CAMRA has published the 2027 Good Beer Guide, renewing calls for a formal competition investigation into the global brewers who dominate the UK beer market. They’re continuing their quest to get independently brewed beers on as many bars as possible.
With a volunteer-led selection process, the guide features 4,500 pubs, 1,700 brewers, and 5,000 beers.
The foreword to the 2027 edition is written by Sir Ian Rankin. He, and his fictional detective Rebus, both frequent the Oxford Bar, in Edinburgh, which features on this year’s cover.
This year, data from the guide shows that 137 breweries have closed, and only 57 new breweries have opened. There are 812 new entries in the 2027 edition.
“The Good Beer Guide is fiercely independent, just like the brewers making the best beer,” said CAMRA chairman Ash Corbett-Collins. “It is the result of the time and effort of our volunteers across the UK to find the pubs serving the best kept cask beer.
“This year, we released our flagship report, Beer in the UK, alongside our campaign to expose how ‘big beer’ is dominating the UK beer market, and how ordinary drinkers and independent brewers lose out as a result.
“Because of that, we need the Competition and Markets Authority to start a formal investigation of the UK on-trade beer market. If you agree with us, please join CAMRA, buy the guide, and find amazing independently brewed beers for yourself.”
In his foreword, Sir Ian Rankin writes: “What makes the perfect pub? Ask 50 people and you might get fifty different answers… My preferences might not be yours, but there are a few things we can probably agree on. We want the beer to be good and the welcome to be friendly. We want to see signs that the bar represents the best of its community or neighbourhood. We want to feel like we fit in.”
