Are there any beers that you think deserve more love based off style, and style only? This is not an attempt to bash any individual reviews or users. Let me be clear. I just want to hear some thoughts on a beer or beers you think are criminally underrated. And I'll start it off: Malt Liquor, in general. If we're strictly reviewing to style, they can't all be trash, right? Maybe it's just that bad, idk. For me, Olde E is a staple. It does the job, and so much more. What say you? Cheers!
LOL! Pray tell, what job is it that you feel Olde E accomplishes? When I first started drinking beer, many, many years ago, Country Club and Colt 45 were two of my favorites. Colt 45 would wear me out pretty quickly, but I could really put away the CC. Really liked their TV commercials as well.
I'm just trying to spark conversation. For instance, malt liquor isn't everyone's favorite (to say the least), but if we're going true to style, a lot of beers on the site could potentially be rated higher.
Pretty much all the lagers that aren't associated with Germany or Czechia I'm always surprised when I pick up something from an eastern European market that's a great beer to go with whatever sausages or smoked fish I also bought and find that my 3.75 rating is +20%
OK. I'll make the counter argument I always make when someone raises this issue. Let's say you buy a beer, and to your palate it tastes dreadful. The flavor profile is reminiscent of dead squirrel, turpentine, and fresh moose turds. It's the most vile, awful thing you've ever tasted, and you plan to rate/review it accordingly. But wait! You look at the style characteristics and parameters, and they include an earthy, acidic, dank quality, with a fertilizer like finish. Turns out the flavor profile matches the style parameters almost exactly. What score would give this beer? All 1's because it smells and tastes horrible? Or all 5's, because despite your misgivings, the flavor profile is true to style?
I think it's a delicate balance, and I'm not opposed to your suggestion. If a beer tastes like absolute caca, it should be rated accordingly.
Personally, I'm not a fan of most south Asian cuisine. For me to go into an Indian restaurant and leave a poor review on Yelp or Google+ or whatever is a disservice to them and also shows my ignorance.
Oh great! Now I've got that old, Billy Dee Williams commercial stuck in my brain for the next day or two! "Works EVERY time!"
I like to think that I've always reviewed 'to style'. I've given bland marks to good beers that don't quite hit the mark or jump the shark in regards to my interpretation of said style. Speaking of malt liquor, I've had a few that have knocked my socks off; drops that have more drinkability or dynamic flavor compared to a slew of other brands cross-style. Schlitz High Gravity, for one, seems criminally undervalued for how good it is. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/447/42303/
Hence my generally universally low scores for AALs. I consider a lack of flavor to be in itself a flaw, even though that seems to be part of the "charm" when it comes to bmc products. In some cases the problem goes much deeper than that (Natural light comes to mind), but take a beer like Bud Select 55. Arguably, the beer has no obvious flaws. It also doesn't seem to have any noticeable flavor (I'm not even sure I would guess I was drinking beer if I were to try it blind). There's no way I could give a beer like that a high review score.
If I hated every AAL I've ever tried, your analogy might be valid. Also, part of the reason I rate AALs poorly is because they have so little flavor, not because they taste awful. I would also point out that I don't hate all light lagers. I'm a huge fan of pils and helles lagers. A better example are lambics and wild ales. I can't handle the pervasive sour flavor that's found in so many of them. Yet they fascinate me because they have so much flavor, are so complex, and are so beloved by so many consumers. There are many I've tried that I've given high scores to, even though they weren't enjoyable. Yet they had everything I look for in a great beer... beautiful appearance; a rich, complex nose; and flavor for days. In those cases I say to hell with my scruples and personal preferences and rate to style.
I’ve been back and forth on this; there is certainly a time when I rated strictly to style. But then I figured out that that @Todd probably wanted what *we* think of the beer. That said, I I take the the style guidelines into consideration when I rate most of my beers, and so far it’s worked out.
Here's the thing though, there are Malt Liquors that are actually good, and the mainstream ones aren't them. Any style can be done well or poorly. Here's the style guideline for the style: Straw to pale amber in color, most Malt Liquors are made with excessive amounts of adjuncts, such as corn, rice, and refined brewing sugar (dextrose). As a result, there are very few "all malt" malt liquors. Hops are used sparingly, just enough bitterness to balance off any cloyingness. Higher alcohol versions tend to have loads of fusel alcohol, which gives off solvent or fuel-like aromas and flavors. They are highly attenuated, meaning a higher ratio of fermentable sugars are present compared to some other beers, allowing the brewer to achieve a high alcohol content without using as many ingredients. Some breweries enable the use of special enzymes to further break down the malt and adjuncts so they will yield a higher percentage of alcohol. This makes for quite a dry beer, with only a small amount of unfermented sugars and a strong kick from the higher ABV. How does OE fit those parameters?
In the case of sours, I ultimately give some of them high scores because they have so much flavor, complexity, etc. Even if I don't care for a lot of them, because the sour flavor is so pervasive, under the BA scoring system I think many deserve high review scores. I give most AALs low scores because there is so little flavor and almost no aroma. They have a thin mouthfeel; simple, one note flavors; and almost no finish. Many look more like a urine sample after sitting in the glass for a minute. There's typically no lacing or head retention to speak of. Yet I'm supposed to give a beer Iike that a high score simply because the style chatacteristics allow for all that? You can. I won't. If you read my initial response to the OP, then you know where I'm coming from. Telling me a crappy tasting beer is deserving of a high review score because it's supposed to taste like a crappy beer is no justification for a high review score. I'll still give a beer I don't care for a high score if it has all the characteristics I expect in a great beer (great appearance, good head retention and lacing, considerable flavor complexity, etc.). Most AALs don't provide any of that. I score them accordingly.
Well I went and looked at my biggest "over rating" on beers to see if there was a trend, and they were from styles across the spectrum. So I don't know if I think any style lacks the respect it deserves
