Beeradvocate > Untappd

When it comes to value as a site to get in-depth, honest, and accurate reviews of beer, Untappd is National Enquirer, BA is NY Times. You can get a bit of serious news mixed in with crap at the Enquirer, but when you want the real story told by actual journalists you go to the NY Times

 

One actually has to know quite a bit about beer to interpret the aggregate ratings on either BeerAdvocate or Untappd.

Here, you have the added helper of the longer reviews for many beers from great reviewers that you get to know.

On Untappd, you get way more in the aggregate and I actually think the outliers on the low end and the high end level out a little bit.

Both are plagued by reviewers not really rating to style or the site cataloguing beers in the incorrect style, but Untappd more so.

In the top 10 rated Helles Lagers on Untappd, two have pineapple, one has coffee, one has sushi rice and yuzu juice. Vanilla, coconut, and mosaic lupulin powder also make appearances. And the kicker - none of them have an aggregate score above a 4. The best Helles Lagers in the world are waaaaaaay above a 4 out of 5. I know if I'm looking at a Helles I've never had before on Untappd and it has a healthy number of reviews and at least a 3.6, it's probably pretty good!

Conversely, you may need to adjust your expectations downward while looking at the scores on Untappd for a hyped hazy IPA or pastry stout.

 

I snipped your post a bit so it explains why I NEVER will use UT for ratings info.

 

Yeah, UT as as source for "How good is this beer?" is pretty useless.

 

I've found more often than not that the overall beer ratings for the 2 sites can be remarkably close. Shrugs.

 

Huh, since I don't use the number ratings here either I guess I never noticed that.

I like a good review from someone who has a palate similar to my own, and who gives a good description of what I can expect in the beer. I haven't found anyone like that over at UT yet, but maybe they are there. Here quality reviews done by careful people who know beer are easy to find.

 

Right, but the number doesn't really say much either way. Here you can find more in-depth reviews on most beers. On UT, if you're lucky, you get a 140 character blurb. And most of the time, those who bother writing something seldom go past "Awesomeee!!!" or "Soooo goooood!!". You're just stuck with a number and that's pretty much useless IMO.

 

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Taking only a narrow slice. You only think you don't have the ability to properly describe flavors. What you lack is what I once lacked and that is the vocabulary and what flavors there are you didn't know you were tasting because you never had a name to use for that individual flavor.

It's a rewarding bit of work to begin growing that since it will both increase your vocabularly and your recognition of individual flavors in the mix. How can you expect to recognize lychee in the mix if you've never had a lychee nut all by itself? It will also increase your future enjoyment of beer and help you more easily find what "aint worth buying."

Become a lurker inthe NBS thread each Sunday. What most people there care about is find a new beer for themselves to try while telling the others what they just enjoyed (or not) for the first time and a little bit about why. The reviews range from brilliant and neuanced to workman like and simple but the group doesn't critique your writing. They just want to know if they might want to grab a bottle when they see it without having to spend hours searching or skipping over it on the shelf. So ask for help since that's all they want to do is help and be helped in their enjoyment of our shared hobby. (Also if 3 other flavors are similar to lychee does it really matter much if you mention only one of the three?)

Ask questions, watch and listen. They only care about what you say about your sesory experiences with the beer not how elegantly you write, only what you found to enjoy.

 

This post just convinced me to start checking out the NBS thread. Same issues, I know what I like in certain beers, terrible at describing what it is.

 

Please do! You'll find it one of the few threads where there is very little nastiness in part because what people really want to is optimeze their money and enjoyment of a hobby. So there's a lot of useful information and almost never lots of off topic stuff. (Plus you can sometimes get help in finding something you want to try but can't find!)

Also, IIRC you are a Trout fishing guide and, having done a bit of trout fishing in the west while growing up, I think you'll find some underlying similarities, but with some one else as the guide and you as the learner.

 

the only thing i like about untapped is that they have beers that are newer up faster with reviews. down side is some of the reviews are dumb. but some beer advocate reviews are way to serious "it was 59 degrees in my house, the earth was off axis by a degree, the stout was 2 degrees above what i like. this beers a 3/5"

 

This is a great post. My understanding of wine and beer began long ago, I have always been a writer, a reader, and a traveler. Sensory impressions are informed by experience, but they are also subjective, ephemeral, and can be creative (when put to words). I would suggest that folks tasting beer should not over-think things, but quickly note ideas and notions. There is no way anything really tastes like one thing, and that's why reading others' thoughts about a particular beer is illuminating....

 

Join us on this weekend's New Beer Sunday. Post a beer new to you, and then a handful of notes. If you're open to it, feel free to ask for advice on it.

