Referencing BA while buying beer

A lot of the best beers I have had were recommended by store employees; and bonus, by chatting to them I often get the inside line on a release or something Whaley out the back...

That said, I have noticed there is a certain breed of beer geek that is antisocial to begin with, and I am a chatty Cathy, so I am probably not the best one to ask. I'll talk your damn ears off!

 

The first thing I do is ask the folks working there if there is anything new and exciting. That's where I tend to get most of the hard to find or hidden beers. That usually starts a decent conversation of good beers.

That said, I lose interest quick if they recommend a beer I know is weak. Sometimes people who work at shops recommend beers to clear inventory, which is frustrating. So I find a combination or research (BA, untapp'd, etc) mixed with casual beer convo goes a long way.

 

The places I shop they ask me the questions.

 

Staff isn't always knowledgeable. Sometimes quick internet research is better.

 

Naw, I'd just ask at that point. The rating's a decent system to follow, but I feel everyone's different. A couple of 89+ rated beers I've tasted were horrible, so its not set in stone.

I'd guess they're reluctant to ask, since you do work at the store, and its your job is to sell the products, and maybe they feel there's some bias involved (sell more expensive beers, clearing inventory as the poster above said, etc).

 

Not me! I hit BA after I get home with my new beer that I just bought for the very first time. THEN.....after I get home.......I hit BA to find out "WTF did I just buy"? But by then, it's too late.....maybe I'm doing it wrong

 

I shop many places where the person behind the counter isn't into craft beer, so those times I'll happily use my phone for research.

 

I will pull out my phone to see if I've had a particular beer or not. Not to scan beers I've never heard of or had that are sitting on the shelf to see what their rating is. If I'm buying on rating alone I'm going into the store aware of the rating of that particular beer and seeking out that particular beer.

On the flip side, OP, I ONCE had a salesman quote BA to me, citing how good the beer was and that it only had X number of ratings (a relatively low number) on beer advocate. I realize this is beside your point about anti-social behavior, but figured it was relevant to general topic at hand.

 

Luckily, my local beer store is staffed with serious beer geeks. I'll walk in and they automatically pour me a sample off their taps knowing what I like. They're honest with me about freshness and have never steered me wrong. When I get a few whalez I happily share some with them, and vice versa. It's a rare store for sure. But if I was at a different place, I might check my phone. At unfamiliar stores, I've been disappointed too many times by some employees' lack of knowledge.

PS: Also at my local store, they post the BA ratings on the shelf, so there's that.

 

Being experienced in the beer world I find it mostly unnecessary asking for recommendations when I usually know what I want. If I do ask it's usually regarding new beers coming in or those that recently arrived. The price of beer here in Aus is ludicrous at times so I lose much more from a bottle I don't fancy; some quick research gives me a better starting point than a single staff member's opinion.

 

Well you might want to look up any beer to get an Idea if it your sort of thing.

I REALLY should have looked up Super Brew 15 before I bought it.

 

But is that person's view not subjective? I think that relying on a consensus of opinions (i.e. a large sample size) gives you MUCH more reliable information than than one person's opinion (i.e. an extremely small sample size). It has also been my experience that I often seem to know more about beer than the guy in the bottle shops I frequent (even though I imagine my beer knowledge is likely close to the mean knowledge possessed by BA's and is nowhere near top tier knowledge).

 

Perhaps they're just reading tasting notes rather than rating numbers. Some folks like to do their own research.

 

I do both. I like to look at BA reviews when considering purchasing a new beer. When I'm at one of my go-to bottle shops, where I know the employees pretty well, I also like to ask questions and seek out their advice. I also strike up conversations with other shoppers (hopefully not in an obnoxious way). To me, one of the pleasures of beer shopping is talking beer. But I also value all of your opinions.

 

I occasionally work at a liquor store part time. Partially for some extra spending money, but mostly because it gets me access to some amazing beers that i wouldn't be able to get otherwise (weather that means having them set some aside for me when we get a new beer in or just rummaging through the back room where everything gets lost). I often see people using their phones as a guide for beer as well, but i see this as a good thing. They are using the resources available to them. However, if people are too reliant on them, ill jump in and ask them a few questions. What are they looking for? What do they like? What good or bad experiences have they had in the past? This way, the conversation becomes a two way street rather than just waiting around waiting for them to ask a question or not. It also opens them up to recommend new things to me, so that i may try them later.

 

I much prefer getting a recommendation from a person in the store. However, I've had enough experiences where the person in the store didn't know what they were talking about, I now listen for evidence of knowledge. If they give me recommendations that I ignore, I feel like a jerk. Admittedly, asking can make you feel a bit trapped.

I agree that Beer Advocate doesn't perfectly anticipate my preferences. However, I can think of very few beers with a BA score under 85 that I liked. If I'm spending money on a six pack, I'm not going to take the risk. I've had several 95+ beers that I really didn't like. For example, I just don't like many of Stone's portfolio (exception being Bastard and Double Bastard), but BA scores their beers very highly.

 

Cliff notes?

 

I really only check if it's an expensive beer. If I'm buying a $10 six pack of a style I like I'm usually ok with what I got.

 

What someone said, staff isn't always knowledgeable.
I do ask occasionally, or sometimes staff come by and just recommend something which is cool.
I usually use BA to search expensive beers I haven't heard of. I want to know it at least has a decent rating before I plop down 8+ dollars on it. I find it helps weed out some regretful purchases later. Beer has gotten so expensive, these tools help make smarter purchases. Of course sometimes you gotta go out on a limb and just try it.