Poll: Why I Don't Review Beers.

Other. I use mostly my Untappd app for logging beers and writing a short quick review of what I thought of it. It's more of a record for me personally so that I know what I liked, how much, and why. Plus, it's quick and easy on the fly. I usually don't have the time to write a comprehensive review on Beer Advocate while hanging out and drinking with friends.

 

If you're like me and you snuck into the pantry as a kid to steal some chocolate from your mom, and mistakenly took a bite out of the bakers chocolate bar, you know exactly what that tastes like and the flavor never leaves you. It's seared into my brain forever. A lot of big stouts that tend to be more bitter and roasty, and less sweet, remind me of that flavor.

That being said, I've never used it in a review. Mostly because I've never written a review.

 

For me it's a combination of two major factors:
1) A lack of time / opportunity. Like many others I'm not taking meticulous notes while I drink my beer, and generally have 2, 3, 6 in a sitting, many times a variety of brands and/or styles. I am almost never in front of a computer while I'm doing this, and when I pull up a phone app I'd much rather pick from a 1-5 rating system (Untappd) with the option to add comments, rather than having to type several paragraphs or break down the beer into it's 5 tasting categories.

2) While my pallet is probably slightly better than the "average" beer drinker, I'm nowhere near close to tasting the majority of the flavors I see described in many of these reviews. I'm not sure if you're all actually tasting what you all say you are, or if you're just randomly picking adjectives out of the "beer reviewers notebook". Either way, in comparison to most of the existing reviews, my descriptions would be along the lines of "I like the flavor of this beer. It was really good." or "It's not as good as this other beer that I really liked". Simply no value to what I would be writing.

However, I do really appreciate all of you who take the time to write the reviews. I utilize them whenever I'm researching beers or looking for something that I might enjoy. So thank you all for helping me... I'm just not going to reciprocate. Sorry!

 

I voted "other." I love reading reviews, especially when I'm looking at buying a beer I've never had. However, if I was to write a review, it would be written very simply, with a much shorter, waaaaay less wordy descriptive form. I'm not a Cicerone.

 

I have two small kids ages 1 and 4. I barley have time to drink and enjoy my beer. Let along find the time to write a proper review. Every time I try. The wife or kids have some issue that needs my attention. Once the kids are asleep. I don't want to go back and write a review while I am not drinking the beer.

 

I'm also on the "Untappd" is easier and more convenient vote.

 

I would agree in large part with what @breadwinner has said. Being in my late 20s, I have many years of craft beer experiences ahead of me and find the activity of summarizing what I like about it to be fun. I understand it's not for everyone and that's fine.

I've seen a few comments made about not bothering with reviews because people will place an overemphasis on certain aspects of the beer that they enjoy more than others. But this is what I think is great about the site, everyone has a different palate and reviews help to at least form a perspective as to why someone rated a beer in the manner that they did.

I think it's great that we have so many various types of BAers here, to each his/her own.

 

I would say "none of the above" I have done a few (I think) and some quick reviews, but only because I was on BA shortly after drinking said beer. It is hard to do a review if you are not reviewing the beer when you are drinking it or shortly thereafter, especially if you are doing a tasting with friends of multiple beers, which is usually the case.
Welshbrewer out.

 

Beer is fun for me. Writing full blown reviews at the moment seems like a chore that would take away some enjoyment from the hobby.
I do keep ratings, and in the future I may start reviewing. Just not now.

 

Very well said sir!

In regards to why I don't review a beer, I chose other. I review beers from time to time, but I've come to the following conclusion on reviews in general. Like Rollom said, everyone's palate is different. If someone tastes a certain flavor in a beer doesn't mean I am going to taste it. I share almost all of my beers with the CBC Como crew, so I've actually had a lot of experience in seeing this first hand. So a lot of the "delicate/intricate" flavors in reviews I discount, because I will probably not pick up on those flavors. What does that leave a review to give me? The basic flavors of a beer, which a lot of the time are printed right there on the label. Got a sample of Pirate Noir over the weekend, and I tasted a Rum flavored stout. Read the reviews on the beer just now, and for the most part, that is what they said too.

