I can't be the only one...

Drinking with Darren made me laugh my a$$ off!

BTW, This thread has subtle caramel notes, with a hint of spice and arrugala, and is that, perhaps, a hint of sasparilla?

While I'll agree that some reviewers seem to go over the top to describe what they taste, I enjoy reading beer reviews. I won't sit through hundreds of them but if I try a new beer I will write down everything that I can describe about it- color, aroma, mouthfeel, flavor and whatever else and then go online and compare mine to other peoples reviews. It helps me tune my tastes and recognize flavors that I maybe couldn't put a finger on.

I'm amazed no one has mentioned how beneficial it could be to find other people who review beers in a similar way that you might, in terms of how you like certain beers.

It's an invaluable tool when looking for new styles you might like, or new beers you want to go and try, especially when on a budget.

Sure, there are a lot of bad reviewers and bad reviews out there, so once you find those 5 or 10 people that you read consistently, you start aligning your palate for beer with theirs.

So if they like a particular beer, there is a big chance you'll like it too, and if they hate a beer, you likely will too, so why bother wasting the money it?

It works the other way too... you can even find when someone else hates a beer, that means you'll probably love it. But this is much more rare...

Don't most of you have some friends you trust, and if they say they love it, you know you will too? That's the same as a review in my book, and a demonstration of my point.

Long live beer reviews, of the 5% that you can use to your advantage!

Rev: I agree highly with your post. I use reviews to help m\e choose my next recipe or kit. I prefer malty, sweet beers in the winter. I can find hundreds of recipes for say a cream stout but how do I know which one is gonna lean toward my taste preferences. Reviews help me find out. Usually if someone reports a beer as being too sweet, that tells me that I am going to like it.

What I really do hate is people that reveiw a beer before they even taste it. "This kit was easy too follow. I am SURE it is going to be great." Give me a break. Just wasting my time.

Drink on,

Stuart

I hear ya... but I still personally disagree. First, I don't care who it gives it, one person's perception of a beer is purely subjective, and hence my experience will be different (even if we describe it similarly). Second, I design my beers based on what I know about styles, grains, yeast, hops, water, my process, etc... not a review.

Cheers!

I do tend to notice a lot of highfalutin nonsense in beer reviews ("barnyardy brett funk akin to a newly broken stallion shaking glistening dew from its mane in the stable..."), but I do find them helpful for directional purposes, especially if I've never tried a beer/style before.

My biggest peeve with these reviews is that I notice very heavy biases for certain breweries. For example, Boston Beer Company still makes some of the highest regarded beers in the world, and some of their new offerings are very, very good, but the reviews are consistently in the "B" range, with words like "typical fare" and "sellout" peppered throughout the page. Meanwhile, Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head (one of my favorite breweries) could empty his septic tank into 22oz bombers and it would be called "a bold new style, reminiscent of asparagus and coffee, A+++".

bmick said:

...I notice very heavy biases for certain breweries..."

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Haha, so true. Also, there's a direct, positive correlation between IBU's and grade. Hit the 60 IBU mark and you get bumped up 2 letter grades.

That said, I also agree with Rev - I choose my beer purchases carefully, so I often depend on these reviews to guide me. I dislike spending $10 for 6 beers I don't love.

I don't buy much beer. But when I do, I think BA is really great. I use it assuming that beers get high marks for alcohol and hops and I bear that in mind when I read.

I usually try to get a general idea of what a good number of people either like or don't like about a beer. Then I assume those things to be the best or worst possible characteristics about the beer, assuming there may be bias.

Like others have said, reading BA reviews is like reading reviews on amazon. Even products with 100 5 star reviews will have one review with a 1 star. I read those 1 star reviews and I assume that this is a worst case scenario. If I think I would still like the product despite the worst case scenario, I go with it.

Bottom line is that the reviews are all just opinions. And some people are just crazy. It's all about filtering.

But if it bothers you, as others have said, don't use the site.

Buying/trying a beer based on a BA review would be akin to purchasing a vehicle based on the recommendation of a recently permitted 15 year-old kid... it is clear most (not all, but most) of the reviewers on BA are inexperienced, usually younger guys who couldn't really tell you the difference between an English Mild and an American Amber, even after tasting. I don't buy the argument that people write reviews to help others; rather, my guess (in my professional life, I get paid... well... to make these kinds of guesses ) is there is a more deep-seated intent, likely to compensate for some insecurity (which is fine). Either way, check this site out, it's pretty hilarious!

