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Going back to the early days of CAMRA, in the late 1970s and 1980s, the vast majority of GK pubs used top pressure. This involved applying a 'blanket' of extra carbon dioxide from a cylinder to the beer in the cask. The aim was to 'protect' the beer from being contaminated by ordinary air, so enabling it to be kept longer. The only problem was that, as the cask emptied, the more the gas seeped into the ale, imparting a 'fizziness' which most discerning drinkers found unpalatable. Also, the blanket of CO2 interfered with the normal maturation processes which take place within a cask of ale, resulting in beer with a sharp, immature taste.
CAMRA argued long and hard that where pubs had a decent throughput of ale, this 'protection' mechanism just wasn't necessary. For lower-volume pubs and beers there were better solutions, too, such as smaller sizes of cask. It didn't help that Greene King's head brewer at the time genuinely believed that his beers tasted better under top pressure - he said they had more 'zing'!
Another irony was that many licensees also hated the system and its tiny 'toy' handpulls. However, GK policy at the time was that if a tenant wanted to change to handpumps, they had to pay for them themselves - at £180 a pump, which was a lot of dosh back then.
Fortunately a more enlightened outlook prevailed at the brewery during the 1990s: GK realised that the handpump is a potent symbol for the cask ale to which they are so happily committed. Conversions took place at a rapid rate so that by the turn of the century only a handful of 'fizz' outlets were left. The Alexandra Arms in Gwydir Street (now a super pub) was the last Cambridge pub to convert; the Red Lion, Brinkley, the last to go in South Cambs. With the right thing happening at the Cherry Tree, GK ales can now be enjoyed locally in the way nature intended.
Particularly given the forthright views of that old GK brewer, is it a surprise that there hasn't been a murmur of protest at these changes? Did everyone else also enjoy that fizzy assault on the taste buds? Was a Campaign for Top Pressure ever contemplated? Apparently not - so good riddance!
Paul Ainsworth