Highly Rated Beers: Truth or Fiction?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Roser, Jun 2, 2014.

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  1. dougfur

    dougfur Initiate (0) Jan 24, 2011 New York

    I generally agree with ratings on here. There have been exceptions, but largely I agree with the crowd. But, count yourself lucky if you find other beers you think are better! The high rated beers are generally difficult to obtain.
     
  2. Treyliff

    Treyliff Grand Pooh-Bah (4,711) Aug 10, 2010 West Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    This is true if you are new to reviewing, but after trying a dozen or so of a style, one should have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Now if I'm grading a style I'm not familiar with, I simply read the Bros explanation of said style beforehand. That way I know what to look for.

    However, this problem goes beyond the style of the beer. I've seen so any reviews where people grade poorly because they don't like an ingredient that was used., even though it was the brewers intention to showcase that ingredient. For example, grading a coffee stout low because you don't like coffee.
     
    frazbri likes this.
  3. ChuckHardslab

    ChuckHardslab Savant (1,239) Jan 25, 2012 Texas

    I think another reason for many positive and few negative reviews is many of us were raised being taught if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. The good beers get rated, the bad ones are ignored and forgotten.
     
  4. Mikexw

    Mikexw Pooh-Bah (2,180) Mar 3, 2014 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Everybody's obviously got their own reference point for what's good and what isn't; I have never really tried to describe what the numbers mean, but basically if something is a 3.25 or lower I probably won't buy it again; if it's in the 3.5-3.75 range I think it's good and would have no problem ordering it at a bar, if it's a 4 or above I really like it. But I could probably drink the same beer twice and have a swing of .25 or even .5 (probably not more). And as folks have pointed out, the beer style matters (I love IPA's, if I give an IPA a 3.5 that's a relatively low score -- if I give an English IPA a 3.5 that's incredibly high because I typically don't like them). I actually track by beer style what my average ranking is and how it compares with the overall average to try and understand what styles I prefer.

    And a great to think about this is if you ever get a flight. If I go somewhere with a diverse selection of beers that I haven't tried before, I usually order a flight, decide how to rank things (drinking a few beers close together helps with that), and then the next time I go to that establishment I'm the weirdo with the index card listing their menu with color coded marks next to it showing what I am considering ordering.
     
  5. Roser

    Roser Zealot (552) Aug 4, 2012 Virginia

    So here's a thought, suggestion. Many of the beers are rated on here by using only the 1 to 5 scale without bothering to comment re: appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel, and overall. That's fine, but I don't rate them 1 to 5 until I've gone through each component, documenting the experience. Takes more time, yes, but maybe some ratings would be different (lower? higher?) if the reviewer did the same. Might approach it differently. I know it affects how I do it.
     
  6. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    After introducing the ability to do ratings without a review being required, the Bros. kept review rating scores and ratings only scores separate. After a lot of data had built up they compared the two differen sets of overall five point scale numbers and found that they were the same for all intents and purposes so they merged the overall rating scores from both sources.
     
    #106 drtth, Jun 3, 2014
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2014
  7. babaracas

    babaracas Initiate (0) Jan 30, 2008 Florida

    The rating scale changed a while back: 3 used to be tagged "mediocre" which has a negative connotation, hence most decent beers are rated higher than 3. Also, if you want to draw a conclusion from numbers, you should use more than just the rAvg -- also look at recent scores and the pDev (accounts for batch inconsistency, distribution expansions, polarizing aromas and flavors).
     
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  8. TrojanRB

    TrojanRB Grand Pooh-Bah (3,185) Jul 27, 2013 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I try to consider the style when I rate (Ex: I may not love lagers, but is this beer an excellent lager?), and generally use the following system:

    <3.0 - Will not buy, might drink if free
    3.0 Might buy for river if offered in cans
    3.5 Probably won't buy, but solid
    3.75 Pretty good, won't go out of way to drink, may buy on sale
    4.0 Very good, will drink in rotation
    4.25 Excellent, will drink frequently
    4.5 World class, a must drink at every opportunity!
    >4.5 Haven't met one yet!
     
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  9. BEERschlitz

    BEERschlitz Initiate (0) Oct 13, 2013 Michigan

    I personally feel everyone should have a single five rating. Whatever beer you've had that you can say, "That's the best beer I've ever had." If you've never had that feeling while drinking a beer, then I just feel sorry for your impossibly high standards that will NEVER be met. Just one man's opinion.
     
