Roger Protz at Great British Beer Festival 2006

Roger Protz (born 5 February 1939) is a British writer, journalist and campaigner. He joined the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...

(CAMRA) in 1976 and has written several books on beer and

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s. Between 1978 and 1983 and from 2000 to 2018 he was the editor of CAMRA's ''

Good Beer Guide The ''Good Beer Guide'' is a book published annually by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), listing what it considers to be the best 4,500 real ale outlets (pubs, clubs, and off-licences) in the United Kingdom. Details The content of the ''Guid ...

''.

Biography

Protz was born in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

, London to a respectable working-class family in 1939.Roger Protz: A Life Through Beer, The Food Programme, BBC Radio 4 His father was a dockworker. During the Blitz he was evacuated with his mother to Norfolk. He grew up in

East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Essex, East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a ...

in the East End of London and left school aged 16. Protz joined the

Labour Party Young Socialists The Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) was the youth section of the Labour Party in Britain from 1965 until 1991. In the 1980s, it had around 600 branches, 2,000 delegates at its national conferences and published a monthly newspaper, ''Left' ...

and had been appointed as editor of its newspaper, ''New Advance'', by 1961. While in the Labour Party, he joined the

Socialist Labour League The Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name. The Club The WRP grew out of the faction Ger ...

. In the 1960s, he also worked as a sub-editor on the features desk at the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

''. In 1961, he resigned from ''New Advance'' to become the editor of the SLL's youth newspaper ''Keep Left''. In 1964, he became editor of the ''Militant'' newspaper, and in 1968 of ''

Socialist Worker ''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since 1968, a ...

'', resigning in 1974.http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/critiques/locust/app04.htm Letter to IS Branches from National Secretary, 10 April 1974 in Jim Higgins, ''More Years for the Locust''. Subsequently, he spent a period lecturing part-time in journalism at the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

. Following a national economic crisis he lost his job. Protz was subsequently hired by CAMRA in 1976 to edit its monthly magazine. He edited ''The Good Beer Guide'' from the 1978 edition onwards. He writes a regular column for the '' Publican's Morning Advertiser'', a monthly column for ''What's Brewing'' and also contributes to ''Beers of the World'' and ''All About Beer''. He also wrote a beer column for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' until 2006. In 2007, he lectured on the history of beer to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in Washington, D.C.. In 1988 he founded the British Guild of Beer Writers and was chairman of the Guild 2000–2003. His awards include two golden and five silver tankards from the Guild and he was named Glenfiddich Drink Writer of the Year in 1997 and 2004. In a 2010 interview he described himself as a " green socialist" and a supporter of

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their ...

He was interviewed by Sheila Dillon for a 30-minute long

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

'' The Food Programme'' on 15 August 2016, aptly named "Roger Protz: A Life Through Beer". Protz edited the

's ''

'' from 1978 to 1983 and from 2000. He announced in autumn 2017 that the 2018 Guide was to be his last.

Publications

*''Britain's 500 Best Pubs''. London: Carlton Books, 2000 . * ''The Complete Guide to World Beer'', 2004. . * ''Classic Stout and Porter'', 1997. . * ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Beer'', 1995. . * ''300 Beers to Try Before You Die'', 2005. . * ''300 More Beers to Try Before You Die'', 2013. . * ''The Family Brewers of Britain: A celebration of British brewing heritage''. 2020. . * ''The Ale Trail: A celebration of the revival of the world's oldest beer style''. 1995. .

References

External links

Roger Protz beer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Protz, Roger 1939 births Living people Academics of the London College of Communication Beer writers English male journalists English socialists English Trotskyists Militant tendency supporters People from Deptford Socialist Workers Party (UK) members Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members Writers from Norfolk