Regional rating bias

A lot of Californians barely consider anything east of the 5 to worth a second thought! Well, maybe Las Vegas is worth a thought or two...

 

Wait - You mean, it ain't "Spring - Back, Fall - Forward "? Ah, yeah - whatever.

(No one's ever liked my idea of moving the clocks 10 minutes ahead/back for six days in a row - Daylight Saving Week. This way, if you're early/late one day 'cause you forgot - no big deal - it's only 10 minutes).

 

Ha ha ha... that would be fun!

 

I could have sworn that 2-3 years ago someone [who is a statistician for a their career] analyzed the BA beer scores vs whether the reviewer was located in the same state as the brewery. They were trying to see if homerism could be statistically observed, which seems relevant to this discussion. Unfortunately I couldn't find the discussion in a forum search. However, I remember that it showed there was a regional bias, and even showed that reviewers of some states/regions are more likely to be biased in favor of their local beer than other regions.

Hey @nickd717, for some reason I feel like you were involved in that stat analysis... no?

 

Interesting theory. I have no doubt that there are fantastic beers being made everywhere, WA, OR, IA, MN, WI, MI, FL, whatever. But I certainly disagree that the beers from CA that get distro are underrated. Here in MA, we get a ton of beer from CA (not so much Oregon or WA). Green Flash? Coronado? Absolutely underwhelming. Disappointing every time. Those brands' IPAs aren't close to as good as anything from Wormtown, but of course those of you on the west can't get it, just like I can't get local distro beer from the west, which is probably excellent. When I find one I really like, like Racer 5, I rate it accordingly. No bias. I do think some beers like IPAs from Firestone Walker are hurt by lack of freshness as they travel.

 

Amen to that! So many great beers to drink in Arizona, from other places. Really happy here.

 

As some others have suggested, there might be more worth looking at here. Are the west coast ratings lower because the locals rate them lower, or might they be lower because those in the rest of the country have rated them lower than their own local examples of the same styles? Bias can be both for something, and against it. To use one example, it's often the people far from San Diego making the claim that Sculpin is overrated, not worth the money, etc.

 

taken a bit out of context - was just a commentary on the tendencies of users in the PNW (to which those comments were exclusive to) - there is a much-acknowledged lack of dedication to reviewing beers in this region. It's fine, but it's just a bit different.

 

Is it even bias? How could we know? If my rating for Double Jack is under 4, because when I've had it here, never as fresh as it should be, that's what it deserves, that's not bias. CA beers in particular are shipped widely. I love several Lagunitas beers, and if anything they are better and fresher now coming from Chicago.

 

yes, there's much speculation involved here. Homerism exists everywhere, and it involves more than just over-praising one's local stuff - there's the hypercritical reviewing of non-local stuff too. I'm just suggesting that maybe it is possible that the scoring is influenced not necessarily by western locals being critical, but perhaps by non-western folks being a little hypercritical of west coast examples. It's not crazy, is it? I can't help but think there's a greater percentage of non-western reviews for the western states' beers vs. the analogous for east coast options.

 

Thank you for being so condescending and making it clear that you have far more beer knowledge than I do and that your opinion matters more than mine, even though you have absolutely no knowledge of my background. All you know is my state of residence, and the fact I am not a BA ticker. When I commented that there are more gems and fewer misses in the PNW, I think it was obvious the intent was to agree that the overall quality is better. I never said or implied any region compared. All I said was there are hidden gems all over, but you probably only know the ones in your area. How do you travel to drink beers of which you are unaware?

Incidentally, I have traveled to Seattle and Portland and had plenty of beer.

 

I have always thought there was a bias toward new england/ northeastern beers. For example, in the top 250 there is a disproportionately high number of Hill Farmstead beers on that list. I know they make a lot of superb beers, but given the number and variety of breweries out there, i just don't know how HF can get that many in the top 250. Especially considering some of them have only a few reviews. I know a ton of other beers with a few reviews that have high rankings but don't crack the top 250. I have not had any HF beers before.

Same goes for Trillium. I had the double dry hopped melcher street and, to be honest, it was absolutely amazing. It just seems like they are overstated on the list as well. Plenty of beers from other breweries with a small number of reviews have very high scores. Why does all of Trillium's and HF's beers get on those lists (top 250, top 250 new beers), but these others do not?

 

If there is a bias, I don't think it is really regional. I think it is bias in favor of tiny producers with limited distribution. Hill Farmstead is the pinnacle of that, but it applies to Trillium, Treehouse (which is even more highly rated I think), Lawson's, Alchemist, Toppling Goliath, Russian River, Three Floyds and others. But even among those, the ones that aren't sold in any store seem to get the most praise. Here is a thought on that. Nothing from Trillium or HF is purchased more than a week after they put it on sale (most sells in hours). Same for Alchemist, Lawson's and Treehouse (excluding Sip, brewed by Two Roads). Any brewery distributing more widely is disadvantaged.

As for me, Double Dry Hopped Melcher Street was indeed amazing. Ordinary Congress Street? I think Wormtown Be Hoppy is better actually.

 

The regional bias might just be people getting hyped up over their locals. I know I get excited to drink local beer and it probably inflates my ratings.

 

This. HF beers are incredible, don't get me wrong. But I think there's a lot motivation to rate a beer highly when you drive 3+ hours into the Vermont tundra to find it. Personally, I'd probably take a random Trillium beer over a random Tree House beer, but Tree House has this mythical lure (remote location, very limited quantities long ass lines) about it that generates a lot of hype and discussion.

 

Amazingly enough, even though I like on/around 495, I have never been to Treehouse and only had one sip of Julius, which was from a several days old growler and flat. I can't venture over there after 5:00 on weekdays or dedicate a whole Saturday. I've only had HF at Armsby, despite having a place in VT. Maybe those making the pilgrimage do add some points, who knows.

 

Oregon is 11 times the size of Vermont...no hipster capital in VT...just a mellow way of life and it's crushing the beer scene...more people in Portland Metro than entire state of VT...grew up in Southern VT/NH and spent 15 years in NorCal and OR...both are great but Vermont is something special...

 

Cue the Newhart theme music...

 

Yessir!...that's me...Dick Loudon...