Beer review pet peeves

Talk Discussion in 'BeerAdvocate Talk' started by not2quick, May 16, 2024.

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  1. not2quick

    not2quick Grand Pooh-Bah (3,600) Dec 1, 2015 Missouri
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I know there has been plenty of pet peeves threads in the past, but I want to focus on BA review pet peeves. A couple things that drive me bonkers.

    Over the top negative beer reviews. If you dont like the beer, tell me exactly why based on the 5 rating system. I don't want to read "this beer tasted like cat piss aged on dog shit". No it didn't. I'm not amused by your "clever edginess" and you're not funny.

    My biggest pet peeve. When a beer's overall rating just doesn't make sense.
    Look- 4.5
    Smell- 4.5
    Taste- 4.5
    Feel- 4.5
    Overall- 4.75 ummm what?

    Or an overall of 5 when the smell is 4.5 and feel is 4.25. Try to make sense people!
     
    ZebulonXZogg, DCH, woemad and 4 others like this.
  2. chrisjws

    chrisjws Grand Pooh-Bah (3,302) Dec 3, 2014 California
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Can someone please stop forcing him to read the reviews? We can’t make him read all of these, it’s not humane!

    When I contribute to a site that doesn’t pay me, and my contribution is within the guidelines, I will be edgy, and now a little extra edgy because you said that.

    There’s no reason to have overall be something you can select if you are required to have it map to a strict average. It doesn’t make much sense to have all ones then a five, but if everything is a 4.5 that’s a pretty exceptional beer and if you think that makes it .25 higher than the average of the rest of your score, I don’t feel like any puppies got fed to a wood chipper to make that happen.
     
  3. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,846) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Well, cat piss is sometimes an aspect of some hops, so that might be valid.

    Ever hear the term "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"? That would explain why the overall score is higher than any of the individual components.
     
  4. jmdrpi

    jmdrpi Grand High Pooh-Bah (8,989) Dec 11, 2008 Pennsylvania
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    So if some of these are older reviews, they may be from the era when the 5th category was "Drinkability". That rating category was interpreted differently by different people, and so it was changed by BA to "Overall". I am not sure what year this happened but reading back through my reviews, it looks like I stopped specifically referencing drinkability in my reviews around 2010.
     
  5. elNopalero

    elNopalero Grand Pooh-Bah (5,822) Oct 14, 2009 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Or maybe there’s a beer that’s just all over the place but my god we are all better for it having been brewed, and I will tip my hat to the good people who did so with an absurdly high (.25!) overall score.
     
  6. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,157) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    In Memoriam Pooh-Bah Trader

    I dislike reviews that describe things only as whether it was liked or not liked without giving a description of the beer, nor reasons why it was liked or not liked. I don't bother with folks who give only number ratings,, but giving a review that is basically just a number rating that's put into words is even worse.

    I like reviews that are about 100 words, are concise, describe the attributes of the beer well, and point out what it is about those attributes the reviewer finds positive or negative.
     
  7. dbrauneis

    dbrauneis Grand High Pooh-Bah (8,071) Dec 8, 2007 North Carolina
    Mod Team BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I agree that Overall does not need to be between the range of the highest category score and the lowest category score for the other attributes - some beers are just better than the sum of the parts. Also, I include in the overall category drinkability, whether I would seek out the beer again, how enjoyable a beer is, and how it fits with the current examples of the style.

    Sometimes no individual aspect of the beer really stands out but it works well together.
     
  8. champ103

    champ103 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,296) Sep 3, 2007 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    The overall rating isn't necessarily an average of all the prior scores, it can just be a metric of how much you enjoyed it or not, overall without taking the prior scores into account. It also use to be called "Drinkability" which was used for a long time, and I still kind of think of it as that...which might be a fault for me, but I never said I was good at this...

    And I'm not the only one to say this, so there you go...
     
    #8 champ103, May 16, 2024
    Last edited: May 16, 2024
  9. not2quick

    not2quick Grand Pooh-Bah (3,600) Dec 1, 2015 Missouri
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Yes, I look at overall as an average. I now understand another way of looking at it. Will it change my approach? Probably not. Again these are MY pet Peeves and I understand many won't agree.
     
