Edinburgh & SE Scotland CAMRA uses a two stage process every year to select its entries for the Good Beer Guide (other branches have their own processes, which all follow CAMRA national guidelines).

Stage 1 - November

Beer quality scores submitted by members, both local and those visiting from elsewhere, are used to compile a “Hit List” of outlets (pubs and clubs) that will be considered for entry. All the branches Real Ale pubs and clubs are ranked using a statistical formula. This is a formula which modifies the average of all the scores submitted to give a Confidence Rating of how likely an outlet is to serve good quality real ale. Those with a high number of scores and consistent scores will do better than those with only a few scores or scores that are very inconsistent. Around double the number of possible entries are selected. Separate selections are made for the Borders, City of Edinburgh and the Lothians. Outlets may be excluded from this list if they have recently, or are about to, change hands and the ongoing availability and quality of real ale is uncertain.

Stage 2 - February

Members vote on the pubs that will go forward to the guide. This is done at a branch meeting with postal votes available for those who can’t attend. Prior to this meeting all candidate pubs are surveyed. Any significant change to the Confidence Rating due to beer scores submitted since the November meeting are highlighted at the meeting. Again, outlets may be excluded from this vote if they have recently, or are about to, change hands and the ongoing availability and quality of real ale is uncertain. They will also be excluded if they unreasonably restrict entry or operate in such a way such that they discriminate against any individual due to mode of dress, gender, sexuality, ethnicity etc. Any bad practices such as regularly serving short measures will also be considered.

Following the meeting entries are compiled and submitted to the editorial team who compile the guide which is then published in September. Entries can be modified or replaced until around late July if an outlets details have changed.