Is all fives a cardinal sin here?

Our beer reviews are for fun. Even if it's not kosher for some people here, who cares? You think it's perfect? Then it's perfect. It's all subjective. Stand by what you think.

 

Nice avatar.

 

It's good that you found a beer you love so much! Giving 5's is relative, really, and certainly no beer sin by itself.

To me, peanut butter would have knocked off points. Even though that's what this specific beer boasts (I've never had it), it's not 'to style', and not worthy of 5's (aside from looks and overall--which I still use as a personal "like factor" indicator).
To note: with over 1,500 reviews, I've never given a complete 5.0. Maybe I'm just finicky

 

It's hard to give a perfect score when you have to give points for every detail. The most delicious beers in the world could look horrendous (i.e. Heady Topper), so there goes some points haha.

I think the closest I've come to beer becoming all fives was Lost Abbey's Serpent Stout. That beer looked unbelievable, smelled great, tasted great, smooth. But not all 5's.

Here's a better question, what beer can take 5's in every category? Beats me...

 

Don't see how it could be a cardinal sin to rate a beer 5s across the board. It may be frowned upon to do it often, but if you find a beer that you think deserves it, by all means do it.

 

a) i doubt i'd agree that every category really soars to a 5, but

b) if you thought every category was a 5, that's what you should give it. it doesn't matter if you're new.

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re: "can it be representative of the style when it has peanut butter in it?" the so-called "american double stout" category seems to be trying to capture russian imperial stouts with zany shit in them like coffee, peppers, peanut butter, etc etc, so definitely. that's pretty much the point of that silly catch-all category.

IMO, you're not looking for the platonic ideal of a given style (which is good, since such a thing doesn't exist--and shouldn't, since styles are fictions that border on arbitrary). you're looking for a beer that does what it's trying to do, well. if the beer is "john brewer's peanut stout," and the peanut is perfectly integrated, plus points for the peanut.

 

What's the difference between a 4.5 and 5 anyway...

 

Ah, geez. I might lose sleep over this.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NO0cvqT1tAE#t=9s

 

I think taste, smell, and overall mass to about 75% of the score while look, feel come to about 25%. I've noticed the minor change in overall score if I change the look, feel number, but when I change a taste or smell it changes the overall drastically.

 

I think they consider the top ranking beer(s) to be 100 and go down from there, probably not on a linear scale.

As for the main question. If you consider it a 5, then it's a 5. I myself you never give any beer a 5 because I can never know if there is another (or several) beer out there even better then this so that would be a 5 and not this. Maybe both should be 5 then, I don't know, but I like to leave the chance open. How many times I drank beers that didn't believe I could find another one better until I had the next one?

 

I ranked one beer a 5 when I was new to reviewing but I did it honestly as I really thought there could be no better strong ale than Double Bastard. I've tried it numerous times since then, each time thinking to re-review it and be more accurate, but damn I love that beer so much I still can't imagine a strong ale improving on any of its characteristics.

 

From the reviewing page:

That said, I have 2 5s myself.

 

Out of 323 hads (I don't review yet), I've given 11 5's. Some are against the grain but that is what makes preferences and opinions so great. I give a 5 when there is nothing about a beer I would change, or add/remove.