Rated a 5. Anything else is crazy.

Giving out 5's is a sign of weakness.

 

Crusher from the Alchemist is the closest I have come to a 5. The cloudiness brought it down a couple points. Not that it bothers me, but man was that a great beer. I am not philosophically against 5's just have not found what I would call a 5.

 

Just started rating beers and haven't found a 5 yet, given 4.0 and higher on different aspects but no single 5 yet let alone all 5s. Like others are saying a 5 is perfect the way it is and needs no improvement....but to each his own. What I may call a 4.5 may be a 3.75 to you. If you like the beer drink it!

 

Brandy Vanilla Dark Lord, can't think how that could have possibly been any better.

 

Ultimately it will be something that tastes the best to you, and meets your expectation of that particular style.

Ideally it would simply be a beer that perfectly meets a style's criteria. But good luck pinning down that definition.

 

Toppling Goliath PseudoSue and King Sue. Absolutely love those beers and would probably drink them both daily for the rest of my life if I could get them easily. There's hundreds of top tier beers out there that I've never had and probably never will though so who knows about them, but for me right now either of those is it.

 

Just because one beer is a 5 doesn't mean other beers can't be a 5.

 

I agree with the PreudoSue comments. On BA, I didn't rank it a 5 but I probably should have. Best PA I've had thus far and not sure how it could get better. I did rank CBS a 5 as well as Sucaba. Had a MOAS this past weekend that was pretty tasty. But what do I know

 

For me, Parabola. I don't think 5 means its perfect or can't be improved on, more that the brewer succeeded in making an example of the the style that others should be striving for.

 

I am with you 100% on your definition. If the person doing the review does not "like" or appreciate the style, then the beer is doomed.

 

Although I don't always adhere to this rule, giving a 5 should simply mean that the beer perfectly exemplifies the style, not necessarily that you think it's the best. So, in theory, beers that "originated" the style (i.e., Fuller's ESB, Anchor Steam, etc.) should have 5s because...there wouldn't be a style category without them, and so they are the benchmark.

Like I said, I don't necessarily rate that way...but I probably should.
812 beers rated here, two 5s given out.

 

A beer that is the absolute top-tier example of the style/substyle plus something I really enjoy drinking combines to be a five in my book.

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout is the only perfect five I've given (and I later rereviewed a different batch and lowered it), but many have been very close like Drie Fonteinen Armand'4 Zomer, Drie Fonteinen Armand'4 Lente, Cigar City Double Barrel Hunahpu, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales Westly, Trillium Upper Case, Hill Farmstead Abner, and Alchemist Heady Topper.

One that I would've liked to give a five but couldn't due to being unable to review it in the fest envrironment and because it was almost completely flat so it lost technical points was Goose Island Napa County Stout. To this day that's my favorite beer of all time, but it is not a perfect five due to not being absolutely perfect.

 

I give out 5's all the time. There are tons of amazing beers available now and at least 20 that I'd consider truly top tier. Why should I leave room for the next great beer to beat it? It's just a rating and if the beer is amazing I give it a 5. Look how many 100 rated beers there are on this site...

 

No 5s from this guy

 

I've never rated a beer 5 in all 5 categories. How can a beer be perfect?

 

This is also the prime reason each beer should have two scores, one for style, and one overall taste.

This way a user could rate Budweiser a 5 in one category and a 2 in the other.

 

Right again, just because the brew is a macro lager, doesn't mean it can't be done right.

 

Bourbonic Plague.

 

I don't rate and don't believe in perfection. But - if I did, Abner would be up there for sure

 

I think it is a good beer, but nothing special. RIS is probably my favorite style, but I just didn't think Founder's RIS stood out. Old Rasputin is the perfectly made RIS in my opinion. I like others more for unique qualities, but always come back to Old Rasputin.