Real Ale & Cider

Real ale, cider and perry are the products CAMRA campaigns for.

Real ale, or live beer in the recent definition, is available in cask in pubs, and in kegs, membrane kegs (often referred to as KeyKegs, a brand name of one manufacturer), cellar tanks, bottles and cans.
It’s a live product, with sufficient yeast and sugar remaining in the container to allow a low level of fermentation to continue, producing CO2 and alcohol. Almost anything may be added to flavour beers, but the primary ingredients are malted barley, water, hops and yeast. Find more detail about real ale, live beer, cask beer and how they differ and are made on our Real Ale page.

Real cider and perry are made from the pure juice of apples and/or pears, fermented to create CO2 and alcohol. The juice may be diluted before or after fermentation to reduce the alcohol content, but should not be from concentrate. Ciders may be flavoured with almost anything, but any fruit used should be pure juice not from concentrate, and the apple or pear juice content should remain high. More detail on our Real Cider and Perry page, and the full definition with supporting notes can be found on the national website’s Promoting Cider & Perry page.