Posting reviews without text to back it up

But it provides context. Which is useful.

 

But it does. It tells us that we can ignore the review and the rating.

 

Eh, FWIW, my approach on UT (which I do not take seriously, it's just casual fun) is to everything a 4. Unless it's really damn great, or really damn terrible. Perhaps you could consider a similar approach here? Pick middle of the road number, give everything that number, unless you realy love or hate it. Shrug.

 

Restringing is not difficult, but there is something about breaking a string that makes this chore a beer-worth endeavor!

 

Ugh. Had this up for a good read along with another tab for beer I'm drinking now, and I seemed to have gotten them crossed... That Bbomb is a powerful stout! Sorry about the off-topic post.

 

I review. My palate may suck, my reviews may suck and you may hate my opinion but I won't just tick numbers without justification. I will put words to emotion on beers I bother to pontificate about. You should too if you can. But if your socialization habits dictate no additional words, then notate for later please. I would like to see your review.

 

Hmm I find this debate interesting. Overall I agree that you contribute as you see fit. I kept phone notes for transfer to Excel for years. This never accomplished the on the fly need for my personal data on how a brewery fared on a particular style when choosing new brews at the bottle shop or returning to the brewery. I get pulled in by good marketing and bottle/can design and may buy a totally awful beer because the label took me in yet again!
So I finally transferred my data to BA. So I could have it at my fingertips. Now that was over a thousand beers, most of which I put down ratings for but not always reviews.

I add notes when I feel that something stands out for good or bad. If a beer is so mediocre and average, I'm not going to take the time to try to define it's mediocrity. Also I agree that we are not all expert tasters and I would rather add notes I have confidence in than to spout artsy sounding BS which only serves to display ignorance.

Last note is that the majority of my ratings are below the average, which you may perceive as bringing down beers with ratings only and no review, but I find that overall contributors on beer sites overrate the beers. They compress the range between okay and outstanding to such a narrow band so as to make the review a rubber stamp of meaninglessness. If everything is a 4 to 4.5 than what is really good? what is really just okay or average?
If you will notice BA classifies the numbers. A beer goes from okay to poor at 3.0. I don't know about you but I do try a lot of beers that are just okay in this current saturated market. I don't shy away from rating that brew for what it is. It is not a 4. And that said very few should make it to 4.7 to 5. There have been BBA stouts that were so much better than what I'd previously had that I overrated them initially. I try to also go back and bring them back into perspective as I try new and better things.

In the end, the greater the sample size, even with wild extremes and personal bias, the more accurately the result will reflect the 'truth' of popular opinion and form a basis for relative comparison. My two cents, with review or not, further that cause!

 

For what it’s worth, I always enjoyed your reviews.

Understandable that after all the beers you’ve had, it probably became a chore.

 

Completely agree. I don't want to write a full review of every single beer, sort of takes the joy out of it. It becomes more a job or obligation added to enjoying the beer. Sometimes I am out with people and I just want to note and rate a beer I'm having in a matter of a couple minutes rather than 7-10.

 

I will freely admit I don't review the overwhelming majority of the time. Self proclaimed ticker and proud of it thank you. I still take careful consideration when it comes to ratings though. I've taken care to establish, mentally for myself, certain rules to adhere to be consistent.I also make a point that if a beer really stands out as really good, or if my rating is quite off from the overall score at the time in case mine was a bad can/bottle or if the recipe improved and was better.

I will also admit I did feel slightly intimidated when I first started with my ability to describe what I was tasting, I just didn't have the vocabulary. It wasn't anything the community did but I just read some other reviews with "mahogany color" or "biscuit and nut flavors" in them and I was just thinking 'WTH is all this fancy stuff I don't talk/think like that.' I've gotten more comfortable over time and experience (as well as reading a couple tasting books/articles) and got over that initial hesitation. Still don't know what plum nutty taste is though.

 

Personally, I spend 40+ hours a week writing for a living, so writing is the last thing I want to do when I'm relaxing with a beer.

 

I rarely rate beers here ( mostly New Beer Sunday), but when I do I try very hard to get to the bottom of it. I love beer and language and find the convergence of drinking and informing quite a lot of fun. No verbiage attached to a rating is meaningless.

 

Beer on your terms--the way it should be!

 

It looks to get in periods for me. Now suddenly rating and especially making own reviews take a step back. Why not following the feeling?

There will be plenty of time to change opinions again.

I may be a bit more beer-wise next time around too

 

It isn't so much time consuming as it's sometimes simply impractical.

I started rating here in 2012. That's a long time for me. My tastes and experiences have changed rather drastically over those 7 years.

At first I was afraid to review, simply because I didn't feel I was "experienced" enough to thoughtfully explain what I was tasting, or smelling. Then I said "F it" and started writing reviews mainly for fun.

Now it's become a genuine hobby, one in which I enjoy. I went from ticking every beer I drank to sitting down and reviewing 90% of them. That leaves the 10% that still go unreviewed, which I go back to your initial comments.

Most beer I drink at home. To me, there's really no excuse to not write at least something down when I'm at home enjoying (or gagging on) a new beer. But the 10% I drink at pubs, breweries, or during beer shares, I just don't realistically see the point in doing it. Some people take notes and then review later. More power to them. Personally, beer is just as much a social experience as it is a personal one, so I think taking notes while I'm at a brewery with a friend is modestly absurd.

And ultimately, I rate and review for myself. Ratings help me see if I liked a beer so I can decide to have it later and give it a proper review.