent and equal in taste and quality to those that have obviously fermented in the actual cask (sediment and sludge present at bottom of cask tips me off these are real cask-conditioned beers) and some of the "authentic" cask-conditioned beers I have tried have not been that good. Being a cask-conditioned beer does not automatically qualify a beer as a good beer. And, if done properly, a beer transferred into the cask from the secondary, that is allowed the proper time to acclimatize and blend with the added ingredients, i.e extra hops, fruits, coffee, chocolate, etc, can be a great drinking experience.
On the cynical side, I do suspect though that some of these beers are being transferred into the casks and have the extras added just hours, sometimes minutes before being delivered to the event and this is evident in the final product, which in some cases have been quite disappointing. My experience and my suspicions tell me these cases are few and far between and I really hope that as the demand grows for casks, with the all the different cask events that are being held, that brewers are planning ahead. I do have to say that I did attend one cask event and thought the beer was very unique, tasty and well worth the trip. I later found out that this "cask-conditioned" beer was one of the last-minute specials, but I did not feel cheated due to the quality of the beer I enjoyed. What it did do was give me a great appreciation for how skilled our local brewers are to be able to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat at the last minute to provide a "cask" beer to an expecting audience.

I am sure some of you are rolling your eyes and muttering to yourself that I am just splitting hairs, but let me put it to you this way...If, with my next batch of home brew, I allow my beer to go through first a primary fermentation, then transfer it to a secondary carboy where the secondary fermentation takes place and the yeast and sediment settles to the bottom, after which I then transfer said beer to my bottles, unfiltered and without extraneous carbonation, and cap them, should I be able to call these "bottle-conditioned" beers? I think not, as almost all, if not all, of the yeasts, which have settled to the bottom of the secondary have been left behind, therefore no further fermentation is taking place in the bottles. These bottled beers, as good,or bad, as they may be are just Paddy's home brew, not bottle-conditioned beers. I believe the same comparison can be drawn to some of the casks that are being served. It is not a reflection on the quality of the product, it is a reflection about how the beer should be categorized.

In a perfect world, all the casks would be truly cask-conditioned for that authentic touch...it is called the Campaign for Real Ale, is it not? Having said that, if the beer is good, I will drink it, cask-conditioned, tank-conditioned or filtered through a dirty sock. I am not a purist when it comes to the beers I drink. If I like them, I drink them and if I don't, no matter what brewery they come from and how highly rated they are, I don't. Like I said before, not all things cask-conditioned are good. But I think if we are drinking beers that are not truly cask-conditioned, the brewers should let us know. I know when I see the words "cask beer", I expect a cask-conditioned brew and for some of the purists, this slight different in process is a very important one and is "the" step that differentiates this style of beers from others.

Are Cask Events Here to Stay or Just a Splash in the Glass?

As popular as it is at the current time, I am not so sure that the cask event movement can continue to grow and remain sustainable with the current number of craft beer drinkers in this city and the rapid expansion of the cask beer events. I do not profess to have attended every cask night, or even to have attended one at every venue, but at the ones I have attended, I see that the bulk of the crowd there drinking from the cask are the familiar faces of those who make up the nucleus of the Vancouver craft beer community. That is not to say that this trend cannot maintain and become a long-term thing here in Vancouver, but unless that community expands, I can't see the continued expansion of this cask beer craze continuing and I think that it will eventually shrink and return to just those establishments where craft beer drinkers traditionally hang out. Already I am seeing overlap in the events, two being held at the same time and wonder if this will thin the cask-beer crowd out. Maybe there are more and more people drinking craft beer at these events than I am aware of and there are enough cask beer lovers and curious customers who will try the cask beer, to sustain all of these events. If not, restaurants and bars will begin to see that numbers are dropping because the cask-beer crowd is being spread too thin and those establishments that are not traditional craft beer drinker hangouts will stop their cask nights and move onto the next fad/craze.
To this point, due in large part to the support from CAMRA Vancouver and the craft beer community, there have been more than enough support for the cask events to produce interest from new establishments, some not traditionally associated with craft beer, to hold their own events to draw new customers in. I have watched St Augustine's, a well-known craft beer hangout and my local watering hole, grow their cask night from a few local, craft beer lovers to a full house, but I did note that two Mondays ago, when I last attended, numbers were down, despite it being a Central City cask and I wonder if this was because the Granville Room held their first Monday cask night, overlapping St Augustine's, that same evening. I do know that many of the regular crew who show up at St Augustine's on Mondays went to the Granville Room to check it out and wonder if this will be a trend, with those living Downtown and on the Westside no longer making the trek to the Drive on Monday nights. I hope not as the St Augie's crew have worked hard to build up and establish their cask event but like I stated earlier, there are only some many craft/cask beer appreciators around at the moment and for them to support all the events, to the point of them being successful, the Campaign for Real Ale could soon turn into the Campaign for Real Alcoholics.

