Obsession with BA ratings

I had a good business going with my gold plated butt plugs and then Apple sued me. Apparently they have a patent on expensive shit for assholes.

 

Yes it is lost in this world, because that is how education expands. It is no longer necessary to have to make a first hand mistake when there is a plethora of information already available to those who would look. You don't have to get a telescope to try and decipher if the earth revolves around the sun or not. It has been done. And when it comes to beer reviews, there is nothing wrong with checking what other people have to say, because with sooo many good (90+) beers to try, why bother risking a bad beer. I am sure, unlike your post, I wouldn't enjoy that "disappointment." If you want to self discover, add a beer to the database to help others.

 

First things first, can someone please clean up the soda I just spit across my desk laughing

Second: start up that business again, apple's patent only applies to white or black objects, gold plated is just fine and has a long been a free market expensive commodity for assholes who don't want to buy solid gold since that would constitute an actual investment with residual worth

Sent from my iPad

 

For beers that are available locally, I'll try pretty much anything at least once, unless I have heard really bad things about it, it is a style that I'm not really into, or I am not sure if it is worth the price.

However, when I am considering beer to bring home from a different part of the country or buying from an online store, you're damn right that I will strongly consider the BA score. I'll tend to try the stuff that is above 90 first. Usually, I can find enough beer that is at least above 90 to fill up my allotted haul. The reasoning is simple: I've had very few beers rating above 90 on BA that I didn't at least like, but I have had plenty in the 80s range that have been pretty "meh" to me. In fact, I don't think I have had a beer with a score above 95 that I have been really impressed with, regardless of style. So, anything above 95 is a must-buy IMO.

88 is a good score, but when you are still trying new stuff, you are often presented with better, more reliable options.

 

As I posted in another thread, the ratings are great, but I prefer to use the "what are you drinking now . . ." thread. It's like trying friend's recommendations. "Got it, got it, need it, got it, whoa . . . NEED IT!"

 

yes. i found some 95-99 overrated and some 80-85 very pleasant.

 

I've never looked to BA before buying a new beer. I just only recently started using this site ( although ive had a membership for a few years and stumbled upon it about 10 years ago.) Back in the day I trusted good guy friends of mine and their excellent taste. Aside from that, over the years ive relied on my beer premonition to steer me. It seriously works because only about ten percent of the beer I usually pick out turns out to be something I can't stand.

 

So its weird for someone to look up BA scores because they are inaccurate?
...
And then...?

 

I rarely look at BA scores as a final say in any purchase I make. There are many times when I'll actually look at the score AFTER I drink the beer to see what my tastes are compared to others. There have been many times where I've really enjoyed certain beers and have seen them rated in the 80s afterwards.

I feel that relying on a source to make your decisions before trying them yourself automatically skews your opinion before you even try it. Numerical scores can't accurately calculate hype factor, availability, and freshness - among other things.

 

It really depends on your personality, I don't base my buying off any BA ratings but by internet buzz and word on the street. Call it ballsy or stupid, but if a beer had an 80 ratings, or lower for that matter, I'm willing to give all beers at least one try. It's in my nature to be risky...

 

If it is a beer I have never heard of, than I will look it up and concider the rating in my decision, but if it is a beer that I have seen on BA somewhere in the forums, I am usually willing to try it without looking it up

 

I think people often forget how hard it is to get a 90+ score on BA as well. What I like about BA compared to ratebeer is that the scores are a lot more honest. On ratebeer every beer either has a 90+ score or a 50 rating, and hell a 90 score on that sight might as well mean average. On BA a 90 score is a true achievement but anything above an 80 means this beer is worth checking out.

 

Provided the beer isn't ungodly expensive, I'll buy it without looking at reviews. I like to try as many new beers as possible and if that means picking up a dud every now and again, so be it, it's part of the experience.

 

I base less on ratings and more on the brewery,it has serve me well on trying different styles.Don't get lost in numbers get lost in the adventure called beer

 

I usually buy the beers, try them, rate them in a database my wife made me, then look and see what they are rated on here. Mat of the time I am very close, occasionally I am a bit off and rarely I am way off.

 

You know people do give reviews to pair with their ratings. Opinions are better than pure ratings the majority of the time.

 

especially when money is tight and i really dont care to have anything less than excellent, it is almost a mandatory to check BA. Then again, I usually have a good idea of what I am seeking out before i leave for the store. I see no need to try something and have it be a 50/50 chance that its good. My liver and my brain cannot tolerate a testing process, we need to get right to the supreme stuff.

 

Good topic. How about everyone come up with one beer that they really enjoy with a BA rating below 8. For me it's Southern Tier's Phin and Matt's Extraordinary Ale. Sure it's not as good as their IPA or 2XIPA but it's a solid choice when you want to put some beers down.

 

Assuming at least 20 reviews...
- I've yet to find a 90+ to be godawful.
- I've had good beers below 80, but none that made me go "WOW AMAZING."

My goal is to try good beers on a small budget. I don't have time or money to try every mediocre beer I can get my hands on just for the sake of paying my dues or ensuring that I never miss trying a single beer that I would like. I am willing to sacrifice some false negatives in order to save money and time on the dozens of beers that have low ratings for a reason.

We all have different palates but it's just statistics at work. Unless my palate is super deviant from the BA population's (which doesn't seem to be the case), the more ratings they give, the better it will likely approximate my opinion. Sometimes I will still disagree with the overall rating by quite a bit, but not very often.

I do try to correct for score inflation within styles. A few months ago, I checked out the median-scoring beer for every style on the site and wrote it down. As other people say, there's definitely a big difference. A Russian Imperial Stout with an 80 is something like 9 points below the median. An American Blonde Ale with an 80 is a point above median. So I definitely take these things into account as well.

 

Well said