Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Untapped is now the more reliable internet source than Beer Advocate when you need to review a brewers current portfolio to see what beers are the better ones over their others to try and/or buy. I still agree that the rating process and credibility of Beer Advocate raters over Untappd raters are better overall, but now there is just not enough ratings (or no ratings many times) on BA most of the time to warrant a good avg. rating to help with decision-making on drinking/buying something new. I think BA "jumped the shark" within last 12-24 months in this area.

 

Funny, I kinda disagree with this for reasons I don't care to debate, but IMO that site you mention is better than the site that rhymes with deermenus for up to date info about what is being served, and where.

 

I've never been able to reliably find beers that I want to try here with reviews on Beer advocate.

I do find the other app reliably having input for most every beer. But I have zero faith in it especially as text reviews are virtually non-existent so I have no idea why a rating is high or low.

 

Not sure if this is controversial or not... coffee should only be added to dark beers. No more coffee pales/blondes please, they confuse my eyes and tongue.

 

I agree that there should be many more reviews here for more beers, and many more people doing them. But it is true also that the number of people who want to use them is much fewer now, increasingly so as younger folks come of age, so not sure there is a motivation to make that happen here, despite reviews from thoughtful reviewers being this site's best feature.

 

Regarding Untappd ratings, the fact that they just have so many more reviews does make it more helpful than BA ratings in my mind. Obviously it's a bad idea to take it as gospel, and certain styles are a little inflated, and certain breweries do have their beers intentionally overrated by traders/mules looking to boost the value, but as long as you're able to add some grains of salt given the context, I don't usually find myself in massive disagreement with a consensus.

 

Numbers don't tell me as much as a thoughtful review but then I'm the sort of person who prefers a good meal prepared by a qualified chef over a dozen made by well intentioned amateurs.

 

Reviews can be interesting. There are some fine and knowledgeable writers around here. Thing is, I've never relied on beer reviews from anywhere to really buy the beers I've bought and sold through the years. I talk to people- in person- and I buy what looks interesting. This has guided me well.

 

Conversely, I've heard complaint from locals when a brewery doesn't have an IPA on tap. There is just no winning.

What strange and glorious time to be a beer drinker.

 

Not going to lie - this analogy doesn’t make much sense to me. Are you saying you prefer going to a restaurant than eating at friends’ places? And what bearing does that have on whether you prefer beer ratings (by amateurs) to well written reviews (by amateurs)?

 

Translation: Well-trained individuals usually provide a better end product than less well-trained ones.

That was tough.

 

There are benefits to going round and eating with friends (amateurs) vs going to a restaurant (professionals) that go beyond the food.

And because someone is able to write out a lengthy review with big words doesn’t necessarily make them an expert.

I understand the point. I’m saying it’s a poor analogy. Mate honestly no need to respond to me unless I direct something at you. Keep that response OCD in check

 

It's not like every Beeradvocate review is logged by a professional. I agree with your premise when it comes to movies, since there are readily available and pretty comprehensive metrics available for evaluation by professional critics as well as those for the average Joe, but at this point every beer review site is made up of average Joes. Some sites may have more thoughtful/experienced average Joes, but it's hardly the case that every poster here is Michael Jackson.

 

That's quite true, but at least with the written word you can see if certain reviewers and you are sympatico; and then take it from there, only focusing on those reviews going forward.

 

My comment was more to his analogy than an evaluation of the expertise of those on BA, but I agree with him that a numerical value is all but useless without justification.

 

Being drunk prior to noon some days is OK.

 

I assume every number rating without a review is given by someone who, if they wrote a review, it would be something similar to, "I really don't like this IIPA, it's kind of bitter and I hate bitter beer." or, "I am giving this Gose a low score due to it's not only sour, but I swear there is salt in it, yucchhh."

 

There was a short review on a very well known beer with each category rated as '1'. The review just said 'this beer costs $100 which is stupid'

I'm glad they justified (?) their rating, because it was easy to report as misuse. Someone may not care for how a beer rates, but it still doesn't excuse making up ratings out of spite (that beer hadn't been released at that price point either).

 

Where does waking up drunk rate?

 

May or may not be controversial, but I always find it a little disheartening when members rag on amateur reviewers. This site is for, and survives thanks to, average people who enjoy craft beer and a handful of industry people. If you don't feel like reading amateur reviews, and if ignoring them is too difficult, perhaps its time to find another website resource. Personally, I think this source is miles ahead of some other beer rating/reviewing sources, but I've been known to be biased on that matter having been a BA member for a while.

Besides, it's already difficult enough to get people to share their notes with the negative comments.