I also fear, as the demand for craft beer grows in this city and beyond, that with the increased demand for cask beers brewers may find that creating these casks is more of a time consumer than it is worth. At the moment, cask beers seem to be the playground for brewers, giving them a chance to deviant from their normal, day-to-day recipes to be creative and explore ideas to create truly unique brews. Some brewers seem very energized and inspired by this freedom and are producing some truly interesting, strange, quality casks, pushing the boundaries in regards to types of beers. If this passion for creating unique, quality casks continues, the quality will remain high which will help draw in more and more people into the cask beer scene which will, in turn, help it maintain and grow. If the quality begins to slip and not enough attention is paid to these casks, interest will shrink and the present craze will fizzle out like a flat cask.
I do hope that this cask beer craze turns into something long-term and permanent here in Vancouver and that the increased availability of cask beer will help introduce more people to craft beer. It will give beer tourists yet another reason to make Vancouver their destination of choice and give the local craft beer drinkers the unique opportunity to drink and enjoy a sleeve of real ale on a very regular basis, at more than just one establishment in the city, instead of having to wait to try samples every few months at a crowded beer festival. Even if cask-conditioned beer is not your thing, if you are a craft beer lover, the development and success of these cask events is a positive as they potentially expose more and more people in Vancouver to craft beer and point out the the bean counters of the hospitality industry that craft beers can be money makers if they are brought into an establishment and promoted.
So whether they are all truly cask-conditioned beers or not, lets hope that this current craze transforms into the norm so we can continue to drink fresh, quality craft beer in our fine city.

