What if beer ratings didn't exist?

There'd be a Bock or two in the right season (when it was time to clean out the tanks ). But the rest of the choices, other than Coors or Bud or Millers, were basically other AALs with regional distribution footprints.

 

I came of drinking age in the 2000's but from what I've heard of ye' olden time in Texas.

Shiner released their "bock" in 1973. I think before that was just their regular lagers.
Of course in the 90's we had Pierre Celis in Austin.

Everything else I've heard of are pale lagers.

 

I don't look at ratings here ever. At least not in the last 5 years anyway. Did road trips to Providence, Portland ME, Portsmouth NH. Go to a brewery, brewpub, bar. And taste. Then buy. Talk to the local retail folks. I trust my own palate, not somebody I don't know.

 

Revolution? Like in the EU where they have beer brewing for centuries? Germany, England, Belgium, Its a way of life and not a subject of hype. I went to Germany in HS during the summer, the beer trucks delivered to the houses every Thursday. Nice.

 

I think Stone Brewing Berlin is meant to be a "craft beer revolution" for Germany....

 

Well I trust my own palate in judging a beer, and deciding whether to ever buy it again. But when faced with 100s of kinds of beer I've never tried, I can't try them all. Why not do a little pre-screening?

How did you pick the breweries on your trip? Did you go to some you heard were good? This isn't really much different than looking at ratings. You're just using a smaller group of people.

Or let's say you are driving through a city in a state you don't know, and you just want to pick up some to-go beer. You look at all the beer on the shelves and... do what? Pick some at random? Ask the clerk? If you talk to the clerk or the local retail folks, aren't you trusting the palate of someone you don't know?

 

^^^^ Over thinking it. I have heard of lots of breweries nationwide. Get one of those, look at the date on the can. Man, just live a little, explore, get lost, discover. Portland? Looked at the back of Yankee brew news. BnB to stay, Ok, walking distance to downtown and bars. Start there. Novare Res? World class beer bar. Pages of vintage verticals. Nice. Have people lost their sense of adventure? Some bar has music, we go into it, ask the bartender what's new, " this Rising Tide Maine island Trail pale ale, been selling cases every week", start there. Ever actually talk to the person next to you at a bar? Or just look at the untapped screen of your phone? Yikes. It's not like you're getting a tattoo, do you spend this much time ordering a sandwich, yelp reviews and "sandwiches are us" reviews? When my wife and I toured PEI, one day we decided to go "left" when we were face with a map decision. Ended up at a outdoor pub with the creamery cheese made right next door. Best food ever. All those who wander are not lost.

 

Sometimes I wander with no plan, sometimes I like to plan. Sometimes I talk to people in bars, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I want an adventure, sometimes I just want a beer. I have wandered for years at a time... At the moment, I don't have a lot of time to wander. You shouldn't assume "looks at ratings = hates adventure"

 

Not sure what you mean. Your response is exactly my point: they are steeped in tradition, not pushing the boundaries or following trends like it's Project Runway.

My comment wasn't meant to be a slight, it's just a different scene.

 

Right. I wouldn't debate that and my comment wasn't intended to imply that. It also wasn't meant to imply that the beer is better here.

A revolution is, by definition, change; a radically different way of doing things. That is not European beer. The question was why this crazy, to some annoying, hype exists in the States, but not Europe. I'd argue because the craft revolution started in America and is based on change, trends, and experimentation instead of staid traditions.

 

I think @drtth made a great point above: beer was much more homogenous in America prior to the revolution in beer that started in the 80s. It's my understanding that local towns in the UK have had their own brewers for generations. The homogenized nature of UK beer has more to do more with style choice, no?

You're right to point out that the origins of the current craft revolution started in the UK, if nothing else because of the styles(IPAs, stouts, porters, etc.). But Brits weren't the ones throwing coffee into their beer, aging it in every barrel they could find, or radically redefining styles.

 

I've lived this scenario. In the 'Drought Days', (early 70s) we'd seek out imports, usually Canadian or German, occasionally we'd discover a tasty domestic brew (Genessee Cream Ale comes to mind.)

