Michael Jackson's World-Class Beers

Seems that despite now having the widest range and best brews available ever in the history of humanity beer knowledge isn't disseminating to the four corners of the beer world as it should. Actually, that might just be the cause.

 

That was a good idea, I'm surprised no one has done it again with another beer.

 

I drank a bit of Brakspear Bitter in late 80s/early 90s. Most of the time it was so/so. I finally found a place that kept their ales well & changed my mind. Having said that I liked Landlord ( & at least 50 other ales ) way more.

 

While this impacts the overall rating, if you look within the top beers for the Helles style, it's not too shabby. It appears Beeradvocate's can sometimes perceive which beers taste better within a style, but can't get past the fact that they don't enjoy the style as much as say, an IPA. Which is why I desperately want two separate ratings, one for overall taste, and one for the style itself.

 

My memory could be failing me, but I do believe Garret Oliver wrote about the changes (not for the better) in Chimay Blue in Brewmaster's Table.

 

10 years ago (TBT was published in 2005)? I know I reviewed a Blue (for another web site) back around then and it wasn't a beer I was gonna drain pour by any means.

 

Oh, no not at all. IIRC he said it was still great, but that it had been tweaked to be fitting for more palates. I could be talking out of my ass here. Will check it out later. He definitely said that La Folie had changed.

 

Interesting. It's one book I recommend all the time... but haven't purchased for myself, sorry to say.

 

You rang? *goes to the liquor store to look for a good candidate*

 

I hope you don't do that with beer!

 

In fairness, more complex styles tend to rate higher than simpler ones (a charge I'm woefully guilty of...)

I'd much rather repeat drink a pilsner that I scored a 3.5/5 than a 3.5/5 imperial stout, for starters.

 

Why? There are people who I trust that will recommend a beer to me and I may pass on the recommendation to others.

But no, I usually only recommend beers I myself have sampled -- and I've actually read thru Oliver's book -- we still have a library in my town -- remember those?

 

Then maybe I should say this: it's easier for an imperial stout to display more complexity over a pilsner because of the increased intensity. I've had many complex pilsners and dead-simple stouts in the past.

 

@ThisWangsChung , this is what the chart was supposed to look like, I hate posting pics on this site...

I like high complexity low intensity. I would argue more intense beers are inherently less complex. Ketchup vinegar and HP sauce are more intense than bernaise sauce for example.

 

And I would argue that intensity and complexity are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

For example, IMO a high quality Quad is both very intense and very complex.

Cheers!

 

Of course they aren't exclusive, lambics are a great example. Intensity often comes across as a lack of balance though.

 

Any particualr beer can be perceived as being unbalanced regardless of intensity. For my palate beers such as St. Bernardus Abt 12, Rochefort 10, etc. do not taste unbalanced.
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Cheers!

 

I agree, neither do good lambics.