Rule of Thumb. Using BA reviews to make purchasing decisions.

How do you know they were bad if you didn't try them?

I do something similar, but usually, if it's a brewery I trust and the price is right, I'll give it a shot. For instance, new Boulevard smokestack beer or Schlafly seasonal IPA? Purchase. On the flip side I decided not to purchase Widmer Brrrrbon due to never trying anything from them, price and THEN BA reviews.

 

Why a 3.5? That's a horrible rating on BA. I always tell people that a 4.0 or above is worth a shot.

 

I usually base my purchases off of style, brewery reputation and previous experience. I kinda think this is common sense, but this model is all I generally need to avoid buying bad beers. With all the information we have gained from past experiences it is just silly not to put it to use when purchasing new beers.

If I do resort to BA reviews I will read the reviews of friends and those I have drank with before and know their palates. Scores are meaningless, I want the words. I don't drink with any random BAs palate so I generally do not put much stock in their reviews when it comes to buying beers.

 

Amen...especially that last part.

 

Outside of the big breweries that I know and trust (e.g. Founders, Bells, FFF, NG, etc.): the mix-a-six is where I start trying different things. I never like to buy a six pack of something I've never tried before from a brewery I know little about.

 

This is pretty much on point. Although I always keep my eyes open for well rated beers from otherwise not-so-well-rated breweries. Tells me that they were able to get something right.

 

I try to remember beers with high ratings, but if the brewery has a good track record, I'll try it blindly. When I go completely blind with no information it's a real crap shoot.

 

I don't necesarily go by score, more by the description, or tasting notes, people provide.

 

Agreed. I just came home from a road trip where I stopped at a Total Wine. Clown Shoes Supa Hero sounded good but at 3.65 that's a pass. Hoppy Feet at 3.93 would have been worth a shot for a 12 oz but not a bomber. Hoppy Feet 1.5 at 4.07 made it in the basket.

 

I'm not afraid of buying an occasional bad beer so I've never used BA reviews to aid in purchasing beer. I also know that individual tastes vary tremendously-even yours will be different in a year or two. And then there's the issues of homerism and hype. I've had a lot of beers that get a lot of praise on this site that I would never buy again. My method is to go into a store and look for something I've never tried and buy it. If I like it I'll buy it again, if not I move on.

 

Ive never seen people pull out their phones and punch up BA while their staring at the shelves. Im sure its done but I havent seen it.

 

I only have so much money to spend on beer, and I only go through about 6-8 beers per week. So I let the BA reviews assist me in my purchases.

There seem to be new offerings available almost every time I go to the beer store, so I don't want to waste time or money buying something I probably won't like.

I'm not embarrassed to admit I look at averages first before I consider buying anything I'm interested in. If a beer gets close to a 4.0 and I'm interested in trying it, I'll buy. However, since pilseners tend to get much lower averages than DIPAa & imperial stouts, I account for this.

I may read a few reviews, but really, that's just an invidual experience with the beer. Who knows, their spouse may have just bitched at them for spending too much money on that brew & they may have given it a poor review! That's the beauty of looking at averages...they "mellow out" extreme reviews in either direction.

 

I do it every time I go. I look up reviews, freshness dates, and abv. (Occasionally a beer doesn't have the abv on the label, even today)

 

I personally think people are either too generous or not tough enough with their ratings. To me, a 3.5 is pretty good. To others, a 3.5 means it's not worth trying, which is crazy to me. If a beer has a ton of reviews and it has a score around 3.5, it's obvious that it's not mind blowing by BA standards. I usually have to be mind blown just to give a 4. When people give everything a 4 or higher, it's hard to tell what beers they think stand out.

Overall, just take ratings with a grain of salt, especially since anyone can add to the beer's score without even trying it (who does that? hopefully nobody, but I've seen some troll ratings since "hads" were added to overall score).. but definitely use them as a guideline. I never let them decide for me whether I'll try a beer or not..

 

I generally agree, however I don't think I would go so far as to say scores are meaningless. A BA rating of 4.6 with 2000+ reviews and I think you can probably trust that is a good and worthy example of the style.

 

I've seen it quite a few times, which has lead to opinions & recommendations.
Often I've walked out with beer I would've never tried, if not for the BA bump in.

Personally I won't sit in the store on my phone, because it takes too long & I have no patience for that.
I usually bring a small notepad & write down things to look up later.
And I will usually only buy single 12 oz when I'm really going in blind.

However, when in the middle of a trade, I will load up seek a brew
http://www.seekabrew.com/distro/index.html and bring that in with me to make sure I'm not buying beer he can get - which is a huge pet peeve of mine.
3 of my last 4 traders sent me beer I can easily buy here
Come on dude do some homework! (I do admit of making this mistake on my first trade - sent him Unibroue...oops!)

 

I do it all the time because so many times I have no clue as to the beer type. Never understood not putting what type of beer it is on the label.

 

I don't look at reviews. People on here bitch about scores in the 80's being "low"