Bias in ratings?

People tend to rate towards enjoyment, not so much to style, it's why people give a frustrating amount of 5/5 reviews. IPAs and big stouts are en vogue.

 

We all like beers that knock our socks off, and we tend to rate these beers higher than some very good beers in lesser-liked styles. Unfair? Probably, but I think it's something that we have to live with and understand.

 

I rate'em as I see'em not how they "should" be rated.

 

You're absolutely right.
I don't really see it as a right or wrong issue, but around here, and most beer sites, for that matter,
the things that really get the attention are the limited release, preferably barrel aged beers, or the limited, mega hop bombs.
Most of the lighter brews, Hefes, Pils, Kolsch, etc are not limited, they are always available so a lot of people who are looking for the latest and greatest pass them by. I'll be the first to admit that I am guilty of this myself. I'll pass by what I know are fantastic beers, because I know they'll be there next time I go in, and the time after that, and so forth.
I do sort of wish they would modify the ratings section, so you can see what the ratings are within the style, as well as overall.

 

I tend to regard the ratings as a measure of how American craft drinkers regard their beer. IPAs and stouts do tend to be my favorites (wishing I had more access to belgians and doppelbocks, etc) so I feel like I can trust the numbers. It's interesting though, I don't like pilseners, so I feel like I understand why they're not present in the canon of greats, but how might pilsener fans feel about that? Are there simply more people who prefer DIPAs to pilsners? (On BA, almost certainly there are), but still, the way I see it, it's in the american craft drinkers identity to prefer some styles to others, so while there is some bias, it's there for a reason, even if it's not a great reason.

 

Not sure this is necessarily bias. Maybe more people just like them more. Bias would imply the ratings are wrong. I think the question you want answered is : Is there a stronger preference for strongly flavored brews?

The answer to that seems to be a resounding yes. Why? Well, probably because they have more flavor to rate. But all of us here know the difference between a nice summertime Hefe and a barrel aged imperial stout. I think I like a big bold flavorful steak more than a beautifully crafted salad in general. But it doesn't mean I always prefer the steak to the salad.

 

What he said - the higher score should denote 'generally preferred', rather than 'better'.

 

Yep, you nailed it. Couldn't agree with you more. Don't get me wrong, I love ridiculously stupidly extreme Imperial IPA and RIS like everyone else but there definitely is an inbuilt bias against certain styles/nations among the craft drinker. There are many legitimate & understandable reasons why this is the case though ignorance will likely always retain its #1 position of explanations.

 

Combination of stylistic trends on one hand, and feelings (whether ignorance, annoyance, or appreciation) of style guides. As a brewer I tend to just brew what I enjoy, but as a result almost everything I do ends up in a 23A portion (specialty beer) of a competition.

What I mean is, there is incredible historical and brew-useful merit in stylistically rating, but until the wood aged beer category, for example, becomes "defined", folks are going to rate on their own preferences. Not everyone is a cicerone or BJCP judge or brewer, and even if they are, they may not be the best at it. I know I'm not.

There is an incredible amount of study to give a proper review of anything, and quite honestly, I'm not going to put in that effort unless I'm acting as a judge. If I buy a bottle, I'm going to go with what I know of the style, evaluate to that, then factor in personal preference and taste. I feel like this is the common methodology for a lot of folks, even if it is their preconceived notion of the style (the bias you noted).

That said, it's always hard to find judges for, say, the AAL category at an event, or even traditional milds and such. What's in vogue is in vogue, and what's special is generally predetermined before the person opens the beer. This is a real shame, but it's the truth. Using Beer Advocate as an aggregator, we these trends come to light for better or worse.

tl;dr: people have built-in bias regardless of experience, and expecting full scoresheet reviews on this website or ratebeer is near impossible if it wants to have an open community.

 

Most people don't rate every beer they drink, this is easily proved by the fact that Pliny has more reviews than Budweiser (It is not reasonable to surmise that all those Pliny drinkers have never had a Bud it is far more reasonable to conclude that a whole lot of people don't choose to rate Bud)
That leaves only the conclusion that a very large number of raters on this site only bother to rate beers they like, and the ones they like are by far the more extreme beers. So this situation leads to an appearance of over inflated ratings when the truth is that what really is occurring is a lack of data in the middle to low. I also believe that it will pan out that the "Had" ratings will tend to exacerbate this phenomenon. The Bros say no, but in a year or so we shall see.

 

Who cares about the ratings? You have your own tastes and you have your own view of styles, so you should rate accordingly. Rate for yourself and let everyone else do the same.

 

I think a lot of BA's rate according to availability. I have found a good amount of the " whales " rated high on here were no better then shelf beers.

 

while I think this is true, who cares what everyone else thinks as long as you like the beer. The fact of the matter is that ratings are used in a lot of marketing around the beer world. How many bottle shops do you see that lists the BA or Ratebeer rating next to the price on the shelf. An awful lot. How many breweries have links to the beer advocate page with their beer on it? Quite a few. So while all taste is subjective, ease of access vs. rarity, taste is impossible to be genuinely biased of.

 

Nothing you can do about the marketing. I'll admit that when I first turned 21, I looked at Ratebeer and Beeradvocate ratings all the time. The ratings did influence my purchases in a major way. Now, I do know what I like, and I don't let ratings influence my purchases at all. I know of the biases that come with styles and breweries, as well as the fact that I have an appreciation for German pilsners, ESBs, Marzens, Hefe-weisens, tripels, and Dortmunders (all styles I find the ratings to be biased against). I think the OP is in the same boat as me in their appreciation of beer, and I just wanted to say that they should overlook these outside factors. When the reviewer lets outside factors into their review, the review loses their voice, which is the very purpose of the review in the first place.

 

I care. I'm going to Pittsburgh next week. I want to buy some local beers but I'm not going to buy every beer while I'm there. Fat Heads has 42 beers on tap. First I look at the styles I like, then the description, then the rating. It's very rare that I love a beer that's say less than 3.7 on here.

 

A rating of anything, whether by a pro or an amateur, is nothing but an opinion based on one's one subjective criteria. How many bad movie reviews have you ignored because the movie looks good to you or you like the actors in it. The same goes for beer ratings. If you simply use them as a guide, and can actually make up your own mind as to whether you'll try a beer because it looks good to you or you like the brewery, you'll be way ahead.

 

I understand where you are coming from, and I don't blame you. I go to Wisconsin on a regular basis, and I'm planing on going to Michigan and Missouri in the near future. I personally don't look at ratings at all, but there have been instances that I thought I should have looked at the ratings before spending my money.

 

Read the synopses, not the ratings. I think a good number of people use the ratings as their ticker system and throw a number onto every beer they drink to keep track. The reviews that actually write up a bit on the appearance, aroma, and taste of the beer will give you MUCH more information. The information in review write-ups is just as subjective as the ratings, but at least you get a little more information than a simple X out of 5.

 

"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly." Thomas Paine

Psychologically we maybe tend to rate higher the beers which are harder to get.