Now, with the fine, fine, superfine breweries popping up everywhere, you'd check out your locals and decide. Word of mouth would be influential. I think the beer landscape would be local - as it is tending to be in 2017.

 

They weren't redefining styles because compared to the US they were defining them.

But in all seriousness, the brewers in the UK have been redefining styles for ages, brewing with more than the four main ingredients, and experimenting with barrel aging.

It's also worth pointing out that one of the most significant things to happen to the beer scene since Maytag bought Anchor was the start of CAMRA... and I'm bringing it up because it represented the opposite of evolution. One can't forget that looking backwards (rather than forwards) has also been key to the success of US craft.

 

Ratings and what everyone on this website says doesn't always see eye to eye with me. For example: everyone loves Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin. I found it meh. So ratings are overrated in my opinion at times.

 

Couldn't agree more. A good analogy would be the industrial revolution; it clearly started in the UK, but it's most MODERN revolutionary aspects are occurring in other countries. Which doesn't take anything away from the UK, but explains the recent tech booms in Asia and the US.

 

My point I was trying to make, not directed at you per say was, there are folks who would never buy beer without looking at some kind of rating first? Yikes.

 

The rating presence on BA of so many New Mexico beers are nearly non existent. There may be only a dozen of us on BA, and I admit to not rating or reviewing so I may be part of the problem. if its not distributed in some fashion, it may not even have enough reviews to get a score.

People for the most part just tend to live in their own little world here and enjoy what is offered. That is not to say they/we will accept any sort of quality. That was sort of built up over the years. But if people had to rely on ratings to seek new tries, they would be drinking like 5 beers around here (all from la cumbre).

Is anyone elses area like this? The recognition and validation from outsiders is nice, but I knew way back when that we had something special with a couple of these breweries. And the awards don't change much, or the high reviews, people still gravitate to new tries. NM may just be too unique.

 

So here's a thought. Suppose you live in an area where you have to buy a full case or you don't buy the beer at all. You walk into the beer store and see case of a fresh beer that is new to your area and that you've never heard of before. The owner of the store hasn't tried the beer himself but the brewery has a reputation for making some beers that folks like and other beers that are not so popular.

Do you
a) walk away from that beer and ignore it on the chance you might find it on tap somewhere and hope the case will still be there if you liked the beer
b) plunk down the $60-80 required to buy the case
c) go home, check out the ratings and some reviews of the beer and then make a decision to buy or not to buy

 

That lack of reviews is often the case for brand new breweries even in areas with more members who do review (e.g., SE PA). But on the other hand I don't think there are all that many people who will only buy a beer if it's reviewed with high scores here. Most all of the folks I've chatted with, in person or in these forums, think of the reviews as an additional source of information to be used to avoid buying bad beer. That doesn't stop them from trying unreviewed beers but they spend most of their money on new beers that they have some reason they can expect to enjoy.

 

Ballantine XXX Ale was national in the both the late P. Ballantine & Sons and early Falstaff era (i.e, the period in discussion - early craft period of 1970s-mid1980s) - I bought it in California in the 70s - and Augsburger from Huber had pretty broad distribution through the mid-West to the East Coast.

Like many traditional US lager brewers, Spoetzl brewed a seasonal bock long before 1973. Here's an ad (below) from 1964, w/ an early label probably from the 70s.

Up until 1973, the "regular" Shiner Beer was what the new (late 1960s) owner called an "Old World...dark heavy beer". They change the formula - in increments, over a period of six months - to a "light mild" beer in order to appeal to the "youth market". The new owner, Archie Ladshaw, joked they had to wait for the old brewmaster to retire to change the beer.

(Spoetzl in that period was tiny - 20-30k bbl/yr - at a time when the other two Texas-based brewers, Lone Star and Pearl, were both selling 1-2 million barrels a year).

Always wondered if current Shiner Bock (which is certainly not "rich, dark" bock as noted in the ad) sort of evolved from that older Shiner Beer recipe. According to industry publications (which are not always accurate as far a chronology), the 'new' Shiner Bock didn't become a full-time release from Spoetzl until the mid-'80s with it becoming their flagship a bit later.