What's the point of comparison threads?

So that I know what to expect before buying or trading for a beer.

 

Beer is made for #1 drinking but I think comparisons are very interesting in that other people may notice flavors (both good/bad) that I didn't notice the first time around or have a totally different drinking experience. There are some beers which are generally though of as being big misses among the masses and I hate to follow the crowd but if everyone says a watermellon beer that tastes skunked really sucks then I probably won't waste $10 on it.
--if you don't care what other people think, don't rate or read

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I do it in a pathetic attempt to cope with my deep-seated feelings of inadequacy.

 

I suppose taste is subjective and all but still, the last thread that posed this question was sooooo much better than this one.

 

It's the internet. I came here to argue and chew bubblegum....and I'm all out of bubblegum.

 

skip em

 

Are you asking us to compare the positives of comparisons versus the negatives of comparisons?

 

Not really, sometimes it's easier to tell what a beer's gonna be like with a direct comparison to another similarly styled beer that everybody knows, rather than from reading reviews.

 

People like to compare things, its half the reason this site even exists. The entire ranking system is a giant comparison.

 

Meh.. Who cares? All these blank vs. blank treads are getting out of hand, and if someone wants to complain about it, they can.. I'm with you on your OP. Which happens to be hypocritical as fuck because I used to snap at people who would post hatred towards those threads.. Oh well though. That crap is just getting annoying now lol.

 

For those of us who only had one of the beers being compared we start thinking I gotta get my hands on that other beer. SUCKS, Alchemy Hour, and White Rajah immediately come to mind for me. Compare away.

 

Look here Jack.. Number one rule of beeradvocate... post like your avatar.. Buy hey.. beer

 

I only find select few of them interesting/helpful, and I ignore the rest. I'm only interested in them if I've tried just one of the beers being compared, cause it usually gives me a good idea of whether or not I'd like the other beer. Seems a little more specific and concrete than most reviews.

 

Few people understand that liking Beer A better than Beer B does NOT make Beer A better than Beer B.

A Bud Light drinker would likely say that they like Bud Light better than either Pliny or Heady and that it's better. We would, of course, ridicule this person, but they're no different than someone who concludes that Pliny is better than Heady simply because they like it better, and comparison threads are full of posts that indicate this is the case.

It's not that hard to tell the difference between the two, but objectively judging quality is a lot harder to do, and is something that few ever seem to do whenever these discussions pop up. And even if some do, we could endlessly argue over the criteria.

 

Hey.. we used to compare beers to pass the time in 'nam... Jack

 

Just a friendly heads-up -- I think those damn kids are back on your lawn again.