The view through my glass bottom, by Julian Grocock

Keeping ahead at the top

I have good friends ‘daahn saahf’ who might take exception to this latest attempt at a ‘punny’ beer-related title. A head, they’ll pontificate, is how you ruin condition, texture and flavour. To which my rejoinder is that great beer needs a great head – resilient, stubborn, standing firm, showing no sign of weakness, and maintaining an effective presence throughout the life of the liquid below it.

Needless to say, rather than this being a prelude to some foolhardy attempt to revitalise the row about the North-South divide (tight vs fluffy, retentive vs ephemeral), it’s really about what’s going on at the head of our beer and brewing domain. And as such it’s a return to where I began this column, with an intention to re-immerse myself in industry and consumer politics…albeit these days from the trade media sidelines. But first, a confession: I was distracted a couple of times during the last fifteen months or so, because both CAMRA and SIBA had vacancies for a new chief executive and, despite my advancing years, I fleetingly fancied my chances. I actually applied for one, but wasn’t shortlisted for interview. And the appointment to fill the other was announced on the day I finally found out where it was being advertised. Rest assured, the conclusion I drew is that I really wasn’t a suitable candidate. Although age isn’t an officially allowable consideration in applicant-evaluation, I’m old and wise enough to concede that some sort of historic ‘blast from the past’ is the last thing future-focused representative associations in our rapidly evolving sector are likely to be looking for to take them forward. So I’m not driven by sour grapes – or indeed their spontaneously fermented, stale-hopped, maltbased equivalent.

Nobody knows better than I do that Tom Stainer and James Calder don’t actually lead their respective organisations. Each is the numberone employee, appointed by their respective governing bodies. But I do hope they have the breadth of industry knowledge, perception and imagination to play a significant contributory role in the formulation, articulation and communication of both vision and mission for the stakeholders and enthusiasts they represent, and I wish them the very best in their positions of lofty responsibility.

The key word here is representation. Success for James and Tom in the eyes of the immediate employers they report to – Board of Directors or National Executive – is relatively straightforward. However, satisfaction down the line, to each interest group’s broad constituency, is a different and somewhat more complex matter. Indeed, it shifts the focus of scrutiny onto those ‘governors’ who are the real head on top of their beery bodies. It is they who are elected by, and therefore answerable to, their members. They direct and develop policy, and carry the can for the efficacy (or not) of its implementation.

And policy, of course, is where I’ve commented before. It’s a thankless if not impossible task, trying to combine today’s infinite range of opinions into a recipe that can appeal to all, and won’t look too much like some celebrity chef’s tortuously arranged plateful of selfindulgent gobbledygook. ~ At the moment, I remain unconvinced about how well this ‘craft politics’ is being achieved by the two industry organisations closest to my heart – so perhaps it’s no wonder I didn’t get the job.

But, as it happens, I have assumed a new position of senior responsibility. In March, 2019, I was elected CAMRA chairman…of my local Vale of Belvoir branch! ‘Back to the floor’ is something I’ve done before – and I maintain that there’s a significant advantage in knowing the industry first-hand at all levels, from my humble beginnings as an ordinary CAMRA member and part-time barperson, to those ultimate echelons you know about. Returning hands-on to the pub trade nine years ago kept me essentially in touch with beer trends at the retail sharp end, so I actually knew what was going on throughout the industry. Now, I can say the same about grass-roots re-engagement in our most successful ever consumer movement. Travelling full circle has given me a broad and wide-ranging perspective from which to observe, and comment – and make one definite assertion… Choose whatever head you prefer on your pint, but on top of your industry it has to be like the one you’d find ‘oop nooerth’.

By Julian Grocock

Julian Grocock is a former pub landlord, managing director of Tynemill/Castle Rock, and chief executive of SIBA.

Extensive experience in beer and pub politics, brewery and pubco operations, and on the front line in the pub trade...‘from cellar to ceiling’.