Beer ratings. Are you biased?

I try not to be, but I probably am.

 

Nope! I'm actually a little bit harder on the rarer beers.

 

If I don't know what the average review is for a beer I'm grading, I try to review it before looking it up on BA.

As for popular brews, I try not to be biased, but probably am to some extent.

 

No. I just drank a pretty rare russian river beer in a style I have never tried. I didn't like it. I guess I don't like sour wild ales. It is fairly rare, and has a high rating of 97. I won't even review it, because I didn't like it.

Despite rarity and high ratings I would have rated it very low

 

It's hard not to be biased when you want to look for good beer to try. I don't want to waste my money on bad beer, so I look at the ratings for the good stuff. So naturally, since I know it's good beer, I feel like it should get a good rating. Kinda sucks. But, I still try to be as honest as I can be despite it being a rare or seasonal release. I think I still do well with rating all beers the same despite their rarity and whatnot.

 

I am sure I am to a degree.

 

The varying taste in beers is what keeps it interesting.

 

Everyone is biased based on how hard it was to acquire said beer.

 

It depends. I rated Pliny high. I rated Stone Arrogant Bastard really low. My rDev is usually green though.

 

I really just try and go into a beer with an open mind. I've been severely let down by rarer beers and absolutely loved others. The ratings don't influence me much at all. Most of my scores have a negative rDev, so I think that most ratings are too high. There are some serious gems out there though, and I think they're all hard to come by. I can't go pick up any of my favorite beers at a bottle shop. It really sucks.

 

I tried Pastrami on Rye, by Pipeworks, and found it to be awful, basically a drainpour. Actually ruined my palate for drinking the rest of the evening. Finding it to be an herb beer (which I do not like) I could not give it a fair ranking. I would like to embody an Abraham Lincoln qoute, 'For those who like herb beers, this may be an herb beer you would like'.

 

Personally, I don't give a flyin' fuck about ratings. You drink yers and I'll drink mine.

 

I think everyone has some form of bias, whether its homerism or a rare tick or a favorite (or least favorite) style. I think my bias comes through when a local brew or rare brew that I am reviewing is decent, I over exaggerate how decent it is. I try to go back and re review or adjust scores on a second tasting when I'm a little more objective. Lets just say my first review of dark lord got a little more love than how I actually felt about the beer.

 

Yup.

Dope

 

I don't think so - I'm not trying to influence anyone else, I'm just trying to remember all the beers I drank.

 

My bias is based on personal taste. There are some styles of beers that I don't like, so I rate them lower, even though they may be perfect for the style. And vice verse for styles I like. That's why I stopped reviewing beers. Rarity (perceived or actual) and other peoples opinions don't have any bearing on whether I like something or not.

 

No way man some of my best friends are dark beers.

 

Absolutely not. I review it and stay true to how it is. If it's rare but bad, it gets a low score (see La Trappe Amber). If anything, I'm more skeptical of highly rated beers.

 

Hell yeah I'm biased! But only towards good beers.... :-D