Reviewing/Rating On Tap vs Packaged Beers

Yes. Every time you drink a beer there is a myriad of differences from batch, to freshness, to what you’ve eaten that day. Even your mood can color your perceptions.

Ideally you would sample a beer multiple times to get the best idea of its attributes before reviewing. Still fair to review or rate after one glass if that’s all you have to work with.

Personally I would prefer not to review or read reviews where the beer is stale, but if it’s still within the brewery’s specifications then I would say it’s fair game.

It is helpful to note serving type, date packaged and other details in a review.

 

At the end of the day the real value of reviews is in aggregate. If the reviews are skewed lower because a certain brewery has poor packaging infrastructure or can't keep fresh beer on shelves then that is relevant to the average consumer that might look at a rating site like this. If someone really cares enough they will read some reviews, find reviewers whose taste they trust and who give that kind of context (on tap, at brewery, packaging date, etc..). Each beer has to be rated as you encounter it in the real world. All you can do is give the context so that others can learn the most from your review and use it as they see fit

 

Those things can matter, but breaking reviews down into subsets that detailed on a site like this would create more problems than it would solve. Eg one entry for on tap, one for in bottle used to be available until it was found that some users were extensively gaming the system by entering the same word for word review twice.

Also, how many categories for different glass styles would there need to be?

 

Yes

 

Another reason for the whole fresh argument.

 

One can only review the beer one has in front of them at a given moment. Don't worry about maybe's, if's, but's, or or's. You have no control over that. Just fairly review the beer you have.

 

Sounds like this isn't the problem OP noticed, but dirty tap lines can be found even in places you would never expect there to be dirty tap lines, such as at a brewery tap room. I always suspect this first when I notice a difference in a beer from packaged. All the other things noted above are much more likely suspects in this case, but tap lines should always be a suspect.

 

Ideally tap should be the same as bottle/can. Usually, IMO, tap is better, sometimes it's the opposite. Some breweries choose not to put their beers in cans/bottles saying the tap is always better (e.g. Societe - the old one). I wish some breweries started canning (Boneyard) even if the drop of quality was expected. All in all, availability and real life limitations considered, I enjoy the most consistent beers coming either in cans or bottles.

 

Agree, but that's actually less of a problem in PA since one of our more reasonable beer laws is that the lines, etc. are to be cleaned weekly.

 

Cool so y'all have at least one.

 

This!

 

Which, is overkill. Once every two weeks is the standard (I'll have to dig around to find the internet copy of the guidelines i have), but, it's better than too seldom.

 

Yeh the basic reccomendation is two weeks, but folks in PA take keeping the lines clean fairly seriously.

 

IIRC, isn't the law there that the distributors have to do the line cleaning? Which gives the houses carrying the major brands a hell of an advantage.

I attended a line cleaning seminar a few years ago, put on by the guy mentioned here: http://www.spokane7.com/blog/2014/sep/29/clean-lines-clean-beer/ . Around here, some breweries/bars just have their own equipment and do it themselves, and others contract it out. And then, well, there's some bars that just, well, uh, let things grow in the lines until the beer won't flow.

Ya shoulda seen some of the snakes I saw during that seminar.

 

I can imagine....

So far as I've heard it PA it's not typically done by wholesale distributors. There are lots of organizations set up to do line cleaning that have it as at least part of their business model but don't sell beer.

e.g.,

https://thecoilmen.com

https://draftmasterusa.com/beer-line-cleaning/

 

There's some state, and forgive me for automatically assuming it was PA, where it is requirement. But, things change, and well I drink.

 

Keg and bottled beers should be pretty much the same except where line cleanliness is an issue. Certainly the norm in the UK is to clean lines at least once a week.
With cask beer there can be an enormous variation because the beer is allowed to develop its true potential. And of course if left too long it deteriorates. A beer score is as much a reflection of the cellar keeper as of the brewer. A beer which is average in one pub will go down singing hymns in another.
Being blessed with plenty of pubs which keep good beer I rarely resort to bottles or cans.

 

So. I have the opportunity to drink a particular beer on the regular. I even help package that beer. We get near the end of a 13 hour canning day, and, yes, I grab a can that was filled less than 30 seconds before, and I let it sit for another 30. Then drink.

I am intimately familiar with this beer. I promise y'all, a 1 minute can tastes different than a week old can, neither of which tastes the same as a draft glass, off the same tank. Pulling a pint off the tank, tastes even different.

Shrug.

Beer is live food. The more live food is handled, the more the effects of handling is apparent.

Enjoy the beer in front of you.

 

Yeah, the laws (like most other alcoholic beverages laws) on line cleaning vary greatly from state to state on frequency, and who can or can't or must do it.