I have reviews nearly 1,500 beers, and while I'd say I'm a far cry from some of the best here, I have managed to provide some reviews I'm proud of during that time. I spend a lot of time on the How to Review a beer post by Todd. It gives a general list of descriptors, with which I sorta formed a 'check list' to view as I reviewed a beer. When I'd review a single hop beer, I'd 'Google' the hop and then list off the descriptors that I could detect. Over time, I learned that galaxy hops provide loads of tropical fruits and that centennial hops are known for their citrusy, floral qualities, etc. etc..

Point being, and as @drtth pointed out, your palate could review these beers, but your vocabulary may be lacking.

I'd be happy to provide personal assistance to you or any other hopeful reviewer. Feel free to send me reviews and I'll critique them. Likewise, if you want more guidance, post your notes in New Beer Sunday and request critiques. I did the latter when I finally decided to start reviewing. It paved the way for a very enjoyable hobby, and my favorite thread every week - NBS.

Cheers!

 

Untappd is helpful because I can get ratings immediately after a beer is released. To get 30 reviews on BA can take months. Both platforms are great!

 

This is an aside, but still relates to BeerAdvocate vs. Untappd. To help facilitate Beer Advocate ratings on local beers, I try to always include a can or two of something local when trading with a known reviewer on this site. Especially stuff I've tried and enjoyed. Otherwise, many of these beers will go only reviewed by me, and that's not fun for readers of the site.

 

they're not even comparable platforms, IMO. this is like saying "Facebook > Instagram" or something like that.

 

I use Untappd for fun. It's more about the social platform with my not so serious beer friends since I don't use Facebook. My reviews are often comedic, offensive or sometimes serious when it comes to super hyped beers to put my friends in check. It's also good for tap lists as it seems Beer Menus is becoming a thing of the past.

TL-DR Don't be my friend on Untappd.

As for BA, y'all know you're my favorite.

 

I lurked as a guest here for a while and joined up in 2011. It took me a long time to even come up with a first post! I was also on UnTapped for a while. I think this is a great "place" having experienced some similar sites that are not so welcoming, mostly reasonably moderated, and pretty nicely self-curated by the participants.

I can be obsessive with things and researching is one of those things. The social aspects of UnTapped don't appeal to me, chasing points/badges is utterly meaningless to me, and I love information. As a result, I quickly lost interest in UnTapped and much prefer the depth and breadth of information available on Beer Advocate. I can go as deep down the rabbit hole as I want learning about the beer industry, individual beers, home brewing, the local scene, you name it. And then I can proceed on to the World History of Beer by Jesskidden... On NBS we even share a little bit about what's going on in our lives - not a requirement but a nice "touch" in a very civil, self-curated thread I look forward to each and every Sunday. There are some very, very cool people in the community. I don't frequent WBAYDN much these days, but that thread is a daily virtual bar that can be lots of fun and I learn more new music there than anywhere these days. Plus, if you want to discuss something further with someone, there's Beer Mail - fantastic.

Participation I guess does take a little more thought here vs. what I remember on UT. It takes a little time understanding the lay of the land. I will say the BA landscape has changed significantly twice since I've been active plus it constantly evolves and changes slowly with time. It's a lot more friendly and civilized environment - even back in the (comparatively) wild west days - versus some other forums where I've participated. I remember one tractor forum in particular - holy shit that was rough...I've never felt unwelcome here or intimidated here (DarkLord came close a couple times, for those who remember that name). I do think when I first joined you were kinda "tested" a little - never bothered me since I expected it, and I think it was mostly to keep the trolls at bay. There's heated discussion here at times, but that's largely due to the passion we have for the subject at hand. There's only been a few really personal battles I can recall.

Reviews - yeah. Hard one for some people to get into (myself included) and a lot of it certainly is confidence. I think you learn as much as you can and dive in - especially with NBS as a helping hand. But when you come down to it, rating is largely subjective and my opinion is as valid as anybody else's. I happen to have a lot of training in sensory work, but I don't let that get in my way. Saying the taste "reminds me of" is just as valid as a detailed description, in my opinion. Just be open to learning how to match up the terms and I've learned a lot from sporadic episodes of home brewing by tasting actual ingredients on their own. You do what you can - it's learn as you go for most of us anyway

Mobile - I really don't have an issue. The interface on my phone with the web site is simple enough to use, mimics the computer web site so I don't have to learn something new, and sometimes it's actually easier. The only thing that's difficult is I suck at typing on my phone. But I can take my picture, upload to Imgur, and even though it's a two step process I can have that picture posted here in no time. Not really sure BA "needs" to have an app, honestly. What's it gonna bring to the party that we don't already have? I suppose if we can upload a picture directly then that'd be cool beans, but other than that, I'm not sure.

 

Been on untappd once. That was enough. End of discussion.

 

Yeah, my locals are draught only until...Gruner Brothers starts canning. I've had 2 of their beers. Not bad.