Should beer ever be cloudy?

[Toyoda]

I'm a big fan of real ales but have had a couple of cloudy ones from hand pulls lately. Usually things settle after a couple of minutes but these have been cloudy and have even had a bit of sediment left in the bottom. Is this bad or just the way it is?

The latest was a Hobgoblin Gold from my local Wetherspoons. I know spoons isn't the last word in quality and have heard the usual stories about them buying beer that's nearing it's best before date, but whether that's true or even relevant, this beer tasted absolutely fine. Plus spoons proudly advertise their Cask Marque status. I had a couple of pints of it and I saw they were selling it in the meantime so clearly it wasn't the start or end of the barrel. Pleased to report no ill after effects but it got me wondering about the clarity of beer. I'm sure I was always told it should settle nice and clear. Worth noting that I favour the gold/lighter beers where it's easier to spot cloudyness.

I suppose with spoons they change their hand pulls every week (perhaps due to buying whatever's cheap at the time) and maybe they're not giving the keg time to settle or maybe it's dubious practices in flushing the lines. Still, it remains popular with myself and the old guys!

[Toyoda]

Truckosaurus said:

Traditional real ale should always be clear, but fashionable 'craft beer' from a keg is sometimes cloudy either because it has not been filtered (and therefore meant to have more flavour) or the brewer doesn't know what he is doing.

It's a good point but what would you call traditional real ale? Something like Theakstons Best Bitter? Even the traditionals seem to be jumping on the 'craft' bandwagon and using the term interchangably. Hand-crafted is another meaningless phrase doing the rounds. Nevertheless, the cloudy beers I've had have been from big companies, not some microbrewery in a pub's back garden.