This won't lead me to NOT write a review on a beer, just my prevailing thoughts on reviews in general. If a beer tastes to me what the label says it is, good job. If it doesn't I'm out a few bucks. I won't have a review sway my decision to purchase.

 

Given some of the comments I've seen on the board about people learning how to review properly or according to specific guidelines I get the impression that people don't just want my impressions of a beer, they want a beer judge. I'm happy to share my thoughts, less interested in playing a beer judge online.

 

I should write reviews, seeing as that is the nature off this site. I do write down notes when I drink a new beer but I don't often like the way my reviews read. And I guess a little bit of all the choices that cavedave gave in his poll.

 

Other - I usually drink beers with friends and like to protect my time with them, thus I prefer not to stare at my phone the whole time. While my friends are also beer geeks I sometimes like to talk about other things or do other things besides writing while we have a few beers. I certainly don't fault others who love writing reviews and I'm thankful that they do take the time. I suppose you could say I'm just lazy, but between entering a rating here, a rating on untappd, and trying to carry on a conversation it just seems a bit distracting to me.

 

Other: 1.) I'm all set with turning drinking beer into work on any level. 2.)Rating/reviewing hurts beer in general more than it will ever help.

 

Guilty as charged... got busted for this so many times when I was a kid too...

 

No I'm with you - in the UK (at least in my home) it was just called cooking chocolate, but I know what you mean. I just get a tickle out of reading it in reviews for some reason

 

since i started trying to review beers, i think one of the only thing that prevents me from reviewing a beer now is if im not at home. im not going to be out taking notes, even if im at someone elses house.

 

Mostly because my day job involves a lot of critical thinking and writing to begin with. At the end of the day, writing a beer review seems much more like work than fun. I have the time, and I think I'd be good at it; I just don't wanna.

 

I like where you're going with this Dave, but it's worth reminding folks that your original poll didn't show that 60% of "folks believe that the act of reviewing beer helps them generally to better enjoy beer," it showed that 60% of the respondents, who, by their membership to this site are more likely to review beers than non-members of this site and who, by their clicking on your poll to begin with are more likely to be interested in reviewing beers, believe reviewing a beer enhances the experience. So just a word of caution, you won't see the real reasons of why people don't review beers if you're going into the question with the assumption that reviewing enhances the beer drinking experience. Saying something like "and it seems obvious that if you really examine what you like about the beers you enjoy that you will be better able to choose what to buy and drink" is dangerous in my opinion. I'm confident that additional polling could easily make it "seem obvious" that reviewing a beer destroys the experience. I'm not saying you've got that tone, but it's easy to slip into it during such a process.

As for why I don't review....While my immediate response is I don't have the time, I know that even if I did have time, I still wouldn't review. I wouldn't say I think it's stupid. A lot of people get a lot of enjoyment from doing it. Seems like an engaging activity and I like talking about beer too, so I wouldn't say it's stupid. I just don't put a lot of stock in beer reviews. They are influenced by so many more things than just the beer in the bottle (and I'm not just talking about serving temp or clean draft lines, I'm talking about psychological influences on our perception of taste). So I don't put much stock in reviews being a guide that reflects a group of people's opinions about a beer. I see them as a conversation, another form of the message boards, where people can say what that beer means to them and share that reflection with people they value. That is great! But it's not for me. I don't see it as serving a purpose beyond the person who reviews it reading it for themselves. With that said, I have no interest in keeping track of the beers I try, nor to describe them. Additionally, I think a lot of reviews are just people tasting what they think they should be tasting. They are performing what their reaction to the beer is, not accurately reflecting it (but then again, whose to say what's performance and what's not). Regardless, it's just not for me. I don't read them and I don't write them, but I totally get why people read and write them and encourage more people to do it (if that makes sense).

 

Untappd is quick and easy. I get a detailed list of all beers I have had with a photo and I can inclue where I was as well. If I am at some amazing place I can add that photo instead of the beer. I log the bottle date and some basic thoughts on the beer add a star rate and I'm done in about a minute.

Enjoy