  10. mudbug

    mudbug Pooh-Bah (1,738) Mar 27, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah Society

    A couple of problems with your somewhat myopic observations.
    You make the very first mistake in thinking that other people rate beers with the same criteria you do. They don't
    You assume that your low rDev says something about the rest of the reviewers, it doesn't
    You seem to think your paltry amount of reviews make up some kind of database that has meaning, it doesn't
    Thank you for your post, now go back and review a few hundred beers, and I don't mean just rate them, review them. Then come back here and tell us what you have learned.
     
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  11. mudbug

    mudbug Pooh-Bah (1,738) Mar 27, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Yep that's me, for one very good reason. I only bother to review beer I like. Why? It's because I am building a database of good (for me) beers. There is nothing wrong or incorrect about that. Imagine if every beer drinker in America had to rate/review their beers. I'd give you one guess what would be the top beer on the Best Beers list here, That's right, Bud Light.
    I see high raters as people that already know whats good. Are their opinions somewhat lessened by their refusal to review beers they don't enjoy? No.
    That's the only explanation of the fact that Budweiser has about half the ratings of Pliny the Elder.
     
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  12. mudbug

    mudbug Pooh-Bah (1,738) Mar 27, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah Society

    What I am getting at is that the numerical rating here has almost no real meaning. A review will tell you way more about a beer than a number.
     
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  13. upsbeernut

    upsbeernut Savant (1,099) Sep 22, 2011 Georgia

    The reviews and ratings offer some basic info that only guide you thru your selections. Everyone's taste buds are different for example I thought Avery's IPA was not hoppy at all but had a dank sour fruit taste with little carbonation. The rating was off in my opinion and so was the claim on the can for hop freaks.
     
  14. Leebo

    Leebo Initiate (0) Feb 7, 2013 Massachusetts

    You live in CA and have not had a 5? Interesting.
     
  15. 57md

    57md Grand Pooh-Bah (3,009) Aug 22, 2011 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Numbers are just numbers, so there is no right or wrong way to rate beers on this site.

    Personally, I look at it this way: If it were possible for me to drink and rate every beer on this site, half of my ratings should be at or above 3 and half at or below that same number. Assuming that I choose to drink better beer almost all of the time, I don't find it strange that most of my reviews are above 3. My median rating generally hovers around 3.83-3.84.

    The other thing I look at regularly is my median rDev. I feel pretty comfortable if it stays in the range of +/- 1% as that indicates my overall array of ratings are consistent with the others on this site.
     
  16. TrojanRB

    TrojanRB Grand Pooh-Bah (3,185) Jul 27, 2013 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I've had many excellent beers in California, and I think overall breweries are constantly improving and innovating, and our tastes are changing as well.

    The prophecies speak of a chosen one...the holy 5....it may not have even been brewed yet. But I'm going to keep drinking new stuff in my quest to find it.
     
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  17. 57md

    57md Grand Pooh-Bah (3,009) Aug 22, 2011 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I don't have a 5 either and I am almost at 700 ratings. I will keep searching for the mythical 5 as well.
     
  18. HRamz3

    HRamz3 Initiate (0) Feb 9, 2010 Pitcairn
    Deactivated

    Is this about a "white whale"? I think I've heard about this before.
     
  19. Leebo

    Leebo Initiate (0) Feb 7, 2013 Massachusetts

    I'll bet you have had at least a dozen so far. Is you glass always half empty? My glass is always half full. Sometimes beer is about place, surroundings and friends too. Live in the present as apposed to obtaining some quest for the unobtainable.
     
  20. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,145) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Exactly the point I was thinking that made me dredge this thread up. But what about beers that have no hype at all, that somehow still get crazy ratings by thousands of people.

    Arguably even beers like Pliny have hype still. How about Mischief? Mischief is the most completely overrated beer I have had in a while, seriously I'm stunned it's a 90. How to explain that beer as a 90 and not a 70?
    I too am "guilty" of reviewing only beers I really like as a way of cataloguing for my own remembrance. OTOH I don't review small pours at all, in fact I dislike reviewing on less than a full bottle/growler anymore because of how much a beer changes as it goes along. So my reviews average out some 2 oz. pour reviews?

    Just to feed the fire I think we all would feel more honest if Bud Light was the top rated beer. Sometimes this crowd forgets just how much of a minority opinion we are still. That would be a good reminder of how far we've yet to go.
     
    mudbug likes this.
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