What the Good Beer Guide Is and What the 54th Edition Covers

Updated

The Good Beer Guide is CAMRA's guide to pubs and beers, and the 54th edition is the current one featured on CAMRA's website. It is aimed at readers who want to discover good pubs and beers, whether locally or when travelling. The site presents it as a published guide rather than an online database, so treat it as a reference book to consult and carry rather than a live search tool.

What the Good Beer Guide is

CAMRA — the Campaign for Real Ale — describes itself as championing real ale, cider, perry and the pubs that serve them. The Good Beer Guide sits within that mission: it is a CAMRA publication that helps readers find pubs and beers worth seeking out.

The site's own framing places the guide alongside CAMRA's other pub-and-beer discovery tools, including its pub-finding and beer-festival content. In practice, the guide is the portable, curated companion to that wider campaign work.

What the 54th edition covers

The 54th edition is the latest edition highlighted on CAMRA's site. Two things are clear from the site itself:

  • It is current. CAMRA presents the 54th edition as "out now," which makes it the edition to look for if you want the most recent version.
  • It is a guide to pubs and beers. The site pairs the guide with its "Looking for great pubs, clubs and beers?" framing, so the edition is intended for exactly that purpose — finding places to drink and beers to try.

The site does not, in the material available, break down the edition's contents entry by entry (for example, a count of featured pubs or a regional breakdown). If those specifics matter to you, check the edition's own listing or the guide itself rather than assuming a structure.

How it fits with CAMRA's other discovery routes

CAMRA's site offers several ways to find pubs, beers and festivals. The Good Beer Guide is one route; the site's pub-finding and festival content is another. A sensible approach:

If you want to… Use
Carry a curated reference and browse offline The Good Beer Guide, 54th edition
Search for pubs, beers or festivals near you CAMRA's on-site pub and festival discovery content
Combine both Use the site to shortlist, then check the guide for fuller write-ups

The guide and the site are complementary: the site is better for a quick near-you search, while the guide is better for reading up on a place before you go.

Practical notes before you buy or rely on it

  • Check you are getting the 54th edition. Because CAMRA highlights the 54th as the current edition, confirm the edition number when ordering so you don't receive an older printing.
  • Membership is separate. CAMRA's site links to membership plans ("Join Us"), and the site notes that joining brings free festival entry. That is a membership benefit, not a feature of the guide itself — don't assume the guide is included unless the listing says so.
  • Pricing and availability aren't stated in the material here. Check CAMRA's own product listing for current price, format and delivery details rather than relying on assumptions.

If your goal is simply to learn what the guide is, the short answer is: it is CAMRA's curated pub-and-beer guide, and the 54th edition is the current one to look for. If your goal is to use it, pair it with CAMRA's on-site search for the most practical results.