How complex can your reviews be?

I capture tasting notes as a future reference for myself. Detail is good but it is very hard to do justice to the complexity of a good beer. If I like a beer I find I can fairly adequately describe its good points but the notes are certainly not sufficient to say which of two beers I liked would be liked more in a side by side comparison.

If you view reviewing as a gift to your future self then you see adding fluff to the reviews as counter productive.

Ultimately, I think the real value of the review as an exercise is to force you to focus on the beer and try to understand it fully which develops the palate and improves your appreciation of beer in general

 

If you’ve even been in a house with a male cat that wasn’t fixed you'd associate that horrible stench to some beers that use all Simcoe or Mosaic hops. Not all, but there’s the rare one where than smell translates to taste and I’m certainly not a super taster, nor have I even drank cat piss, Lol.

 

I call "Bullshit!" on reviews with 15 different aromas and the same (or greater) number of flavors. Sure, "supertasters", like UFOs, may exist but I've never met one. On my own reviews, I try to keep it simple - malt, hops, other stuff (i.e. like the Reinheistgebot). I routinely eat grapefruit (in season), pineapple (fresh or canned, in fact Mrs. Lizard brought a fresh one home yesterday), guava (packaged), and will pick up an occasional starfruit when I'm forced to go shopping. Other citrus fruits (lemons, limes) I know primarily through their juices. Berries in general I don't eat other than blue-, cran-, and straw- so I can't really add their flavors to reviews. So for those who actually use reviews to find future beers, I'd suggest finding someone whose reviews agree with your general tastes and take the rest with a grain of salt.

 

I simply enjoy beer for its overall taste, so I don't focus on the ingredients as part of my experience, other than maybe the flavoring adjuncts. I only rate a modest number of beers but rarely write anything towards being a full review. However, when I do write something it tends to be commentary of some taste, aroma, or mouthfeel that stands out, good or bad.

A 3.75 score is where my brain starts at rating a beer across the board (I buy beers that I think are better than the 'average' 3.0 beer), and if I rate one of the five rating factors at a score that is well off the 3.75 score, that's when I make a comment. That means that I've given anyone who reads reviews as part of their decision process for buying that beer a plus or minus reason to buy it or not. Not complex, mostly a simple process.

 

Yes, but Hamlet wasn't just witty, it was a lasting and profound statement on the human condition. Tom Stoppard thought enough of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to resurrect them in the 20th Century.

 

You're not much for irony, huh?

Of course it is a great piece of literature... it's just not brief! And, I found that quote from his longest play to be humorous in and of itself, that's all.

 

This is what I get from reviewing too. I almost never look back at my reviews to make future purchasing choices. But the act of committing to attempt to accurately describe a beers attributes in some level of detail makes for a richer experience of beer overall

 

It was both wit and witty. I know these definitions change over time, but he pretty much nailed it for all time. Cheers to you........"Winston, you're drunk". "Yes Lady Astor but you'll still be ugly in the morning".

 

My point of re buying a beer is about a 4, there’s too many beers to drink beers that imo are just meh. I rarely use ratings whether to buy or not, most good ipas starts at 96/97, if it’s 90 I’d guess it was mediocre as the scores here go. For Pils and such I’d say 85 would be a starting point based a bit on the it’s not an ipa bias.

 

Overlong is a condition of quality more than quantity when it comes to literature/word arts. There is little content in Shakespeare that is overdone, except perhaps his over-reliance on a high basic intelligence of the reader/audience for whom his plays were written. Not sure how this relates to reviews, or if it does, but it is my considered opinion of Shakespeare and literature.

 

Imagining The Globe Theatre is a fun exercise. It must have been raucous, colorful, and a play all by itself. Learning how to express oneself from a careful reading of literature helps in the writing of beer reviews, then, now, and tomorrow..

 

FWIW, you’re one of my favorite reviewers on BA. The main reason I don’t review more often, and never, really, in the database, is that I write critically all day long in other contexts and I generally don’t want to bring that into my beer experience. But reviews like yours can absolutely teach others how to appreciate beer more, and learn to identify flavors more readily. As an aside, mango and papaya really aren’t that exotic; I don’t understand when people pick on these as being snobby to identify. At any rate, keep on doing what you’re doing, some of us really appreciate it.

 

Irony never rests far from my limited understanding. Every literary device ever described was likely common practice for WS.

 

Or invented by him.

 

I appreciate the kind words. Thanks!

 

I agree with many of the other posts that our palates are limited and many people are blowing smoke. Maybe there are some "Supertasters" out there, but I haven't heard of anything proven. If they truly exist, they should assume total control our our restaurants and breweries.

After reviewing many beers, I am still humbled by the fact that I cannot pick out specific flavors in a beer and still describe them as "vague citrus" or "tropical fruit". Although some beers do have distinct tastes fit quite in line with a certain flavor.

Overall, I'm on the side of the fence that less is more in a beer review. Give about 3-5 primary flavors if they exist. Maybe some more supporting ones. When I see more than that, I often suspect folks are grabbing tropical fruits out of thin air.

 

I wonder what flavors and aromas are used in the reviews on "Fruit Advocate".