What if beer ratings didn't exist?

@cjgiant @AlcahueteJ

Here is a summary of what got added to the "Buy to Read" version that seems to have not been included in the "Free to Read" version of the material in the second link.

"Highlights:
► Brand communities on social media have positive effects on community markers.
► Community markers have positive effects on value creation practices.
► Brand communities on social media enhance brand loyalty through brand use practices.
► Brand trust is fully mediating value creation practices on brand loyalty."

 

Apologies if it's been mentioned already but most goods whose popularity is chiefly based less on big ad budgets than on word of mouth don't have formal ratings, and I assume word of mouth is far, far more responsible for long lines at breweries for special releases, etc., than a handful of websites where trainspotty enthusiasts subject beer to rankings.

 

Your thoughts about Robert Parker led me to do a bit of digging. Since it's been years since I paid much attention to the wine world.

Turns out Parker has a web site called "Wine Advocate" which one can join and which seems to have a panel of judges. Also he and the site seem to produce numerical scores as something incidental to the written reviews. So it would seem that what changes in translation is the number gets used as a form of "short hand" by the consumers and retailers, etc. once they have learned to value his opinions.

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that he and his group don't have to spend a lot of money on buying wines since wineries would be sending him samples of they wines they think are their best in hopes of a good review. Small wineries would have less ability to send free samples. Some of that part of the process seems to take place here with many of the reviews done by the Brothers (often as a panel of two) since they post an open invitation to have brewers send them beers.

 

Ratings mean nothing to me. I have never looked up a beer to see how high its rated. I'm guilty of looking up a beer to read reviews on a particular beer, Most common when i'm buying a wild/sour/lambic

 

Death to FOMO!

 

Michael Jackson produced a "rating system" that is actually very different from the ones used on here and elsewhere. I don't think it is fair to imply any comparison between his star system and the numerical systems out there. Matter of fact, he went to great lengths to discourage such equivalency. Jackson's system took into account things like region, local preference, and tradition and longevity. His system, for those who don't know, is:

*typical of its region and style
**above average
***worth seeking out
****world-class

 

Yes, his system is different than the one used here, but numbers are numbers. * = 1, ** = 2; *** = 3; **** = 4.

See the problem is that while the meaning attached to the numbers (single digit numbers or the number of stars) may differ, they are both, at base, numerical rating systems. Averages can be computed for both. Deviation scores can be computed for both, etc. The meaning of those number may be somewhat different but...

They both allow for rank ordering of breweries, a set of beers, or a region of production, etc.

 

Jackson went to great lengths to discourage any equivalency to a numerical "grading" system by providing his explanations. Sure, many may infer some equivalency, but it would be false. The stars are nothing more than abbreviations for the descriptions themselves.

 

There's another dynamic going on, and that's how many wineries have made modifications to their products in order to specifically garner high Wine Advocate scores. It's called Parkerization, and many times local flair is sacrificed to it. If people don't see something similar happening to beer, they haven't been paying attention.

 

While he may have tried to discourage that it wasn't prevented and people are what they are. Give them a summary and they will use it.

 

And false equivalencies "are what they are," too.

 

Yep.

But just as with language, there's prescriptive grammar and there's colloquial grammar. For most people it's the latter that describes what they do and use.

 

Honestly if BA did not exist I'd probably be drinking macro crap. Before I turned 21 I was using this site as a reference point. And it amazed me that something existed other than what I saw commercials for.

 

Hmm, sounds a bit like what some homebrewers tell us they have to do to stand a chance of winning in a competition.

 

I put Jackson up on a pedestal... my esteem is very high... but if his system of "2 stars=above average and 4 stars=world class" was genuinely not intended to be rating or grading, then he made a huge mistake in designing it.

 

@drtth Curious - what do you do for work?

 

Ha! Just a bit, though. In the wild there are plenty more niches to appeal to .

 

The 1st wine company to that was E&J Gallo. That was a long time ago when Parker was still writing reviews himself. Ernest and Julio studied his reviews and used them as a guide to blend a wine he would rate well. It worked well.

 

But isn't listening to word of mouth just a smaller scale version of ratings? I mean, you were paying attention to other people's opinions, it's just that the opinions were from a small group of people rather than a large group of people, and there were no numbers attached. For me, I'd rather look at the large group of people. Small groups of people can be swayed by hype/bias too. In fact it's more likely!

I guess I don't see how adding numbers changes the situation much.

Now, the social media hype is a different story, I agree that sort of changes things. But all this means you have to do is make some mental adjustments. E.g. "this beer is rated 99, but it's hard to get, so I'm going to be suspicious of the rating"

I think the ratings are fine with respect to beer you can buy in a liquor store (as opposed to special releases, brewery only, etc.). With hard-to-get beer, people factor in their effort in obtaining it into their rating. "I waited in line for this, and paid a lot for it, so it must be good. Otherwise I'd be an idiot!"

With shelf beer, there is no effort in obtaining. And since 99% of my beer is bought in a liquor store (or at "normal operations" of a brewery, i.e. not a special release), the ratings are fine for me. Doesn't mean I don't disagree with them sometimes.