CAMRA Good Beer Guide (Old) app for iPhone and iPad
4.4 (
5184 ratings )
Book
Food & Drink
Developer:
Greenius Mobile
Free
Current version:
2.12, last update: 6 years ago
First release : 05 Dec 2009
App size: 26.82 Mb
Note that this app will be superseded by a new CAMRA app soon. When the new app is available, new subscriptions to this app will no longer be available. This app will continue to be supported and include new versions of the Good Beer Guide until existing subscriptions expire. Subscriptions bought in this app will also be transferred to the new app so you can use both apps.
The Good Beer Guide app is a service to help you find pubs in the UK that consistently serve cask conditioned real ale in good condition, as well as provide information about breweries and beers using information from the 2016 edition of the Good Beer Guide, UKs best-selling, independent guide to great beer and great pubs. With full reviews of 4,500 top pubs throughout the UK, as well as details of every real-ale brewery and their regular beers, the Good Beer Guide is published annually by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for over 40 years.
This is a free app with an optional annual subscription. Without a subscription the app will have limited functionality allowing you to find the nearest pub and brewery to you.
By signing into your account, the subscription features of app can be used on more than one device, and cross-platform, without additional cost. (so long as the app is installed on all devices).
The Good Beer Guide is created through the work of thousands of volunteer CAMRA members resulting in an annual publication containing the top 4500 pubs that consistently serve well conditioned real ale.
Simple to use, Good Beer Guide Mobile for iPhone offers the following features:
Complete entries for over 4,500 independently-selected urban and rural pubs, giving details of beer, food, opening hours, accommodation, transport links, pub history, disabled access, facilities for families and more. The complete content of the pubs and brewery sections of the Good Beer Guide 2016 book is included in the subscribed version.
Fully independent pub reviews, written by local CAMRA members.
Unique tasting notes for regular beers, written by trained CAMRA tasting panels. Any regular beers served at a pub have the full tasting notes about that beer.
All the information is in the app so there is no need to be online when you search for a pub or brewery. You only need to be online to download updates or search from an address / postcode.
The My Guide feature makes it easy to keep tasting notes, favorites, visited pubs, or your own review of the pub. Save your favourite pubs in My Guide, so you can quickly go back to them later.
Search from your current location, a postcode, place name or London tube station.
Interactive maps within the app help you find your way. Launch the full Maps application to get step by step directions.
Changes to pubs that are reported to CAMRA between editions are automatically updated in the app.
Any My Guide locations such as favourites, visited and personal reviews from any edition from 2012 to 2018 all appear together in the My Guide section.
Good Beer Guide Mobile for iPhone is developed and published by Greenius Mobile.
Copyright © 2009-2017 Campaign for Real Ale Limited and Greenius Limited.
Pros and cons of CAMRA Good Beer Guide (Old) app for iPhone and iPad
CAMRA Good Beer Guide (Old) app good for
I used the app whilst in London for a 6 day visit.
Plain excellent. In particular the search around a tube station is super helpful.
The distances from tube to pub though are not always correct, but there is a map shown, so…
Bought this rather than book so Id always have it with me. Unfortunately it requires Internet access, either 3G/Wifi, in order to search and download data to the device. What this means is, if youre visiting the UK from abroad and you have 3G switched off because your phone is locked to your domestic carrier who charges a large fortune for overseas use, its of no practical use.
This app would be much more useful if the database was downloaded to the device, or if you had the option to download it or parts of it. Obviously maps wouldnt work, but it would be useful to get lists of pubs and reviews without having to be on-line.
Guess Ill now be buying the book as well. Doesnt thrill me to buy essentially the same product twice.
The GBG is not simply a gazetter of UK pubs, but a highly biased list of pubs that serve consistantly good real ale (cask conditioned beer). Pubs are not rated because simply being included is recognition enough- it is the best of. Other factors might come into play, but it is the quality of the real ale that is the starting point. Charm, hipness, kegged imports, even choice of beer do not get entry to the GBG- one good cask is enough. Accept this, and guide works, it will deliver you to some of the best places to drink real ale in the UK.
It is a shame that you cannot download the GBG to read off-line, but it is easier and cheaper than buying the book, and integrates very well with Google maps. Saving pubs as favorites will keep the details, but WiFi is nealy always available from the big coffee chains and local libraries. If all this fails just take a hike, therell be plenty of pubs around, some just as good as those in the guide!
Without this app I would have never found the Hop Cat, Pineapple, the Harp, Bree Louise, or The Wheatsheaf. I am a homebrewer and beer geek. I must have tried 20 different real ales in 7 days. Being able to search the attributes (food availability, local ales, CAMRA award winners) of pubs in walking distance to tube stop or small and large towns kept us in good ale. The mapping function worked great with the international data plan and wifi. When I went to the pubs I told them I found them on CAMRA and publicans were willing to take the extra time to offer samples and gave discounts. I am recommending this to friends for travel through the UK. Thanks so much.
I visit the UK 3-4 times per year and work keeps sending me to new places. This app is brilliant for quickly helping me find a good eating and drinking hole in the evening. It is especially good in London, where my first choice may be too crowded and this quickly helps me find another option.
I know one could own the book, but I would never have that with me. This truly is a brilliant example of what a smartphone app should do.
Some bad moments
Touring round the UK and thought this might be useful. Very limited usable information as most of the ap is locked. Information not arranged logically i.e. pubs in same town/village not grouped together. Hope the paying version is better as I would not be tempted to buy it based on this preview.
I need to pay if I want check the brewers list. really bad because I paid to join into CAMRA association. why need pay more? bleah.
I have tried to use this app on several occasions to find pubs that I know for certain are in the area and consistently it doesnt have the pub information. Currently sitting in Ailsa Tavern in St Margarets which serves real ales and of course it to is not listed!
Very disappointing to say the least, try he good beer guide instead!
I have yet to get this app to work satisfactorily for me. First, the lack of a built-in database is a huge problem. Im living in the UK temporarily, and so my iPad and iPhone are not connected to 3G. So, I have to rely on wireless. That means that I often cannot access the database, which requires internet access. Second, even when I have a wireless connection (by then, already in a pub usually), I have rarely been able to get this application to work. It hangs up on "loading data" and then eventually shuts off. Out of the dozen or so times that Ive tried to use it, Id say 10 attempts have ended in that kind of failure (yes, Ive deleted and reinstalled the app). Third, when the app does connect, the pub data is not savable. So, for instance if I know ahead of time that Im going to London, and wanted to search for and then load a few pubs into the app or future reference, I cant do it. Thats such an easy feature to include, and would at least offset some of the hassle involved in not having 3G connectivity.
In the 4 years that Ive been using an iPhone, Ive spent maybe 30GBP on apps. So this one represents probably 1/3 of all the money Ive spent on an app. It was not worth it. I eventually found and downloaded the CaskFinder app. Same online/offline issues, but it works when I have wireless, it has more pubs listed, and its free. A much better alternative.
I looked up a ton of breweries and this app did not find a single one! I looked up Avery, North Coast, Rogue, Ten Pin, Steamworks and several others and NONE of them were on this app! I even tried Müreau, a brewery that has some great beer and is over 400 years old, and nothing.. This would not be so bad, I know there are a ton out there but the content is so limited unless you buy the full version that it was not even worth keeping to try to find new breweries! I may keep the app for a little longer in hopes that there is an update, but am planning on just deleting the app soon :(
This is a "taster" for a paid app. As far as I can tell it does nothing. A BIG dissapointment for me as a long time supporter of CAMRA.