BrightSpotBrewing said:

Buying/trying a beer based on a BA review would be akin to purchasing a vehicle based on the recommendation of a recently permitted 15 year-old kid... it is clear most (not all, but most) of the reviewers on BA are inexperienced, usually younger guys who couldn't really tell you the difference between an English Mild and an American Amber, even after tasting. I don't buy the argument that people write reviews to help others; rather, my guess (in my professional life, I get paid... well... to make these kinds of guesses ) is there is a more deep-seated intent, likely to compensate for some insecurity (which is fine). Either way, check this site out, it's pretty hilarious!

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I like the link.

But as far as your analogy... I don't think anyone buys beer based on a single BA review. If people are doing this then I would agree with you.

But, assuming people read many reviews of the same beer, if the reviewer has other intentions or is compensating for their own insecurities, it doesn't matter. Thier review is only one of many. And if it's an outlier, it would hardly even be noticed by someone who reads reviews in a discerning manner.

My three tiered system (for just about everything, including beer) is:

I like it.

It's ok.

Yuck.

YMMV.

YNOT2K said:

My three tiered system (for just about everything, including beer) is:

I like it.

It's ok.

Yuck.

YMMV.

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Works for me!!!

I am totally grateful for the numeric average these websites provide when venturing to an unknown $10 6-pack. Though I have no idea what the beer tastes like when reading a user submitted paragraph.

Bump.

Just read a review... meh

There is basically two kinds of beer, good beer and bad beer and I don't like bad beer.

I have looked up a few reviews on beer out of curiosity's sake just to see what others have thought. I really don't get too much out of them though. But to each their own. I already have one hobby that I dedicate tons of time, effort, and thought to. I don't need to or want to do the same with beer and brewing.

The funny thing about this thread is that the OP is doing what he dislikes. Convincing me that beer reviews are worthless with your pre-concieved notions on the beer reviewers is just as *****ie as being the over the top reviewer.

If you don't like them then fine, I like reading the reviews. In fact those reviews have allowed me to expand on my beer knowledge, by trying different styles and/or breweries.

To each their own.

When I sit down to watch a hockey game, eat a bloody steak, or play some cards with my friends; I don't want to review the beer I'll inevitably be drinking. However, when I'm picking the beer I'll be drinking in the aforementioned situations, those careful reviews and in depth looks at the beer help me pick the right one, without having to overthink it.
Being a snobby jerk when tasting beer is annoying, true. But consideration of complexities in your beer can be the difference between an okay beer, and the perfect beer for the situation.

Fermenting: Razor Wit
Bottling: Matanuska Wildberry
Drinking: As American As... Ale

While I can see where OP is coming from. Sometimes BA reviews are really helpful. For example:

A week ago I was in this great little bar in Pittsburgh called Sharp Edge. They have tons of craft brews. Somewhere around 30-40 beers on tap and coolers and coolers full of bottled beer (I didn't see a BMC in the joint). So when I'm looking at that wide a selection of craft brews it's hard to know where to start or what to try. Usually I ask what the most local beer is and then I checked BA reviews to see if they were decent quality brews. I had three beers based off reviews from BA and all three were great brews.

If you can weed through the "wine-snobbiness" of beer reviews there is actually some very useful information in them. I also have to agree with Revvy and say it's difficult to describe a taste or a smell, so we've created a lexicon to attempt to define the undefinable.

To lend a different perspective to reviews . . . Think about how many beers you have given away that you knew were barely over the "meh" line and had people tell you that it was AWESOME!! Free beer always tastes better, but I actually like to hear from the person that will tell me that they don't like it.

I agree that there is a time and place for everything, and talking about the finer points of a barley wine during a football game should get your mancard suspended.

Schemy said:

The funny thing about this thread is that the OP is doing what he dislikes. Convincing me that beer reviews are worthless with your pre-concieved notions on the beer reviewers is just as *****ie as being the over the top reviewer.

If you don't like them then fine, I like reading the reviews. In fact those reviews have allowed me to expand on my beer knowledge, by trying different styles and/or breweries.

To each their own.

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Stop doing what I'm doing that you dislike

This is more for fun than anything else, pal. Cheers!

aseg said:

To lend a different perspective to reviews . . . Think about how many beers you have given away that you knew were barely over the "meh" line and had people tell you that it was AWESOME!! Free beer always tastes better, but I actually like to hear from the person that will tell me that they don't like it.

I agree that there is a time and place for everything, and talking about the finer points of a barley wine during a football game should get your mancard suspended.

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Agreed, fully. In fact, I tend to call out those folks I can tell are saying my beer is great when really it's not.