NBS BIF #15 Hints and Hauls: Was it Over When the Canadians Bombed BIF #14? HELL NO!

Well, it certainly can; that's how biases work. But I don't think that's requisite.

I don't assume every beer I buy is good. I do primarily buy beer in styles I enjoy more than other styles, which makes me more likely to enjoy it, and from breweries that have put out good stuff in the past, which again makes me more likely to enjoy it - but I don't assume it's going to be great.

I'll use a recent example: a NE IIPA from Skygazer. Pretty much everything I've had from Skygazer has been top notch, but this one just ... wasn't. Not bad, in any way; the only "flaw" was what seemed to be a bit of hop staleness* despite being only two months old. In every other aspect, the beer was well above average, but not superior.

-10% rDev on a 3.69 score.

Good to above average, bordering on great, but neither special nor flawless. 3.69 seems about right for that from me (the raw score would likely be lower from you, but I suspect the review and overall thoughts would be worded remarkably similar, other than your general ambivalence toward the style).

*(I defend rating it lower for perceived staleness. Would it have been better even fresher? Maybe. Is that reasonable? Absolutely not at only two months. Is it fair to consider that a flaw? I think so - and there's no guarantee that off note was due to staleness, as opposed to a production issue.)

Now, I obviously see exactly what you're talking about all the time. "Ehh, it's mediocre and nothing special. 4.0." @cjgiant and I are routinely flabbergasted by it, but I think the bias you're talking about plays a part: it's a style you enjoy, and from a brewery you respect, so it must be at least this tall to rate on BA, right?

But bias is part of the equation, and it's not inevitable - once you're aware of it. I have had plenty of beers in styles I really thought I would like, from breweries that I thought were quite good, only to be disappointed in the execution. In some ways, in fact, that bias may work against rating a beer high: "I expected this to knock my socks off, but it was only really damn good, so I'm rating it a 3.5."

I think this side of the coin is in play even more often for someone like you or me who have reviewed a ton of beers. After all, if Jai Alai came out today, there's no way I'm rating it as highly as I originally did, but back then, I'd really tasted nothing like it in the IPA game. That lack of expectations, as contrasted with the execution, no doubt resulted in a higher rating, whereas over a thousand IPA reviews later, it's much more difficult to impress me. You've said it yourself: "Just another standard murkbomb."

After all, how many perfect pilsners can there possibly be? Once you've given one 5.0 in a style, how likely is it that you will ever give another in the same style (unless you freely bestow those, which no one in this group really does).

 

How about a MAGA tattoo?