Beer Rating Curiosity

Well now, we've come full circle to the orginal debate of rating to style vs. rating to overall enjoyment. Personally, for the purpose of this website, I believe it's infinitely more useful to rate to overall enjoyment. This is not a beer competition where the best AAL gets a gold medal. I certainly keep style guidelines in mind when rating, but lean toward overall enjoyment in my scores. Probably something like a 70/30 split if I had to put a number on it. I also tend not to rate styles I don't like. As I mentioned previously, if someone knows they like AAL's they can very easily sort by style and see which ones are most highly regarded within the style. Would it really be "useful" to see PBR with the same rating as Hopslam on the top 250 list?

 

I had never heard of the Vollbier term before. From this website :

VOLLBIER

Pronunciation guide for English-speakers:
"Foll-beer"

Definition: One of four German beer tax categories. Vollbier literally means "full" or "entire" beer. It contains 11 to 14% extract. This beer category holds about 99% market share in Germany. A completely fermented Vollbier usually has between 3 and 5.3% alcohol by volume. Pils, Helles and Weissbier (Hefeweizen) belong in this category.

 

I'm not particularly sure where a marketing slogan equates to a brewery stating their entire lineup consists of smoked beers, but I'm definitely with you on that lack of acknowledgment.

 

I found this info. What does the percentage "extract" mean in this usage?

German Beer Classifications
In Germany, beers are classified according to their extract values for tax purposes. There are four categories.

Einfachbier
Einfachbiers (translated "simple beers") have an extract value of 1.5-6.9%, which usually produces an alcohol by volume level of 0.5 to 1.5%. These beers accounts for no more than 0.1% market share in Germany.

Schankbier
Schankbiers have an extract value of 7-10.9% and their alcohol by volume levels fall between 0.5 and 2.6%. Very few beers fall into this category; they account for only about 0.2% market share of the German beer industry.

Vollbier
Vollbiers (translated "full beers") have an extract value of 11-15.9%. These beers usually have between 3 and 5.3% alcohol by volume. This beer category accounts for 99% market share of the German beer industry.

Starkbier
All beers with an extract value exceeding 16% are Starkbiers (translated "strong beers"). Their alcohol level is between 5% and 10%. Starkbiers account for 0.7% market share of the German beer industry.

 

I have no issue with the beer, and mention that in my review. My only issue involves where it's classified, and therefore which style it rolls up into.

If someone had entered Celebrator as an IPA, should I give it a 4.5 or better, to help all those people looking for a good example of an IPA?

 

Imagine if you will that everyone truly rated to style...wouldn't that potentially lead to the best cream ale making the top 250 in the world in theory...the best light lager, amber, etc...(just examples)...as much one might enjoy a nice cream ale on occasion, the depth, creativity and complexity that the BEST cream ale in the world might exhibit is probably not on the same scale as CBS is for well crafted imperial stout - for example. If I had a cream ale right now and said, damn, thats the best cream ale I've ever had, I would have a hard time rating it above four and more likely 3.5/3.75...There's just only so good that beer would be to me compared to 500 other beers in styles I prefer. I personally rate a beer based on how much I like it, period, not for the style...my bad...but it's for my records, although I do realize there is a pack mentality, a great BA RIS is an awesome beer drinking experience to me and it's worth a 5 to me. I love reading ratings and think most of the time, the ratings are pretty fair and comparable to my own experience.

If you are looking for the highest rated Helles Lager...look at the one rated the highest...if it's a 3.8, perhaps that's all the info you need to know to go get you a good beer in that style. Just my two cents.

 

When I make a recommendation I am more or less just think in terms of flavor profiles, and match that up with any clues given by the asker. I guess it would depend on how things were phrased.

 

This doesn't really apply here because those are completely different types of food. A question more relevant to this situation would be "do habenero hot wings taste better than mild wings?". The answer is usually "yes". Many people just like more bold, intense flavors than mild, subtle ones which explains the trend in beer ratings.

 

On that same site, it indicates that bock, doppelbock, weizenbock, marzen, et al are different styles, and not indicators of strength. These would appear to be the strength indicators.

I have no idea how credible or reputable that site is, however.

 

My guess is that they are referring to the original gravity, but I am quickly reaching the point of where I no longer know what I'm talking about. I remain strictly on the demand side of the beer industry. @herrburgess ?

 

That's the side to be on!

 

Pretty sure that corresponds directly to degrees Plato.

 

That wouldn't be the best argument, though; maybe that's a good argument for giving the style a different name .

Ambers can get their color in any number of ways (which will all effect the flavor), can have a wide range of hoppiness, differing degrees of gravity, etc. There is also no real lineage that can be traced.

Pilsners are still fairly specific in their overall makeup and have a lineage that can be traced.

 

I am searching that site now and don't see that. I can tell you that from my experience, those words are indicators of strength. I could be wrong, of course, I'll defer to the experts, but my main point still is that Eiche is a dopplebock. It is also a rauchbier. If it's listed on this site as a dopplebock, I think that's appropriate.

 

Well, isn't that really for just American Amber Ales?

There are separate styles for various other amber-colored beers from the major traditional beer regions: English (Pale Ale or ESB), Belgian (Biere de Garde), German Lager (Marzen), German Ale (Altbier).

 

So if we accept 1) specificity in overall makeup and 2) lineage that can be traced, doesn't that leave us with Saisons not being a style because they can have a wide range of hoppiness, differing yeasts, differing degrees of gravity, etc. and there is no real lineage that can be traced except to say the name is the same as that name (Season) used for farm house brewed ales that had low ABVs and generally incorporated what ingredients from what farmers had ready to hand and they were meant to be consumed in the summertime by farm workers?

 

Sure- sometimes there is a catch-all category, sometimes there is a style. Going back to where the conversation started, I was just saying that I would put bourbon (or whatever else) barrel-aged beers in a catch-all category, rather than calling it a style.

ETA- let's not lose sight of the bottom line, which is helping you find something similar to what you are looking for. Well, and number crunching, I suppose . It just makes sense to keep the 'flavored' beers out of the other categories to go towards that end.

 

Yes!!! No argument from me there.

 

But really where the conversation started was with the claim that smoking the malt created a different style of beer.

Edit: Which would also lead us to argue that Islay single malts are a different style whisky than Speyside, Highland or Lowland single malt whiskys.

 

I rate based on style and "Brewers" intention.

Something like Not Your Father's Root Beer or NG Apple Ale get very high ratings from me because of what they are. This doesn't mean I think they are the greatest beers ever but for the style and intention they are phenomenal.