Beer Ratings and Availability

What's really needed is for people to realize that crowdsourced reviews are practically useless for telling the great beers from the good ones.

 

Scissors

 

An entirely separate rating for availability that was adjustable for each state, region or distribution footprint that also does not affect overall beer score might do the trick. It would also very time consuming and challenging to create.

I think it's an interesting idea, but it would be better suited to a website like seekabrew.com than BA.

 

And what then is the alternative set of procedures or criteria by which one can tell the great from the good?

 

I don't think you'd be meausuring what you think you would be measuring with such a chart. There are websites where you can readily find out into which states a beer is distributed. I think you're just more likely to find out which states have the largest number BAs. Besides. Massachusetts is clearly a blue state. Many of our cheerier residents would take significant offense to the very existance of a map that colored us red.

 

Just ask him. He'll tell you which ones are good and which ones are great.

 

Haha. Hmm maybe you could use yellow then. Is there any significance to yellow?

I know there are other ways to see where beers are distributed, I often get excited reading reviews about a beer from a brewery I'm not familiar with (most of them, i'm still new), only to track down the brewery and find out its only distributed to the west coast. I don't think it would be very difficult to correct the chart for BA population in the state. There is still the obvious problem that people don't review (or "had") something unless it's "special" as described above in the pliny versus snpa discussion. I think in all it could be valuable information provided separately from the rating.

 

It's a free website. Take it for what its worth or a grain of salt.