Should we split up the Top 250 Rated Beers?

I’m wondering if some of the people replying to this thread have ever even looked at the top beer lists on BA. One-offs get retired and aren't eligible for the lists, and top lists by style already exist

 

It's definitely not regularly available in MA.

During the pandemic they made infrequent drops, but those have stopped.

I actually don't think it's regularly available anywhere in New England other than VT.

 

I also voted no. Same reasons as have been listed in the pages before

 

Yes, some people have. A long time ago. These people didn't find the list useful, as many of the beers were inaccessible to them.

Also, someone didn't fully read the OP, as Todd mentioned that one offs would be removed from the list.

Further, just because "yes" is currently in the lead is not justification for dumping you butt hurt passive-aggresive comments on some people...

 

It seemed to me that we got our drops twice a year in-between ski season and tourist season, I bet this becomes more common and widespread.

 

Inaccessible doesn't mean not regularly produced.

You clearly still haven't actually read the thread, or even checked the Top 250 or understood its logic, as it does not consist of one-offs.

 

When SNPA doesn't even crack the top 250, the list is garbage.

 

The Top Rated Beers should be just that, adding any kind of stipulations would be just adding an asterisk and defeat the purpose of having a top rated list to begin with

 

Guess the Beers of Fame list is trash too then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Popular =/= best. Beer by style doesn't even have it. Zombie Dust apologizes for eating its brains.

 

What is this purpose, and how will it be defeated?

 

The answer to those questions should be obvious, if not then it would be pointless for me to try to explain it to you

 

The problem with separating year-round and seasonal and one-off beers is that they often switch availability categories depending on the brewer. Have you thought about something like:

Top 250 All Time (current list)
Top 250 Brewed within the Past 2 Years (or 3 or 5 or whatever)

That would preserve the current list, and the second list would allow for beers that most likely have more current availability. This list would include seasonals, year-round, as even one-offs that have been recently released.

 

Really? To me the answer is that all the reviews, ratings, and derivatives like best of lists are to be used by us as consumer buying guides. Is that the obvious answer that would be pointless to explain? If not, perhaps you could overlook your intuition of pointlessness and let us know what other purpose you believe there is, and how change will affect it. TIA.

 

You mean the non Stout-IPA division? Are we sure the top 4 beers in the world are stouts? It seems like the Belgian and German brewers are getting the short end of the stick, but the whalz get ALL the love, seemingly. It's a good reference but by no means is it the absolute authority for me.

 

Not necessarily. Even in my beer desert I've seen 3 of the top 5.

A “Best of” list can be a useful wish list, but doesn't really fulfill the purpose of a buying guide.
To expand on my above reply. I've seen 3 of the top 5, but only 11 of the top 50 and just 17 of the remaining 200 beers.
A Top 250 Rated Beers list is nice (like looking through a Nieman-Marcus catalog), but a Top 250 Production Beers list is more useful (like the old Sear's catalog) and doesn't, in any way, detract from the wish list.

I don't think anyone ever claimed those were the best beers in the world, just the best beers rated by BA members.
BA has numerous European members but is still US centric and, unfortunately, most of those great German & Belgian beers never make it to our shores or are stale & mishandled by the time they hit US shelves. This naturally puts European and Asian beers at a disadvantage.

 

The only possible way to achieve what you're looking for is a more subjective ruling by something like a panel of beer judges and historians.

And if you're looking for historically great or technically flawless beers worldwide, actively produced or otherwise, you can find lists upon lists elsewhere online, or even here on BA. But not via the aggregated ratings and reviews of the users herein.

 

Yes - the list should be catagorized. I live just up I-75 from Cigar City Brewing, which has 5 of 250 on the current list. “Hunahpu’s Day” brings their big bad Stouts & variants, but there is no distribution.
So if you have a trade partner - you get Hunahpu’s. Or you travel to the brewery.
I have a low opinion of Sour beers. So why would I chase down a Sour just to cross it off the 250 list? I’ll never be part of the Exclusive Few who suffer through a beer cuz it’s on a list to say they’ve accomplished it. (If you have.,. congrats & respect.)
So let’s do 50 Stouts.
50 Lagers. 50 Belgians. 50 Barleywines. Etc.

 

@Todd many posts like this in this thread. Maybe all the people complaining to you about changing the top 250 simply just don’t know know how to access all the current lists that are currently offered on this site. People seem to be requesting change for lists you already have in place