Why do you use BeerAdvocate?

Not to mention the select few of us that know hip-hop, too

 

I actually signed up just to complain that Flower Power didn't taste the same anymore.

But now that I'm studying for the Cicerone, BA is a good source of info.

 

I only use BA and Untappd.

Well, I like the forums on this site.

 

arrived west oakland

 

To complain about how little most of the users actually know about beer and how flawed the "chase rare beer; it tastes better" theory is. Just kidding, maybe.

 

I use Untapped for keeping track of what I've had (with a quick rating) and I like the forums here. Though just this month I finally started reviewing beers here and I'm kinda getting into it. Why here instead of some other site? Google, reading up on beer before I started drinking it led me here. I guess if the search results had been different I would have ended up elsewhere.

 

Maybe in your part of the country. Have you seen the mark up on some beers! Seriously though, it is a valuable resource to help consumers make informed decisions on their beer purchasing. I rate beer for my own personal record. Keep an open mind and just remember that reviews are opinions. It's also a great guide when traveling. Cheers!

 

For the reviews, information in the culture, write reviews, visit places. My knowledge of beer has greatly expanded since using BA. I've always liked beer and BA has helped me in enjoying more beers and beer styles.

 

Ultimately I use BA over the others mentioned in the OP for two related reasons.

1) I live in a state where most of the beer I buy is bought by the case (at least until very recently) and I'm not willing to buy a case of beer on impulse or packaging.
2) The BA reviews offer a much higher density of quality information about the sensory qualities of the beer and so provide me with much better guidance in learning about what I might be buying without having a chance to taste it before hand.

In otherwords, as a friend of mine used to say, "I have to learn from the mistakes of others, I don't have the money to make them all myself."

There are also to additional fringe benefits. One is that I've been learning more about the world of beer from the folks here. The other is that some of the forums are both fun and a great way to get to interact with some amazing BAs.

 

I use it for two things. The ton of info that is here or readily available from very knowledgeable people. And speaking of the people here that is reason 2.

 

Started using it to log my beers, realized the forums are awesome for learning/humor. I almost never log on seeking to learn about anything in particular, yet I can't attribute 90% of my beer knowledge to anything but random tidbits gathered from this website.

 

Ticking beers.
Occasionally talking about beers.
Finding out whether a beer is worth trying.

 

Best information about the beer. The forums are cool but could be better like Disqus commenting.

 

I love seeing clueless beer shops using their shelf talkers ... nearly every good beer is in the high 90's or a 100 yet when you compare the beer to here it probably scores a little bit higher when you look at the beer review average. Very deceiving way to market your ratings ... people have been catching on though.

Aside from that, big respect for what they have done over the years.

 

Love forums in general...so much information to be had plus being around people with similar interests...none of my friends are into craft beer so it's nice to vent here rather than drunken babbling to the wife about the complexities of a beer she can give zero fucks about.

 

BA is the best of the bunch, so naturally we use it.

 

BA has the best ratings and reviews and the best beer forums. I started on BA so I don't want to switch simply because I have over 1,500 beers rated in the database and don't want to check multiple sites/apps to see which beers I've had before or not.

The only negative I have with BA is the much lower traffic compared to Untapped. With most all of my local breweries I frequent, I seem to be the person whom is always doing the data entry tasks to enter new beers on the BA website. Untapped will usually already has 20+ ticks/reviews of the new beers while BA won't even have the beer recognized yet. Wish I didn't have to do so much volunteer work. Usually I just make notes while at the brewery and enter beer data later while I'm home on the computer at a later time. Still frustrating that I'm the primary person in my area keeping breweries on the radar on our BA website.