Poll: Why I Don't Review Beers.

Its hard for me to say exactly why, but I chose "it will destroy my enjoyment of the beer" because I think its the closest. When I'm drinking a beer, I want to enjoy it in the moment, and I want to enjoy it for the totality of what it is. Picking it apart and breaking it down into components with scores just feels too serious. I also think its silly to require appearance and feel to have a score. Sometimes those things factor into my enjoyment of a beer, but sometimes they don't.

I do find reviews helpful so I'm glad people make them, but I'm also a little peeved by the need to constantly score, rate, and rank things.

I have lately been adding a few reviews when I am particularly moved by a beer or one really stands out to me, and as a result it probably looks like I am an easy grader, but really I only grade when I come across an A+ (or an F, which is also rare).

 

I think most people can say whether they like a beer or not or how much they like it but to describe exactly why they like it is a lot harder to accomplish. And it is hard to write a review without sounding like every other existing review.

 

It's the worst part of this site for me. The vast majority of reviewers on this site are biased towards intense flavors, deeming their reviews useless for me. It actually upsets me when I read reviews on this site that imply that not only is the beer simple, but the style of beer itself is boring and not complex because it doesn't punch them in the face with intense (but not necessarily complex...) flavor like an imperial stout does.

 

For me, it's two-fold. Time & memory!

Normally when I'm trying new beers it'll be with friends, and we'll have anywhere between 3 and 10+ beers. Sometimes this is in the comfort of our own homes; sometimes at watering holes out and about.

I enjoy beer, I enjoy trying to pick out tastes, smells, feels etc. I enjoy talking about it. So I quite like the idea of writing a review, and indeed I have tried my best to review a handful of the beers I've logged on BA (despite my reviewing skills being far inferior to some/most reviewers on here!). When writing reviews, I've done so on my laptop - I've taken time to go through it and type it up - normally whilst drinking the beer. Sip, type, sip, type. Herein lies the problem.

If I'm not at home, I could only write a review on the mobile app. If I'm at a friends house, this will take too long, and just isn't feasible. If I'm at a bar / pub, same thing. I'm not going to sit on my phone for half an hour writing up a review whilst everyone else moves on to their next beer.

I use Untappd, as I'm sure many of you do. This serves as a quick and easy way of logging beers - maybe a quick review as well. This is especially useful when I'm not at home, and therefore only have my phone as way of recording.
As stated above, if I'm doing a review, I like to have time, and it's much easier on a desktop platform than using the mobile app (which could be improved, imo).

Maybe I could write up a review when I'm back home the morning after?
I could have a go. But for me, I'd struggle to remember the specifics of each beer I was reviewing the following morning, especially if I've had more than a couple - and even more especially if I've had one too many . I don't feel I could give an accurate review.

Drinking socially and doing reviews don't seem to mix for me. I either need to drink to review, or drink. I don't think I can do both, and give a decent account.

If anyone has any suggestions on better ways of handling this, I'd be keen to hear, as I would like to contribute more reviews.

 

Once I discovered Untappd I stopped reviewing beers on here.

 

I try to review every beer I drink for the 1st time and am constantly reading other people's reviews. It has helped me refine my taste and is a history of my exploration of craft beer. If I didn't review I wouldn't always remember if I tried a beer or how much I liked it.

 

I've always thought that people who ticked are lazy. And I still think that. But some people honestly don't know how to write. I've seen some poorly written reviews with run-on sentences, misspellings, and gross exaggerations. I'd prefer that those people tick.

 

I feel about reviewing when out with friends or the next day as do you, so I just don't do it. I review a beer while enjoying it or not at all. Similarly I don't review without at least one full 12 oz serving to use. So what reviews I have done have been done simply by having a beer to enjoy and spending at least part of my time with that beer for the review and enjoying what I'm learning. Sometimes that happens at home in the evening. Sometimes it happens when I'm having lunch by myself at one of my favorite places where I can have both a beer fresh from the keg and then enjoy the pairing with the lunch I've chosen.

 

I use the reviews all the time. I tend to scan through and look for either a review from certain members or one set up with the categories separate and in order. I use the ratings and reviews to decide what beers to buy/breweries to visit/bars/stores/etc. when I am traveling or in an area I am not familiar with. I try to review as many beers that I can as long as I feel comfortable with my tasting experience (i.e not my 10th beer of the night).
For the pole I selected "other".

 

Too many words required

 

I voted *Other* and here is my explanation. I used to review everything I drank because it's fun. I like to describe what I am tasting/smelling, what nuances there is or why I like a certain beer or not. I haven't written a "Formal" review since March. I have just been getting lazier, that's it. I now like to review a new brew on New Beer Sunday. It's a causal atmosphere that I seem to enjoy better than having my Thoughts on beer in the Halls of this Web Forum.

 

I rarely review anymore. If I really like a new brew I might add a note, but I don't think deeply enough to describe what I'm tasting. Generally with beers I either like it, I love it, hate it or it's an eh beer. Not useful enough for you to do anything with that.

 

Actually, they're both useless to me in their own way. I tried to get into the ratings/reviews, but I just can't overlook the lower scores towards styles I tend to drink.

 

I voted other and it might qualify under one of the above choices, but it's a little more nuanced to me. I actually don't mind reviewing beer, but I don't like to assign numbers to beers. Additionally, if I am going to review a beer, I want to take the time to review it. I don't want to just have it on draft at some bar and hastily put together a review. Like with Yelp reviews, I want to take my time and actually know the beer well before putting up a review. I don't want to be a quick hitter. It's important to me to even have the beer several times to get a sense of whether there are inconsistencies in the beer. It also controls for inconsistencies with how I'm feeling.

There are other reasons too. For instance, I don't like to review when I am in social situations. "Please stop telling me about your day for a second, I've got to review this beer." I don't think I enjoy beer more when I review it. I still think about how the beer tastes and the different characteristics of a beer when I drink it, but I don't really put it down on paper. The issue with writing isn't that I don't have confidence in my writing. It's more that I want to write well. In most situations, I can't take the time to write the thoughtful, well written review that I would want to.

 

I agree with this. I love Malt Liquor (Not a Popular Style on here I know) and I don't agree with some of the Reviews about them. I just ignore the Reviews and Enjoy my Drank!

 

I definitely do not write well enough. I wish I did. I tried to start a full on food blog but would block up every time I had to write something with my photos. But I can talk about it. Maybe I should verbally dictate?