Putting the CAM in CAMRA Vancouver

There was there was a full house and a festive buzz in the air at CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Vancouver's Annual General Meeting held Sunday, Januray 23rd, at Surrey's Central City Brew Pub and the party atmosphere was due to more than just the free pints of Gary Lohan's two great casks creations and the $3.50 pints that are the norm on Sundays at Central City. Over the past few years, CAMRA's executive have worked very hard in regards to raising their public profile, recruiting new members, organizing/sponsoring events and supporting local businesses which has created positive energy that is quite palpable in the Vancouver craft beer scene. People interested in craft beer are beginning to sit up and take notice of CAMRA Vancouver as they present themselves as a more polished and professional group acting with purpose. This was my first CAMRA AGM and I was impressed with the membership support and with the new executive's plans to get members, beyond the executive, more active and involved.
A sign of the times that CAMRA Vancouver is actively trying to define their roll, focus and relate to their membership and beyond, is the open letter sent electronically, via their weekly newsletter and distributed at the AGM, entitled "CAMRA Vancouver, greater than the sum of its parts". This open letter, dated Dec 14/10 and authored by then President, Lundy Dale and current President (then Vice President), Martin Williams, defined what CAMRA Vancouver is all about. In the opening of the letter, Dale and Williams hinted at the fact that many, not involved in CAMRA's executive, did not have a clear picture of what it was CAMRA Vancouver does. The letter defined what CAMRA was all about, where they are today and where they were planning on going in the future and challenged the membership to get involved to guide the group's future direction and actions.
"Its getting there," states Martin Williams in regards to CAMRA Vancouver achieving its goal of being an effective consumer advocacy group. "We (CAMRA) are young, only eight years old in Vancouver. There is a desire to be more active and to have more to say. CAMRA is membership driven. The volume of the voice is dependent on the number of voices working in concert.
"What I would most like to see is membership in CAMRA increase and become more active. If 10% of our membership spent 2 hours a week doing some research into why we can't get the beer we want and served the way it should be served, we would have enough ammunition to make demands for real change to the rules that are holding us back. As it stands right now, we really don't know. We have a fairly good idea, but we don't have the facts to back us up. A more active membership would make for a more effective voice working on behalf of the craft beer drinkers." 
Until last year, I avoided buying a CAMRA membership because, to tell you the truth, I really did not see any reason why I should join. I have been aware of CAMRA since the 1980s, when I came across CAMRA beer festivals while living in the UK and came in contact with the group here in BC in the mid-1990s, but I could never really figure out what they were actually doing locally to campaign for real ale and craft beer. From my perspective, CAMRA, at least locally, was nothing more than a beer appreciation group who really had no obvious or definable campaign other than to organize the odd beer festival and discounts on craft beer. It seemed like a small, select group who used the name of CAMRA as an excuse to meet and drink beer. I often felt the CAMRA members I came across in bars and at festivals were nothing more than beer snobs who actually set back the campaign to promote craft beers by annoying and/or offending those who did not drink craft beer instead of trying to introduce them to and educate them about these wonderful brews. 
Now remember, this was my perspective and I know it may ruffle a few feathers, but I was not alone in thinking this way, having met many others who voiced similar thoughts. Whether this was true or not, this was one opinion of CAMRA that was out there in Vancouver, but because of the hard work done over the past few years and the explosion of the craft beer scene here in BC, this negative opinion held by some about CAMRA is fading away rapidly. And, in my opinion, rightly so, as CAMRA Vancouver is definitely moving in the right direction and truly organizing a campaign that is helping local craft brewers find their rightful places in the pubs, restaurants and liquor stores of our province giving local craft beer lovers more access and opportunity to consume local craft beers.
Vancouver Craft Beer Week (VCBW) co-founder, beer writer and former CAMRA Vancouver President,  Rick Green, agreed, at least in part, with my view of CAMRA Vancouver, past and present, when I queried him recently about his thoughts in regards to CAMRA's growth. 
"When I joined CAMRA in 2006, it was very much a beer appreciation group hanging out at (former brewbup/restaurant) Dix, really only trying to pick up new members from the low-hanging fruit at Caskivals," said Green, who included himself as one of the low-hanging fruit.
"In 2007, I decided to take over the CAMRA Secretary position from Jack Enright who, as a service to the membership, sent out an irregular e-mail with the latest news about casks, new beers coming out, events, etc. Considering that CAMRA was supposed to be a campaign, I thought that if we were going to be anything of the kind, we needed to increase the membership and communication."
Green, who comes from a multi media background, felt the best way to increase membership and communication was by publishing a regular e-newsletter that anyone, not just members, could subscribe to.
"If the quality of the information was sufficiently high, those who like good beer would probably forward it to their cohorts and our subscriber base would grow. We would then have a better means of converting those subscribers into members if they could be shown the value of doing so. The strategy succeeded and we saw our membership grow significantly."
Today the CAMRA Vancouver Weekly Newsletter, overseen by Ryan O'Connor, is sent electronically to approximately 900 people on a weekly basis, according to CAMRA Communications Director, Monica Frost's report at the AGM. Of those 900 people, approximately 50% are opening the letter weekly and nobody knows how many of those people are forwarding the newsletter to friends and associates who drink craft beer. The newsletter has recently made some major improvements and regularly lists craft beer events, such as weekly cask nights, beer festivals, food-beer pairings and beer tours, that are independant of CAMRA. The newsletter also supplies information about new arrivals at local liquor stores that feature craft beers and has links to many local beer bloggers such as myself.
CAMRA Vancouver's efforts to reach more people, has grown beyond their weekly newsletter. Anyone who has a Twitter (CAMRA_YVR) or Facebook account can follow CAMRA Vancouver and they have done an excellent job utilizing social media to promote all things relating to local craft beer. As well, CAMRA Vancouver has brought in Brooklyn Galloway to act as a Creative Design Director and as a result their website has more professional and polished look about it.
