CAMRA calls for alcohol guidelines consultation as public disagrees with advice: More than half of respondents to a new study disagreed with official health guidelines on alcohol consumption, according to figures released by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). Of 2,040 people surveyed by YouGov, 61% agreed moderate alcohol consumption could be part of a healthy lifestyle – and 51% disagreed with the chief medical officers’ decision that alcohol guidelines should be the same for men and women. Publishing the figures at the start of the Great British Beer Festival, a week-long celebration of Britain’s brewing industry, CAMRA is calling for the Department of Health to launch a new public consultation into whether the alcohol guidelines are fit for purpose and evidence-based. CAMRA chairman Colin Valentine said: “The figures we’re releasing today, at the start of the Great British Beer Festival, show that government advice on drinking is at odds with common sense. If the government wants people to take the guidance seriously then it needs to present people with realistic and believable advice, which they can use to judge their own risk when it comes to responsible drinking. If the public feels, as our figures suggest, that the guidelines are not credible and lack evidence, the danger is they will increasingly just ignore them. There have been decades of international scientific evidence showing moderate drinking can play an important part in a healthy and happy lifestyle. We’d like to see that research reflected in a more grown-up approach to help adults understand the risks and benefits associated with drinking.” Numerous scientific studies have shown moderate drinking can have a protective effect against various health problems, including cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline and certain forms of cancer. However, this is ignored in the new alcohol guidelines. This year the Friends on Tap report from Oxford University also found those who frequented a pub were happier, healthier and felt more integrated in their communities than those who didn’t have a local. These latest figures chime with research released by CAMRA in May, which showed 60% of GPs also disagreed with the chief medical officers’ statement that there was no safe level of alcohol consumption, while two-thirds considered moderate alcohol consumption could be part of a healthy lifestyle.

SIBA launches initiative allowing independent brewers to take back craft beer: The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has launched an initiative – called “Assured” – to promote independent British craft breweries in an effort to provide greater clarity for consumers looking to purchase beer from genuinely independent craft breweries in the UK. To qualify for the stamp of approval, breweries must be truly independent of any larger controlling brewing interest and pledge to abide by SIBA’s Manual of Good Brewing Practice. Breweries signed up to the initiative will be able to use the stamp on their pump clips, bottles, cans, point of sale and websites. More than 150 SIBA members have already pledged their support for the scheme. To give consumers a quick and easy way to identify the independent craft brewers near them, SIBA has launched indiecraftbrewers.co.uk, which includes a UK-wide interactive map. The organisation’s bar at the Great British Beer Festival in Olympia, London, will also, from 5pm today (Tuesday, 9 August), be displaying details of the new initiative alongside serving its Champion cask beers. With more than 850 brewing members in the UK, SIBA said beer drinkers needed more information to help them make informed choices. Market research commissioned by SIBA showed 46% of beer drinkers regarded craft beer as “made by small brewers rather than large corporations”, although one in ten beer drinkers were unsure what the term meant. 35% regarded craft breweries as “artisanal”, with 22% associating the term with “small” and 14% with “local”. SIBA claimed its entire full brewing membership fell into those definitions. SIBA managing director Mike Benner said: “We’re not being sanctimonious about this or taking ourselves too seriously and we realise that great beer can be brewed by all kinds of brewers but, as more and more brewers jump on the ‘craft’ bandwagon, we think firstly that people want to know where their beer is being brewed and by whom, and secondly that we need to help even our relatively small members compete with the huge marketing budgets of big ‘craft’ brands. This is why we have launched this stamp of approval, which assures independence and quality. The future credibility and growth of the craft beer market would be seriously threatened if consumers simply associated it with a handful of brands from global brewers and not from their very own local brewery. Consumer access to beers from truly independent craft brewers is key to the future of British beer.”