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Beer eye for the straight guyWine-style tasting scheme hopes to encourage ale appreciationBy CNN's Barry Neild  Cheers! Drinkers clink glasses at the Great British Beer Festival. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England (CNN) -- "It's a resiny, floral, spicy hymn to the hop," says Roger Protz, reverentially holding his glass at eye level, so that the light of a London summer evening sparkles through the liquid. Wine aficionados, never afraid to wax lyrical about their favorite beverage, will not be surprised by Protz's use of colorful language to describe a drink. But they might choke on their Chardonnays at the veritas that it's not vino he's talking about -- but beer. As editor of a book called "The Good Beer Guide," Protz can be forgiven for getting emotional after a fragrant sip of Harveys Sussex Best Bitter, but he's not the only one. This month's Great British Beer Festival in London's huge Earls Court arena -- where one million people have staggered from pump to pump sampling some of the finest traditionally brewed ales the country has to offer -- may have witnessed another staggering event, the advent of the beer snob. Organizers CAMRA, or the Campaign For Real Ale, used its annual showcase to launch a scheme called Cyclops, under which drinkers will be encouraged to employ wine-like imagery to describe their pint. Like most of CAMRA's activities, Cyclops -- named after the single eye, nose and mouth symbols used on its publicity material -- is aimed at highlighting the merits of finely crafted local "real" beers against the chemical-heavy output of giant industrial breweries. "Real ale is an incredibly complex drink with an enormous range of style and tastes," says Tony Jerome, CAMRA's senior marketing manager. "Cyclops will demystify real ale so drinkers will know what a beer will look, smell and taste like before they part with their cash at the bar." Under the scheme a handful of breweries have rated their ales using words -- such as velvet, caramel and rust -- that they hope will give drinkers more of an indication of what to expect. Protz says Cyclops is partly aimed at raising the respectability of a drink often miscast as the cause of Britain's social ills, namely the notorious binge-drinking culture that sees city center bars, hospitals and police stations filled with inebriated youngsters. "Wine is seen as respectable, but to many people beer means thugs. This is completely untrue. What we're trying to do is elevate beer to a level equal with wine, where it becomes normal to drink beer at a dinner party. "Brewers are responding to this. Some are even producing beer in elegant wine-shaped bottles, and as most wine writers agree, beer goes much better with food than wine." Says Protz, while he was once ridiculed for talking floridly about lowly bitters and stouts, more people are now appreciating the finer points of blending hops, barley and malts. However, not everyone is quite so enthusiastic about the scheme. There are already mutterings on beer Web sites that Cyclops will force brewers to homogenize their products, no doubt fueling the conspiracy theory that the real ale industry is over-championing "golden ales" in its desperation to lure away young drinkers of lagers such as the American beer Budweiser. In among the good natured crowds at the beer festival, where drinkers seem to prefer to sip their pints of Old Thumper, Funky Monkey and Easy Rider with silent nods of appreciation, the scheme is also met with skepticism. "What are you getting?" asks one of a small knot of men, suspiciously eyeing the tasting symbols on a Cyclops leaflet. "Notes of citrus, grapes... er, oh no. I think I've got it all wrong," says Matt, apologetically. "Is there a symbol for socks?" asks James. Nick, meanwhile, stares sourly into his pint and scrunches up his tasting guide. "I'm just getting drunk," he adds. 
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