Obsession with BA ratings

Well I find the styles I really like and look at the BA scores. After having drank over 120 beers I have learned that higher scores really matter. Occasionally I will like a beer much more than its rating or dislike a highly rated beer. It is a useful guide, unless you have been trying beers for many many years.

 

Its true, some of my all time favorites rank under 90. But, if you're new to the game and want to get a handle on styles and what a benchmark for each style should be, then trying 90+ beers is not that bad of an idea. Now if they're a year into trying different beers and still only trying 90+ beers then they are for sure missing out.

 

It all depends on circumstances for me, but I don't see anything wrong with looking at the rating beforehand.

When I am at a festival or plan on trying a lot of different beers in a day, I am open to trying anything and everything. If it's before a party, I'll usually go with a few I know are good and a few that look interesting without regards to ratings.

If it is a normal week for me though, I get to drink about 1-2 bottles per week. While I usually make sure these are bottles I haven't tried before, I pretty often look them up beforehand to increase the odds of finding a beer that blows me away if I'm not sure of the beer. I figure a more informed decision can't hurt, right?

I think using an iPad in public probably played a big role in them coming off as douches. If I had to guess, they probably sounded pretentious too. Seems more like an unpleasant people problem

 

I knew a guy that only bought records that were in the Billboard Top Ten.

 

To play devils advocate it may be that they were shopping with a specific purpose. For example maybe they were in a BIF or trade where one of the requirements was that all beers be rated 90 or above.

 

Ratings on BA are biased on the high end; below a 90 can be pretty damning.

 

Troof.

GREAT avatar btw.

 

The concept of self-discovery and enjoying surprises or disappointments is lost in this world. Everyone wants to to be spoonfed someone else's expert opinion.

 

Troof being spoken unto power. You nailed it, brother.

 

Well said.

 

And that right there is where these scores start to take on more significance than they should. Advertising their beers based on the opinion (educated opinion, but still) of a sole individual pretty much goes against the entire idea point of having crowd-rated beers. Ethically, this should be broached to the brewery from BA.

Anyway, regarding the thread - if I saw those guys, I'd probably snicker. With all the online rating guides anymore, everyone always only wants "the best", and yet they're entirely comfortable basing that rating off the palates of others. Think of the fallacy involved here - we as a 'community' want brewers to experiment, and look down on them if they don't, but then only want beers safely ensconced in the 90th percentile? Somehow, that arithmetic doesn't work.

 

And the Bro's rated Bell's Two Hearted a 78, which I have forever since taken as a warning that me and them have very different palettes.

 

Two things that you BA's have never failed me on:
1) Finding a place to have a beer in a city/town I have never been in.
2) Finding out something about a never-before-seen beer.

The downside of the beer ratings though, especially when appearing on pub boards (which I am seeing also), is people are likely to pass up a lot of drinkable beers. The last thing I want to see is a small upcoming brewery lose sales because people are following numbers only and not giving their beers a chance. I do not like this trend---please pub owners---stop doing this. IMHO.

Another problematic area: Take Mexican beers, Negra Modelo for example. BA's say it's "average". I would agree and proudly state that all Mexican beers suck! HOWEVER in the context of "Mexican" I would tell someone this is an very good offering. Also, since there aren't enough reviews of other Mexican brands to generate scores, who knows how they stand? Me? I just have try one if offered to me.

Cheers

 

There are so many delicious beers with scores around an 88. I look at BA reviews all the time while I'm shopping, but an 88 is a score that would make me actually want to buy the beer, if it sounded like something that would interest me.
When I shop for new beer, it goes like this: I look for something that interests me. If I find something interesting that I don't know anything about, I look it up on BA to make sure it doesn't suck. I'll try anything above an 80, if it isn't too expensive. Sometimes I'll try something in the 70s if it interests me enough. If it's pricey then it depends on how interesting it sounds. If the beer doesn't have many reviews, then I don't care as much about the rating.
So yes, I use BA ratings while shopping. I probably get influenced too much by them, but at least I don't look like a giant tool, like these guys sound.

 

Anyone think maybe they were new to craft beer? nothing wrong with going to the best source out there.

 

In general I'm not a big fan of the numbers game but if you're new to beer geekery and you''ve got zillions of choices then looking at ratings is understandable. You''ve only got so much money & so much time.

 

I read the reviews and tasting notes and try to ignore the rating number, if it sounds like something I'll like, I buy it.

 

One thing I consider is how distinctive a style the beer is. If I'm looking at an IPA and it's a lower rating, that will be pretty reliable; IPAs are very well sorted out these days. But if it's something unusual, maybe a barleywine, or a wee heavy, it might be very idiosyncratic.You might love it, I might hate it. (I appreciate Old Curmudgeon, but I don't like it. But I love Blithering Idiot. I know, different styles, but there is a similar sensibility at work in both brews.)

Another thing to consider: am I buying a glass, a bottle, a six pack, or a case? If I'm buying a case, you damn well better believe I'm checking BA ratings. Nothing like a mixed case of average beer to slog through before getting back to the good stuff. With so much to choose from, and not having an unlimited budget, or amount of time, or amount of awareness (ie, one beer at a time), I do consult the ratings. On the other hand, if I'm in a bottle shop buying singles, I'll pick stuff that catches my fancy, based on anything from label to bottle shape to name to country of origin to an unfamiliar style. And in those cases, I'll ignore the ratings, do my own taste, and then see how my opinion compares to others. (I love Two Hearted Ale as well.) I don't have to agree to find the ratings useful; I just need to know where I am relative to the ratings.