  10. Snowcrash000

    Snowcrash000 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,041) Oct 4, 2017 Germany
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Well, maybe sometimes you just feel like a beer is better than just the sum its parts. Or maybe sometimes you feel like there's something just a tad off about a beer that you can't really put your finger on, resulting in the opposite scoring.
     
  11. GlenFarclas

    GlenFarclas Savant (1,108) Oct 1, 2021 Connecticut
    Society Trader

    I agree with this, sometimes all I really want to know is whether an “imperial IPA” is a hazy or not. But I’ve searched pages to get any mention of those characteristics like clarity, mouthfeel, bitterness etc.

    It’s the antithesis of untappd: pictures but no descriptors (usually, anyhow).

    This happens often when I’m in a packie and see something new and just want to know what I’m in for cos breweries can’t be bothered to describe what’s in the can (half the time).
     
  12. Orca

    Orca Grand Pooh-Bah (4,710) Sep 18, 2010 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    As others have said, overall can be used to capture a somewhat intangible “how much did you enjoy it in general” score. If it was by definition an average of the other four scores then it would not be necessary, because the composite score is already a weighted average of the categorical scores.

    Now if you give a beer straight 3s in the first four categories and then give it a perfect 5 for overall (or vice versa) then you’re either stupid or dishonest. But I will sometimes give an overall score that’s a little higher or lower than the other scores added up and divided by 4—for example, maybe a beer looks really terrible (it’s nearly flat, murky, ugly color etc.) but its appearance has zero impact on the aroma or flavor. So “overall,” and especially if I close my eyes while drinking it, I enjoy it a lot more than if I’m looking at that ugly beer.

    If I had to name one pet peeve, it’s more about ratings than reviews. I can’t say I’ve ever had a truly perfect beer, so I get a little annoyed by straight-5 ratings. To each their own but if you are giving beers all 5s that means there’s literally no way that beer could be any better than it is. I think everything can be improved somehow.
     
  13. ATL6245

    ATL6245 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,984) Aug 16, 2018 Georgia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I can sort of explain you biggest pet peeve. I'm guilty of that one very blue moon. I may score the 4 sensory ratings lower vs others in the same category but I may still have really enjoyed the beer. In try not to do that because it is odd but every now and then it fits.
     
  14. md3kcn

    md3kcn Savant (1,130) Feb 4, 2021 North Carolina
    Trader

    I always found it a bit off-putting when people add too much personal flare to a review. Not enough to be annoying (to each their own), but there's a difference between objective descriptions and obvious leniency towards a specific brew or style. Even before I made an account here, I'd go on BA to look into what a beer would probably be like (as in, worth purchasing). When I see that people are willing to skew a review for the sake of being edgy, funny, or not being descriptive at all (aka just a rating), it doesn't really help those looking for actual advice about a beer/place at hand.

    When I review a beer, I pay close attention to the style. If the beer plays up to that style, it earns solid marks. 3 is average ("the bar"), 1 is abysmal, and 5 is the greatest. If you're going to rate a 40 of OE800 a 5/5, it had better play the absolute best to the style - not necessarily your preferences.
     
  15. Orca

    Orca Grand Pooh-Bah (4,710) Sep 18, 2010 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Sounds like you’d better talk to some of these folks
     
  16. md3kcn

    md3kcn Savant (1,130) Feb 4, 2021 North Carolina
    Trader

    Brought that entire thing up here!
     
    Bitterbill likes this.
  17. AZgman

    AZgman Pooh-Bah (1,858) Dec 22, 2011 Arizona
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Certainly there are more than 4 metrics to drinking beer! The overall rating takes into account any metric/intangible you might want to include.
     
  18. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,157) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    In Memoriam Pooh-Bah Trader

    Oh, man that review from Stothep is comedy gold!
     
  19. Resistance88

    Resistance88 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,462) Apr 9, 2015 California
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    This website is literally full of neckbeards with biased opinions on shitty beer.


    The doors that way>>>>>>>>>
    you too @Orca :rage:

    OE800 is 5/5 ...so is 211
     
  20. md3kcn

    md3kcn Savant (1,130) Feb 4, 2021 North Carolina
    Trader

    Probably a bait post, but I will say that OE800 is my favorite 40. It's objectively a mediocre malt liquor, though.
     
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