Scoring: What do the numbers mean to you?

I feel like I rate the high end on the low side, and the low end on the high side. Like @zotzot I don't rate many beers above 4.25. I don't feel that my palate is all the discerning, and am not sure if it's a blessing or a curse that I find most beers enjoyably drinkable.

 

Yes... many beers that I rate as 4s are rated much higher by others...

 

EZ for me is, “on a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a…”
The breakdown in rating takes some thinking in order to substantiate that and come up with the number my brain went straight to.

That being said, I’ve only given one 5 in over 1000 ratings, and it may have been symbolic more than anything. I don’t give out 5s, because that means my search has ended, I found my ‘deserted island forever’ beer, and I will stop doing this.

 

I agree, and I think it mostly a reflection of the overall quality of the beers being brewed nowadays. I typically have a sampler flight when I visit new-to-me breweries and it's been a long time since I couldn't finish those beers because of marginal quality.

 

This is the big confound in this site and really any rating scheme.

My go to example is always brown ale. On this site, the top rated beer in the style is barrel aged with coffee and relatively high alcohol.

Obviously it's a beer that a lot of people enjoy. But is it really the best brown ale? Is it even a "brown ale" in a meaningful sense? I know that if I think "a brown ale sounds good right now", I'm not thinking of something with flavors of whiskey and coffee.

Same with your example. The citrussy hop bomb of a lager might be a delicious beer. But is it a "German style pilsner"? If so, what does "German style Pilsner" actually mean?

 

If it doesn't taste like a German Pils (citrus hop-bomb), how can it be "one of the best German Pils I've ever tasted?"

 

I reserve 5s in any category for beers that really wow -- most often to-style. Overall is just that, an overall assessment of the beer I'm reviewing. If it's already lost me in the flavor and aroma column, it's not going to get a 5.

But yes, if it's tasty, without brewing faults to distract, I usually add to the Overall column, just not "perfect" points.

 

When I first started on BA, I posted a thread asking “What do you rate an average IPA” — meaning something middle of the road. Half of the IPAs you’ve had are better, half were worse. Mods deleted the thread and said the correct answer was 3.0. Even then I knew nobody rated beers a 3 unless they hated them.

 

I think this wise member summed it up below

 

Me too, and I don't rate them well against the ones that are labeled more truthfully.

That reflects what I said about recognizing a well-made beer, but if a brewery is telling me I've bought their BA Stout and it tastes like an IPA (as an example ), I'm sure not giving the beer any perfect scores.