A message from Sam (Dogfish Head) on current RateBeer changes

Like many of you, what I think of when I think of journalism is hard-nosed reporters investigating stories and then hitting the typewriter. But criticism has been an accepted part of journalism since long before the internet, and according to the American Press Institute:

"Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities."

RB is definitely "gathering and presenting information" so, whether or not you feel Sam's position is a little extreme, the claim of journalism seems to fit the industry definition. Now, it's not like news sources in this country aren't owned by companies with conflicts of interest who present bias, at best, so I can see why people might be concerned.

 

This either has to be the the most clever and unique marketing ploy to re-establish your brand using environmental conditions or this is a genuine and honest viewpoint of the subject on hand and a worthy request on behalf of Dogfish.

 

Craft beer in general has been marketed brilliantly for many years. The movie Beer Wars itself was a clever and successful advertising campaign that greatly influenced us into forming an alliance of fine beer lovers who were also "sticking it to the man" just by choosing craft beer instead of corporate beer.

 

The latter.

 

The main issue here is they could probably now have the capability to mine as much data possible of what drinkers are drinking, what styles they should make to compete and what breweries they should target next. This vast amount of beer data from consumers are the most valuable asset of sites like Ratebeer and Beeradvocate. I don't know the terms of the deal but I agree with Sam on this. We still have BA anyways.

 

Hey, it's business they can do whatever they want, it takes willing parties to make a deal. But if yiur upset about ABIs aggressive marketing , or the dreaded fear they'll take over taps in bars by leveraging pricess then you have to be concerned about this as well. I'm not, it's a business, you still deceide what you purchase.

 

How is a website that collects consumer sentiment about beer considered journalism????

 

See post #21

 

They also write articles and give out awards that aren't exclusively based on user reviews.

 

I agree completely. I think "journalism" is a stretch, but Sam's point still stands.

 

I guess these are now top journalism web sites:
Yelp
Google Plus
Angie's List
TripAdvisor
Yahoo Local
Epinions
Amazon

 

You know..I kinda wrote dfh off during the mass exodus to 4-packs years ago. But I think I'll give your beers another looksie. Rigging the scores (potentially) ain't cool.

 

Sam (and dogfish) have always been one of the main voices in craft brewing and I've always respected their opinion on Beer politics. Say what you will about Dogfish, but they have been one of the best advocates for craft beer out there, and obviously are not shy in voicing their opinions. Good on you Sam!

 

So Alstrom Bro's: when are you selling a stake in BA? haha wouldn't happen

 

I think I'll just delete the ratebeer app now, and delete my account.

 

Perhaps you can move your discussion to JournalismDetector.com where the value would be in what is journalism, rather than the ramifications of Dogfish Head beer and other breweries being removed from RateBeer, as it is here. Just a suggestion.

 

Bravo Sam.

 

Anyone hear from Stone or SN? Curious if they will follow with pulling out.

 

I thought it was interesting Sam mentioned the October as well and I'm guessing Dogfish Head will never be featured on that site. I always noticed the AB InBev disclosure at the bottom of the articles but I haven't noticed any outright biased articles (yet).

 

Yeah..."gathering and presenting information" may be a necessary condition for something to be journalism, but it's not sufficient.

Of course, it's a bit of a Catch-22 for DFH et al. If it's journalism, you can't really be asked not to be covered. If it's not journalism, you can't hold them to journalism ethics.