Rail Ale Ramble
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Sometimes now used as a generic expression in the United Kingdom for a day tour of pubs and/or breweries by train, in search of "real ale" (cask-conditioned beer), the marketing name "Rail Ale Ramble" was originally conceived by Gerald Daniels, who runs an English tour company, Crookham Travel. In 1977 he ran the first "RAR", a chartered train with 598 passengers from London to Bath, Somerset and Oxford. At that time traditional cask-conditioned beer was rare in London, but the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was beginning to have more impact in regional centres where there was a greater range of traditional breweries still supplying this "living" beer. Thirty years later Crookham Travel still run Rail Ale Rambles and longer trips to explore surviving regional and local breweries and the great number of microbreweries throughout Britain and beyond. Meanwhile, the term Rail Ale has been adopted by organisations such as the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, who promote rural train routes in the English West Country as Rail Ale Trails.
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[edit] References
- Surbiton (w/e 7th October 1977). The News.
- The Centenarian (6th October 2001). Rail Ale Ramble no. 100 brochure.
- "About Crookham Travel"
