Lets talk about your perfect 5s

haven't had it yet. a few all around 4.75's , but nothing I would want buried with me thus far.

 

Damn dude, if that place is a 5 I feel bad for you guys. My in-laws live in VB and while GG may be a little fresher than the shelf turds at Total Wine, it's a pretty average bottle shop.

 

None and I plan to keep it that way. No beer is perfect and I don't think 5s should be handed out by anyone.

 

1) I don't go back and knock down scores for 2 reasons. First, if a beer is a second batch, maybe the previous batch was better. Second, most beers are intended to be drank as fresh as possible, so drinking a cellared version later is not the beer's fault.

2) Of my twelve 5's, I have only had the pleasure of having 3 of them more than once. Of those, KBS I have kept at a 5, with the caveat that it must be fresh.

3) I don't generally go back and raise scores without major reason to do so. I can't remember the last time I did this, but it is almost always with undated bottles that I initially review, then upon having the beer a second time, realize that the first bottle was old and the second was fresh. Usually only happens to pale ales.

 

I bet you're fun at parties. You realize we're talking about beer here, right?

 

I don't understand how people are basically saying 5's can't happen. According to BA's guidelines, you are supposed to rate to style. As such, how can there not be a perfect example of any given style?

1) Perfect Score, but later lower - has definitely happened, but I can't recall any examples. Has probably happened with a bunch of sour's as all I cared about at first was level of tartness.

2) Westbrook Gose is reaffirmed time and again. I am yet to come across a better Gose. Most aren't even close, which supports my rating of a 5. There's also a few coffee stouts that I thought were perfect over the course of trying them numerous times: BCBCS and Sunday Morning Stout. Most of Cantillon's, 3F's, and Tilquin's beers are 5's in my eyes. Again, what gueuze's are better?

3) Started lower than 5, but later raised - Maine Another One, Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, Westbrook Gose started lower, but after trying many other examples, I realized that Westbrook's was far and away the best one, Founder's Breakfast Stout. Probably a lot.

I have rated lots of 5's. 5's are the beers that make me go "goddamn," over and over and over again. Usually out loud. I feel sorry for people who never have orgasmic experiences when tasting the truly upper echelon of the beer world. I love my 5's and see nothing wrong with rating a beer I see as damn near perfect as such.

 

My seven favorite sours hit the mark. If I re-rated after the second or third time, which was all less than perfect, I'd be left with only 4. Basically, my point is never try a 5.0 again since it just won't be the same experience, place, setting, and all that.

Drie Fonteinen Millennium Geuze
Cantillon Soleil De Minuit
Belle Vue Sélection Lambic
Cantillon Loerik
Cantillon Blåbær Lambik - batch 1
Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze 1998 (50th Anniversary)
Cantillon Bourgogne Lambic

 

I've yet to award a 5.

 

I cound't disagree more. Vanilla rye is all 5's

 

Yeah I do. And I also realize beer is taken pretty seriously by some people, and also that I've seen way too many beer ratings on here inflated by people who will just give out 5s to any whale they find, which then leads to the trade value being driven up. You can't honestly tell me there's a beer you've had that is so incredibly perfect that you wouldn't change anything about it.

 

Nothing to talk about really, 2500+ beers and I've yet to find one perfect.
That being said I doubt a few of my top rated would score as high if I rated them again today.

 

Absent a death-inducing side-by-side drinking session, it would be hard to hand out a perfect score. I love the annual Hops, Vines and Wines festival because I always find something that day that I rate "Best in Show" before blacking out, but perfection? Just not meant to be in the lives of guys like me...

 

Uh, yes, there is, that's why I gave them a 5. There's also a bunch that are extremely close to 5 which I could justify giving a 5 but ultimately there's some others I like more.

Again, you're taking a random amateur user generated rating system way too seriously. You should probably evaluate your priorities if you're this concerned about the impossibility of there being a "perfect" beer or users inflating trade values because they use an open rating system in a way that works for them.

 

The only one I've given a perfect (5) across the board is PseudoSue and I wonder if I would give the same rating if I had it again (as good as that beer is, I know I wouldn't but since it's impossible to get where I am, I probably won't have it again and the score will stay at a five). Maybe too stingy? I dunno, I just want to see Jesus at the pearly gates with the light shining down on my beer glass and the angelic choirs singing to give something a perfect five and that's not going to happen in my earthly lifetime. Pet peeve: "This is the best beer I've ever had", and fives across the board being awarded multiple times by the same individual(s).

 

I have rated 300+ beers and have only rated 5 as "5". All in 2014. I had 3 of the 5 in 2015 and still think they are 5's.

Zombie Dust
Bible Belt
SoS

 

out of 611 reviews, i've given 2 perfect 5s:

pilsner urquell
&
NEBCO attempted redrum (1st batch)

pilsner urquell was (3). tried it way back, thought it was very nice. "further on" in my beer drinking journey, and once i started frequenting a restaurant that has it constantly on tap, i realized that it's flawless. goes just far enough, mouthfeel is perfection, flavor is ideal hop/malt balance, etc.

attempted redrum is NA; there was too little of it to have more, and supposedly there were a bunch of bad bottles. nonetheless, my bottle was the pinnacle of malt-forward goodness.

---

given a bunch of "hads/rating" 5s. literally none of them would be 5s if i had to do a serious, break-it-all-down review. edit: ahem, actually, see below (black tuesday b1 was a clear 5... but everything else, even cerise cassee, my favorite beer, and frute#1, probably more the 4.5 ~ 4.75 range)

 

I've given 3 5's in over 10 years.
Black Tuesday, I might drop down a bit now. BUUUUT at the time when BT came out, it was a complete mindf%@k. Insanely big, gorgeous, and complex.

Mother of All Storms: I love this one, but it'd probably come down a smidge, maybe mouthfeel could be a little more chewy.

Horny Toad IPA: This one was so stellar. But alas, Mogollon went out of business. So, that one is immortalized as a 5 to me. I miss drinking that one while camping out on the east side of Sunset Crater, outside of Flagstaff.

 

Given out 3 5s (on untapped not here).
#1 King Julius. I like treehouse, but KJ took it to a new level, and there's nothing more I could ask for from a juicy IPA and beat my expectations for it.
#2 BCBS Vanilla Rye. Drinking a marshmellow stout. That's exactly what I want out of a vanilla stout, and I don't think it could get any better. The hype for this was high, and it still blew my expectations away.
#3 The dark horse, Xyauyù Barrel. I didn't know what to expect from this 5 year old barley wine aged in oak. It was amazingly smooth, sweet and not boozy (especially for a 14% beast). Perhaps a bit more barrel? But beyond that I really don't think I'll ever have anything that special or so unexpectedly good.
So I guess it comes down to blowing my expectations away (for 1 and 2, my expectations were very high for both of those). That's why I kinda panned (a 4.5) Juice Machine a bit since it was way below expectations compared to the King.

 

i still remember batch 1 black tuesday, and IMO that's a 5 all day, every day.

 

Yeah, I'm with you. The first batch, wish they lost a ton of, was amazeballs. I'm lucky to live walking distance (seems like a longer walk coming home) from the Bruery, and have been a frequent flyer since the beginning. I still have an '09 and I don't know when and where I will finally pop her open.