How many reviews before you take a beer seriously?

I take it seriously as soon as it touches my tongue and I like it flavor. No reviews needed.

 

I take a beer seriously depending on who brewed it.

 

If it's rated over 4, at least 1K. Too many beers rated real high with a realatively low number of rates.

 

I know it's not fashionable to admit to looking at reviews, but if I see a beer/brewery in a bar/store, that I've heard little or nothing about, then I definitely take a look at the BA reviews to help make a decision, particularly if there are several and I am only going to buy one.

As far as number of reviews, I would say 5 at the very least, but preferably double digits (and hopefully some geographical variety amongst the reviewers).

rDev is a different beast altogether though. i.e. I wouldn't bother with a BA stout with an rAvg of 3.95, but I'd be all over an English pale ale with the same score.

 

I like to think beer is fun and not serious at all.

 

It all comes down to the price for me. If it costs $2 or less (12 oz pour), I could care less about what the reviews are, for the beer - I'll be the judge of it. If it costs $4 or more, then I'd be inclined to check the reviews, just so I'm convinced it's not flushing money down the drain. A rating of 4 or better is generally good, as also what smell/flavors the reviewers picked up, to see if the beer is something I might be interested in. The number of ratings doesn't matter - every beer has to start somewhere before it ends up with cult status, and I'd be more than happy to pitch in with my thoughts.

 

I read reviews occaisionally, but mostly just for fun- like northyorksammy and others. Sometimes just idly, but really never to determine if I would buy a beer according to ratings, however few or many ratings are there. I'm certain that the reviews are a great reference for many.

 

I would rather taste it first and then look at reviews.

 

This.

I was so stoked for Fuzzy Baby Ducks last night.

Poured it, took my first sip, and was instantly bummed. Seriously over-rated.

Maybe it is due to my poor ability to taste, although I could name 3-5 beers I would take instantly over this beer.

FBD showed me the light of "most people reviewing beers on the internet are probably stupid/haven't had an excellent beer/do not have my pallat" ...last part of that being most key.

Seriously, my anti-hero IPA afterwards was more enjoyable than that watery liquid.

 

Aaaaaaand end thread. If a thousand people told you that their dog's shit tasted great, would you try it?

 

I just try it. I'm still fairly new to craft beer (Just over a year now) so everything is worth trying at the moment. But with that being said, I can't imagine that changing for me. If I haven't had it, why not give it a shot? Reviews or not.

 

I look at reviews on beers and breweries I am unfamiliar with. I take them more seriously if they have 500+ reviews.

 

No, but would 1000/1000 people tell you that their dog's shit tasted great?

 

I wouldn't feel bad about it - you'll get lots of people telling you that "beer is a journey man" and "reviews mean shit" etc. And yeah if you are at a pub/brewery for few hours, or have $ to burn, then it's definitely more fun to just try what you see without overthinking it. But if I'm on a time or $ limit, and I don't know anything about the available beers, then I'm definitely going to take a look at BA as I want the best chance of enjoying what I purchase.

 

As others have said, if it's a beer I've never heard of that looks interesting, I'll sometimes look at the overall rating here to get a gauge for general feel, but that's only when I'm browsing at a place like Binny's (the big liquor chain here in Chicago). I usually just go with things that sound interesting to me, and pick them up regardless.

A success story was picking up Bourbon County (which is obviously fantastic) in a Walgreens a year or two back, before I had heard of it. A story of failure would be picking up Take the Black Stout because of the Game of Thrones tie in. Hated that one.

I tend to treat reviews on a 1 by 1 basis; I've found that BA tends to over-hype some of the bigger beers ("this is the best pale ale in the world, if you don't like it your tastebuds are dead!"), so I try to find reviews that SOUND like the type of reviewer I am.

 

I take it seriously when I'm done with it.You really cant truly gauge a beer until you've finished your glass to see how it affects you in the long run, vs the short run.

I never care about what the reviews say. If a beer looks good, I give it a full chance....even if it only has a 35\100 on ratebeer and a 76\100 on beer advocate. One of my favorite fruit beers Derailed has that rating, and I consider it to be one of the best cherry flavored beers you can get (minus some kriek lambics I suppose).

 

The plus side is that you probably know a little more about what you may like to focus on. For example, I'd never have known about things like Permanent Funeral (from FFF) and Velvet Merkin if I didn't pay attention here. Permanent Funeral has become one of my favorite DIPAs, and Velvet Merkin is an amazing oatmeal stout that I'd probably never have purchased if I didn't hear it was fantastic.

 

As soon as it proclaims to be serious and tells me not to call it Shirley!