"Our overall image has been taken to the next level of professionalism with our new website," states Frost. "We are also very active in giving updates and communicating through our social media outlets, such as Facebook, our Weekly Newsletter and Twitter."
Another focus of CAMRA Vancouver, dating back to the Rick Green days, has been to focus on organizing and sponsoring events to try to promote the cause. According to Green, who became president in 2007, he and his executive decided to try to bolster the membership and encourage local businesses to feature craft beers by this means.
"We also put a concerted effort into supporting events and hosting beer events as another way to attract new members and to demonstrate to other establishments what could be done to better serve their customers," states Green. Althought organizing beer festivals pre-dates Green's days with CAMRA, organizing and sponsoring events took on a more significant role during his era and has continued to grow in importance and popularity. Last year CAMRA Vancouver really came into their own as far as events go with their final event, The Winterfest of Ale, held Dec 4/10 at St Augustine's, selling out well ahead of time, leaving many disappointed. In my opinion, it was one of the best CAMRA festivals in quite some time, with the event attracting an eclectic, cross-section of craft beer lovers to sample the impressive line-up of beers. As well as hosting and sponsoring a festivals, CAMRA supports the local cask nights, which are held almost every night of the week around the Lower Mainland and and various other beer events such as beer-food pairings, Vancouver Craft Beer Week and BeerTourist,  helping them be successful by promoting them and getting the word  out there and them.
Lundy Dale, who stepped in for Green as president in 2010, believes that supporting events is a key way to reach out the the general public, to promote craft beer and build CAMRA's membership. 
"While Rick Green was aboard as president, his strength was media and he was great at getting the word of CAMRA out there. My strengths lie in organization and events. Our membership increases with every event." This combined effort of supporting and sponsoring events and reaching out to the membership, and beyond, utilizing social media and the internet, is paying off and helping expose CAMRA to a wider audience. 
"In the past year we have been actively engaging members, supporters, the general public and bloggers in a movement towards supporting craft beer and specifically the local community," explained Frost. "Our growing member and corporate support base is an indication of some success with that (strategy) but also the fact that at our events, the number of non-members to members is usually split evenly at about 50%. That tells me that our social media efforts are being seen and we are drawing new people in. One of our focuses for 2011 is converting that interest to memberships which in turn raises the volume of our voice in the community."
Even though CAMRA's individual and corporate membership is growing, their events are selling out and their support is bringing more and more people out to events independent of CAMRA, they are not about to sit back and admire their handiwork. CAMRA is now looking to broaden their role and try to encourage their members to really effect change in the craft beer industry by becoming more educated about the issues in order to act as a credible lobby group.
"Every time there is a change in executive, things change," explained Dale, who is moving on serve as president for CAMRA BC. Dale went on to say that when she took over for Rick Green  as CAMRA Vancouver President in 2010 and Martin Williams took on the roll of VP, there was another slight shift in focus towards becoming a more vocal consumer advocacy group.  
"Martin has the passion and the energy to get the word out there and make things happen," says Lundy. "I am looking forward to working with him on a number of projects that will be suitable for all of CAMRA BC."
As mentioned above, Williams would like to see a more active and vocal membership. His belief is that CAMRA really should be greater than the sum of its parts.
"I'd like to see CAMRA become a research machine," says Williams. "We should know all the rules as they apply to our beer, what their intention was when they were being implemented, and whether the current situation has evolved from then.
"I do want to see CAMRA having a more active voice. Our voice should have weight. We should be referenced whenever beer policy is concerned. However, as I said as the AGM, we have to have something behind the mouth before we open it. If CAMRA is to be credible, what is says must have value, have a basis in reality and ring true. That can only come if we understand the questions, our goals and the goals of those who would have craft beer, and the enjoyment of it, out on the back shelf. That all might sound very heavy, but changing policy, dealing with political issues is heavy, and mostly boring details."
It is this kind of energy and purpose that lured me into the fold of CAMRA Vancouver and has me putting fingers to keyboard to tap out this blog. I want to be involved and have my voice heard. I no longer see CAMRA as just a beer appreciation group, even though all involved certainly do appreciate good beer. It has turned in to something more and if people like Williams have their way, CAMRA will become the voice of change in the future. But as Williams pointed out to me, even though Vancouver's carft beer scene has exploded, we have a long way to go.
"Even today, though the population is close (in numbers), Washington (State) has 150% the number of breweries than BC," says Williams. "I needed to play a role in changing that. The first step was joining CAMRA Vancouver.
"The second step was getting involved."
So if you are sick and tired of seeing the ridiculous price we pay for beer here in this province, or annoyed that your craft beers get served in frosted glasses that taste like soap, or that your local pub/restaurant/liquor store does not offer local, craft beers maybe, like me, it is time to get involved and make your voice heard. If enough of us shout at once, in unison and with something informed and intelligent to say, maybe someone else will take notice. 
Even though Williams is dead serious about trying to organize to shake up the status quo, he still keeps things in perspective.
"In the meantime, we can drink fine ale while we work, laugh some and enjoy some good comradery, as we fight the good fight," says Williams. "We have the right to drink good beer, made by the traditional methods, served as we like it.
"It is a right worth fighting for."
Now that sounds like a campaign I want to be apart of.
If you want to learn more about CAMRA Vancouver, check out their website where you can get all the information you need, subscribe to their newsletter and join the ranks.