Short version (TLDR?): I was curious about how consistent I was in my own beer reviews. Do my numbers line up fairly well with my actual preferences? I had a chance for a sanity check tonight. How about you? I recently, somewhat randomly, acquired a six pack of Hopslam. More recently, much more randomly, I acquired a single Abrasive. I have had Sucks many times; when I tried Hopslam, I thought to myself, "I like this -- but I think I like Sucks more." I proceeded to review (without going back and looking at my Sucks review). When I tried Abrasive this afternoon, I thought it was excellent -- maybe better than Sucks -- also without looking at my Sucks review. Then, I realized I had one more Hopslam, and at least one cold Sucks, so I tried them all side by side (you can see in the picture that I'm about halfway through Abrasive when I poured the other two). Again, without looking at any of the reviews, I placed it as Abrasive wins and Hopslam loses, with Sucks in the middle. Then, I finally looked at the reviews, and apparently (at least with these three beers), my scores have a tendency to reflect how much I actually like a beer: Abrasive: 4.49 Sucks: 4.33 Hopslam: 4.19 I would prefer to have done a blind tasting with these and a few others, but absent readily available Hopslam and Abrasive, that's a bit difficult. Any similar experiences?
Abbrasive greatly surmounts both of those beers. Then again, I don't see how you could give a 4.19 to Hopslam. Perhaps you had an outdated bottle or something. Sucks is not a bad beer by any means, but it does not even belong in this discussion IMO. I don't understand how Sucks is the California IPA of choice.
I think his post supports his consistency, although if u only read the tl:dr part you did not get that info (and maybe he should have mentioned it there) Abrasive rocks! It's my fav dipa. looks like a win win win for here tho
Sucks is the California IPA of choice of non-Californians. Having lived in SD for 6 or so years, I don't really get Sucks. I bought a sixer last month in Seattle and it was a chore to get through. Hell, I would rather have Lagunitas IPA instead since I feel its a more enjoyable west coast IPA.
My numbers are all over the place and do NOT reflect how I would actually rank them. It sucks in a way because I'd love to be able to look at all my reviews, rank them by number and see my favorite to least favorite -- alas, it's not that way. But I like to view each of my reviews in it's own little universe that exists in that particular time and place. Ultimately, they're all subjective. I can live with that.
Your ratings look fine to me and don't second guess the factors that contribute like the hype, the price, how long you waited to get a beer. Or the fact that you got only one of a beer. ( maybe even in a trade) All these things make an impression on you before you ever open the beer. I have not had anything by surly but your ratings for hopslam and sucks are good to me and I have had both. I rate sucks lower than hopslam but I would not buy hopslam again and I would buy sucks again. keep up the good work
Sometimes threads like these are worth it merely for the silly things people say such as. "my scores have a tendency to reflect how much I actually like a beer." Shocker.
