People who give a beer style they aren't a fan of a poor rating

I continually like to try styles I have not been fond of in the past. My tastes change and I have switched positions a few times. Saying that I try to rate based on style. Obviously I am not as good at that for styles that I have less experience with. It certainly would not be fair to drink a beer style I do not like then rail about how poor of a beer it is.

 

Well I'm glad they at least added the feature if you rate a beer a lot lower than the norm it makes you explain you reasoning behind it.

 

Which is why scores on this site shouldn't carry as much weight as they do from a public perception POV.

 

I saw that the other day on BAVSS. Amazing beer and someone that didn't care for BA Stouts gave it a low rating.

 

Whenever I read a review for a Pumpkin stout where the reviewer starts the review with the statement, "I really don't like pumpkin beers, or cinnamon in beer", I completely ignore what they have to say because I know it'll be worthless. Same thing with a person who states how much they dislike sour beers, but goes on to give a solid beer a terrible rating because they don't like the style.... worthless reviews. I think if the deviation from average on your review exceeds a certain percentage you have to write something as a review to prove why, I like this new addition.

 

This is certainly one of those nuances of using this site that you need to keep in mind. Unpopular or offbeat styles tend to get lower ratings, especially from unseasoned BAs who are still developing their palates. When the number of ratings is very low, this can certainly skew the results (heck, if I come across a Saison with less than 50 reviews, I don't even bother to look it up any more).

Take the ratings with a grain of salt and drink what you enjoy. The more people contribute to a rating, the more fair the rating gets.

 

Are we not making a lot of assumptions about what these guys do and don't like? The Hi-Res guy gave Dirtwolf a 3.75.

Personally I drink a beer and then look at reviews out of interest to see if my thoughts are in line with the masses. Plus for a style like DIPA, I'm sure these stupidly low ratings are an (unintended) countermeasure to the stupidly high ones.

 

Most BA avg ratings are pretty close to what I think with the exception of polarizing beers, rauchbiers, fruit beers, unusual adjuncts etc.

 

I fully disagree. Yes, there are people who will just drop a 1 or a 5 on something, but these ratings are so rare that they are statistically irrelevant. In many cases they probably cancel each other out. I think overly low ratings are useful (when explained) because there are styles that, no matter how perfectly executed by the brewer, are not for everyone. Even when not explained they let you know that the beer disagreed with someone. It's just information. My purpose here is not to confirm the average rating of any particular beer.

I'm not going to go around complaining that no one knows how to properly review an AAL because people on this site just don't like the taste and give it the "fizzy piss-water" treatment.

 

That's why I don't rate Witbiers...

 

I honestly think rating a beer on a public forum is kind of stupid unless you and the viewing public know each other, or at least know what styles you like. The absolute best judge of a beer is either my own palate, or someone's palate who I know and trust. With that, I don't take a single comment seriously from any review on BA or anywhere else unless I know the reviewer. I also think that basing a beer solely on it's reviews from complete strangers is pretty silly, how are you supposed to trust someone you've never met and have no clue what they like?

I hate IPAs, so I rate them on Untappd low. Someone once told me that was unfair to other people on Untappd who are looking at ratings, to which I replied "if someone is basing their opinion on a beer that I rated then they're an idiot." They're also putting way too much stock in it if a stranger's opinion of a beer is going to sway their own.

 

If I'm drinking a style I don't love, I usually try to think of how could it be better. For example I'm not in love with hefeweizens, but Weihenstephaner makes the best one I've ever had, and I can't see how it could be much, if any better, so I gave it a 5.

 

I ignore the reviews that are score only and only look at the ones that are written out. I also don't review beers myself as I'm not "poetic" enough

 

It pisses me off!

 

I'm of two minds on reviewing.

If you review a beer, you should know at least the basic guidelines for the style.

On the other hand, it's all beer, if you don't like it rate it as such.

Really, as long as a review is fair, thats cool. We're not all beer gods who can name the hops used with a single whiff. It is unrealistic to think every one posting knows the ins and outs of everything from chicha to belgian quads. Don't knock a stout for being too dark or a light be for being too yellow, and you've got a good start.

 

I don't review beers in styles that I absolutely know I don't like. Since I'm overly sensitive to hops, that's IPAs of any sort, imperial reds, that sort of thing.

However, I don't hold back from dropping a low score, with explanation, on beers from styles are not necessarily or traditionally hop-forward that the brewer decided to make hop-forward. Something like the Carson's Brewing Brown Cow, a brown ale where the description from the brewer waxes poetic about seven different types of malt and provides one throwaway mention of a "moderate hop presence", I feel perfectly justified in blasting when literally the only aroma and taste I can find anywhere in it is floral perfume.

 

I generally tend to read only 5-6 different reviewers' opinions on beer, because I've found these specific reviewers align with my likes and dislikes when it comes to beer. The overall score is less important.

 

The ratings balance themselves out in time, so you rating IPAs low because you don't like the style (not sure why you drink and rate them in that case), is irrelevant for beers that get a lot of ratings. As to people being "idiots" for using ratings, then you consider a LOT of people idiots. With hundreds (or thousands) of beers available in many stores, ratings can help avoid wasting money....I don't need to buy a 6 pack to find out a beer sucks, if I can look up reviews and see that beforehand, and buy something with decent ratings, and then make my own opinion. Most of the time highly rated beers correlate into good beers, and those with poor ratings the opposite. There are enough people rating it that the averages work out to be a helpful tool in deciding which beers to try with a purchase.

 

Most effective if the rater actually puts meaningful notes as to why they did not like it instead of "Blech!! Drainpour!! Won't buy this again!!"