The score doesn't match the details.

What about Weihenstephaner Alcohol Free Weizen?

 

More a NA beer than a wheat beer? Doubt it, but https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/12600/?ba=beer_beer#review

Number 14 Low Alc https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/top-styles/5/ among the IPAs and stouts!

 

People will learn, I know I still am. I am happy with everyone who bothers to write a review, I enjoy reading them! Do I think a gentle reminder that reviews are supposed to be style is a good idea? Sure, doesn't hurt, but most of all I think it would be good to remember reviewing beer is supposed to be fun!

 

It's probably the best NA beer I've ever had.

 

According to the score I have had better, but maybe just having a bad day?

 

A lot. That's why I don't go by the score. I go by the description of the experience. I also look at Beers of the BA in question, for beers that I have had, especially those of the same style, as a means to calibrate the review & the #s.

 

Everyone's review is subjective and even more so the numerical rating. Personally, I always give a beer a 3.75, which is my baseline and average. Anything positive or negative influences it from there. I figure 3.75/5 is a 77.5% which is pretty average. Greater than a 4 is excellent. Less than 3.5 is poor. Just my rating but that's how I do it.

 

I can see where there's sometimes a disconnect between ratings and commentary. I'm sure I've been guilty of it, too. If a beer is stylistically correct but the user didn't enjoy it, of if it's wildly off-style and someone still liked it there can be a difference between the two.

 

Hey, a 2.5 / 5 is a 5 / 10, and god knows I’ve experienced plenty of those..

 

So true. BA has always encouraged ratings and reviews to be given 'with style in mind.' Hardly anyone follows that method anymore.

 

When you get a beer that fits the NA category (or Low Alcohol) and it happens to taste pretty good, that's a quandary deciding which category to place it. But NA should take precedence since that might be the search term used by someone who has to drink alcohol free for personal reasons such as medical, diet, etc.

 

I agree. An actual case in point that you might also have experienced is the Doc's ESB at Big Buck in Gaylord. Obviously the brewer thought it was an ESB but I always thought it more correctly should have been Doc's Red Ale. It was a sweet malty beer that I thought was just too obvious, but who am I to disagree with the brewer?

(I see that beer is still on the beer menu with the new ownership. I'll have to revisit the brewery someday to try it again.)

 

I totally agree with this. I am on restricted alcohol a couple days a week and when I searched for beverage alternatives I went to the NA style ratings. I did not go to IPAs and hope that I could find some NA versions among the endless list of IPAs. When I rate NA beers I definitely take into consideration the NA limitations and judge how well that NA beer approximates an alcohol beer of the same style.

 

Ok, do what you will. But it really is better from the can. I’ve drunk at least 100 Headys, and can confirm.

 

Lol, thanks for bringing up Big Buck. Usually if I stop in Gaylord it's for gas or supplies at Meijer on the way to Grayling. Some day I'll have to stop, I've wanted to follow the elk herd there for years

 

Agree. I have added all my NA beers in the Low Alcohol "style", it has precedence. I may start trying to add in the review-section what, in this case, "substyle" it represents: lager, pilsner, amber, helle, bock, tripel, and the big guys stout, wheat and IPA, etc. Maybe some day recommending that added to the Notes, if being sure enough...

 

The beer rating scale does not go below 1, so the midpoint is 3.

A 2.5 on a 1-5 scale is a 3.75 on a 0-10 scale.

But, in reality it is worse than that, since many (most?) people here seem to set the midpoint of ratings at 3.5 or higher (myself included).

And, 3.75 is more like 68% along the 1 to 5 scale.

Applying an academic grading system to the 1 to 5 scale,

Above 4.6 is an A, (90%+)
4.2-4.6 is a B, (80-90%)
3.8-4.2 is a C, (70-80%)
3.4-3.8 is a D, (60-70%)
Below 3.4 is an F. (<60%)

So, there are many ways an individual rating a beer can interpret and apply the scale.

(Caution: I was drinking while I did that math!!!)

 

I knew better, but for a moment I thought the title of this thread referred to some sort of beer-related heist. Call it Ocean’s IPA.

 

I'm a 4 on average guy, which is pretty high when you look at the NA ratings, where 3 is a "compliment". But what can you do, for me 3.6-3.7 is starting to look I'm not honoring the mostly well made and good tasting beers. 3 pretty much means "don't buy again", and they are utterly few.

 

I've been drinking microbrews/craft beer for over 20 years and I still don't know where to draw the line between "World-Class" and "Outstanding," much less what would distinguish a 4.25 from a 4.5. That's partly why I've rated so few beers. I enjoy writing the reviews in various threads (virtual tastings, various regional threads, etc.) but I don't feel I'm qualified to assign a numeric rating.

Yep. I bet there's a pretty decent correlation between rating and intensity of flavor. I've had experiences where I can perceive a subtle but clear difference in how I would rank two beers, while my friends (also big into craft beer) will say "Eh, they both taste like a standard/generic beer."

I would love the ability to do this. Frankly, I find the reviews, on average, to be way more informative than the ratings. Especially considering how so many people have their own definitions of what a "3.25" means. Is it an F or don't buy again or poor? FWIW, Todd's guide puts it in the middle of the "okay" range. So even when people are trying to rate to style, there's a lack of consistency in what the scores mean. It's a 17-point scale, which is ridiculous unless you're a trained judge. All it does is provide an illusion of precision, but I bet what people are probably doing is far more simple (e.g. poor - average - good - very good - great).

Getting back to the suggestion, as it currently stands, I have various notes strewn all over the site and in notebooks or Google docs. It'd be awesome to have those on BA without the need to score those beers.