Do brewers read BA reviews?

Eric, or kyle at Kern River pops on every once in awhile ad chimes in on threads.
I was talking to a FW rep at a tasting and he was telling me how they are periodically monitoring their reviews. It's a great tool for gathering data from a large unbiased demographic. I think they would be fools to not monitor the reviews.

 

Pipeworks continually checks in to monitor what people think of their brews, and uses those reviews to try to improve.

Pipeworks!

 

Larry Bell's daughter has like one of my posts before..... I think she is head of PR and marketing for Bells though so it would make sense

 

I hope not. I want brewers to make the beer they want to drink.

Though admittedly silly, I prefer the idea of brewing as a craft or an art, to the idea of brewing as an industry that looks to simply satisfy certain markets (even if that market is us).

 

Local brewers pop up in the Midwest forum from time to time.

I've received a handful of messages over the years about reviews I've written, both positive & negative, from brewers or reps (some of which were pretty damn amusing). So some, at least, certainly do monitor what goes on around here.

 

If they are running a succeeding brewery they why would they I assume that most of their client base is not only not on this site but has no idea it exists.... If they are runnin a crappy brewery and wondering what they are doin wrong then this would be a great resource to see what craft brewers are interested in and are drinking right now.

 

I don't know about reviews, but more than a few brewers respond to the forums. Sam Calagione and Jim Koch had some famous rants about beer geek opinions earlier in the year.

 

Mother Earth Brewing reads B.A.

 

On a serious note a lot of them do. I know Randyfrom Stone and I think Bill? from SierraNevada are on here quite a bit.

 

I've seen a number of brewers post on here (Greg Koch from Stone, and Dany from Fantome come to mind) and I wouldn't be surprised if more small and large breweries look every once in a while but won't admit to it. I kinda laugh when I see the BA shelf talkers though, I had a good conversation with a shop owner at a place I'd never been to before and I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw ones for beers I had reviewed. It's a pretty strange feedback loop knowing that your reviews could actually be affecting people's purchases, even if it's only in a miniscule way.

 

Beat me to it. You people don't brew "substantially!"

 

All the time. I have received beermails from a few brewers, both good and bad. I definitely know my local brewers keep an eye out.

 

I know that, at least in the SW forum, people from Jester King, St. Arnold's, and other breweries participate in the conversations quite often. I don't know that that affects what they put out, but they certainly seem interested in participating in the conversations.

 

I think that Dany's posts about Fantome are some of my favorites on this site. That man is so genuinely happy to make a beer that people love, and his posts really demonstrate that.

 

No.


It isn't an indication of "how their beer is doing".

 

If you use Trip Advisor you know that many of the restaurant and hotel owners not only check on their reviews, but comment on them as well. In fact, I lambasted a Best Western hotel in Frisco, Colorado and the manager read it on Trip Advisor and called me .... But who knows if breweries do, I know I would want to know the pulse of the people. Perhaps Rogue do not, they might be that arrogant according to their jacked up prices ... heh.

 

Last year, Sam Calagione responded to thread that I started about DFH that took off pretty wide, saying he was going to show it around the office. Though, to be fair, I did not ask for photo ID. Or free beer. Crap, lost opportunity.

 

You don't want them checking the site. Next thing you know, Vinnie from RR and Shaun from HF will be sending cease and desist letters for facilitating illegal exchange of alcohol (trades). I'm being coy, but the point I'm getting at is that the brewer's interests don't always align with the consumer's interests as you might expect them to.