Do brewers read BA reviews?

It probably would not be a bad idea if they did.

 

I have yet to encounter a beer geek in a pub with a notepad, jotting down notes for the intents of reviewing the beers there. I know that this must happen quite a bit, unless everyone is reviewing from memory. But is this ever met with hostility from the staff? Slightly off topic, sorry.

 

I have never felt any hostility. Mainly just questioning what I am doing. Usually after I tell them I get an "oh".

 

"Serious brewers"!?!? Glad he down off Mt. Olympus to bless us mere mortals with his insight. Most brewers come on here and other sites to see what the common masses think of them and there beer. Whether they actually take that info and do something with it is another thing,or they just laugh it off. Reviews probably not so much but the forums are checked to see what people are saying.

 

can someone like the DFH thread that calagione went off on? can't seem to find...

 

Of course they do. They'd be crazy not to...and I would fully expect them not to admit they do.

 

I know that Jester King is very active on these forums. To a lesser degree so is Freetail.

I see Mr. Oliver's point on this. Some of the best brewers don't brew stuff because the public likes it, they brew it because they like it.

 

Garrett's response is ridiculous. The fact is, he DOES listen to reviews, even if he's too pretentious to realize he's doing it.

For example, if Beer A completely meets his vision and intent, but it's selling like eggnog in July, then he's either going to tweak the recipe or stop making it. So in effect, he's "listening" to reviews -- in this case, customers have given the beer negative "reviews" by choosing not to spend their money on it. If his pretentious self-righteous asshattery is to be believed, then he should continue to sell it even if it sits on store shelves until the sun burns out, since after all it meets his "vision" and he apparently doesn't care if drinkers like it.

I can't stand rampant douchebaggery like this from people that want my money. It's almost enough to make me not want to buy any more Brooklyn beers. That wouldn't be much of a sacrifice though -- pretty much just Black Ops and BBBCS.

 

I guess I will add an actual, real answer to the question. Do I look at reviews of my beer (assuming we had any, Laramie Wyoming is a pretty slow place as far as beer advocate is concerned), yes, I usually check in once a month to take a look. I do, however, check trip advisor multiple times per week. I'm more interested in how the beer is being served than what someone thinks of the beer.

 

I'd practically pay Brooklyn to stop making Monster.

 

This is entirely separate from a review. By my understanding, you shouldn't even review an infected beer.

A brewer could keep abreast of the community (and feedback like infection) without worrying about the score a particular beer got or BeerDude42's opinion on the hop profile.

 

Yes, they do. After I posted this review:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28178/77707/?ba=quirkzoo

I was contacted by the folks at Pipeworks asking if I knew which batch I had reviewed. It seems as though they made some modifications to the recipe after the first batch based on the general feedback that they received.

 

I know a brewer or two and except for a select few they are a bunch of lurkers. Either they or one of their dedicated followers is pretty much on top of what occurs here.

The big difference between them is some respond, some defend, some pout and some really don't give a shit what people think or say.

 

They were probably hoping someone would start a thread about it.

 

yes - i've been contacted more than once by different breweries about positive and negative reviews. i've also had breweries offer to replace bad/infected bottles before as well.

 

I actually use yelp quite a bit when choosing restaurants. I don't always end up agreeing with the consensus, but I do weigh the collective average when I am deciding where to go.

 

Brewers vary. I know some that go out of their way to avoid reading BA reviews. I know some that obsess and lose sleep over them. And I know some that check reviews periodically to make sure everything is peachy.

 

Vinnie Cilurzo reads all of my beer reviews religiously.