BeerAdvocate Ratings.

When I look at the ratings on beeradvocate, I get the impression that the grades they give beers seem to be based on what type of beer style the beer is instead of if the beer matches the beer style it's suppose to be. Also I noticed that certain beer styles will have higher ratings than others. For example, American Macro Lagers and Light Lagers have very low scores. It would seem more helpful to score the beers based on matching their beer style as this would be more objective than subjective. How do you guys pick which beers you want to try out and are there other sites you use to get reviews?

I don't know if I just made any sense...but discuss

There's definitely an amount of snobbery there, but I think people judge American Macro Lagers as lagers, and not really among a subset of American macros, which is why they get low scores.

I prefer RateBeer, less snobbery on there.

You hit the nail on the head, there. That's my big qualm with BA, too.

IMHO, that's just the way things go when you get a bunch of passionate fans drawn to reviewing/rating/discussing craft beer (or just about any subject when it comes down to it). The mass-market consumer segment is typically going to get ignored or outright slammed by the rabid "connoisseur." I don't find either site more or less snobby when it comes to discussion or reviews. Either way, I like the reviews just for a general concept of what a beer is like. It's not an absolute that will meet everyone's subjective taste and we all have different experiences.

How do wine forumites discuss cheap wines like Lancers or Boons Farm? Hit a musicians forum and ask about opinions on the last Brittany Spears or Pink album and you'll find the same kinda thing....there are numerous examples, know what I mean?

yep... those sites are not BJCP. They are just about what individual users like/dislike and how much they buy into the hype. Most people drink the rare beer kool-aid (myself included) which is why some beers will never leave the top ten (Westvletaren comes to mind). I just look at hte reviews occasionally or use the site for research. I mostly just drink for myself and am going to try something new whether it received good scores or not.

Yeah but if you're going to BA to get macro ratings???

Just my humble opinion, but i noticed that BA seems to have an east coast bias due to the fact that the Bro's that run the site live in Boston. Thus, east coast beers like sam adams, smuttynose and DFH have many more reviews than Deschutes or Avery which are not readily available back east. That being said, i do enjoy the website a lot and it is what educated me to beer.

Getting back to OP, i agree that there is a tendency to "over rate" beers like stouts, belgians and IPAs while great beers such as amber ales, pilsners and other lighter styles are "under rated". Not sure if this is because stouts and belgians have more character or just a consequence of beer snobbery.

BOTH BA and RB rate Macro poorly and BIG beer gets BIG scores.

As for how I choose a beer to buy. For one, I don't pay any attention to the shelf talker at all if they are present.

If I have a particular styel I am looking for, obviously, I look for styles of that example and either get all of them or choose the one that appears most appealing at the time.

Otherwise, I generally just peruse the shelves for ANYTHING I haven't tried yet. Which can be difficult at times since I neither take notes or rate anything. It works for the good ones but not so much for tha bad ones. I have tried a number of poorly made beers a few times by mistake. Greenes Organic comes to mind.

I too have noticed the BIG beer gets BIG scores. When I come across a beer I haven't had I check out the ratings, but I take those ratings with a grain of salt, afterall, nobody know what I like more than I do.

I only use BA to get info about the beer....ingredients, flavors present, etc, etc. I don't really look at their ratings because they are more often than not on the other side of the spectrum from what I would give something...taste is all subjective. I like Breckenridge vanilla porter a lot, but it got a not so hot grade (can't remember what though), while on the other hand, I think arrogant bastard is absolutely undrinkable (one of the few beers I've ever poured out), but since it's a big beer, it got a great score. The whole thing about BMCs is, while they don't taste very good, they're good beers...that is indisputable. They adhere perfectly to style guidelines and are champions of consistency.

BeezBrew said:

Just my humble opinion, but i noticed that BA seems to have an east coast bias due to the fact that the Bro's that run the site live in Boston.

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I disagree. The most active forum is the Pacific forum. There is a ton of activity on this coast on that site.

That said, I am snobbier than the beer snobs on there. I refuse to write reviews and I actively talk **** about some of those guys because they're total *****ebags. Sure. they're passionate, but cornering most of those guys will result in a hilarious conversation because they're really just puppets. They will repeat the exact answers they've read on the site because they want to sound informed.

haha...actually i picked some beers to sample from a local place here and once I checked them out on BA, I was browsing around and noticed the scoring discrepency. I usually will just pick beers that friends have recommended or that I get off of here. Was just curious to see peoples review on them.

mrfocus said:

Yeah but if you're going to BA to get macro ratings???

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I always use Beer Advocate after I review a beer to see how close my review is to the average. Most of the time I tend to track along with the average. I do personally review style guidelines before reviewing a new beer because to do otherwise doesn't help the review. Therefore I have given some decent grades to beers that I really didn't think too highly of.

I cross reference BA with RateBeer ratings - but still - I have no problem with their bias. Everybody knows it's there.

Those sites basically allow anyone to rate any beer. So, the ratings are pretty haphazard, and they don't necessarily reflect a beer's real character. I refer to them occasionally, but I take none of it as gospel, and I draw my own conclusions.

I read them and it's a good place to find out about beer. But it's got an air of snobbery and some beers don't deserve the ratings they get.

Kicking this up... I like BA (especially for the BeerFly page for travel), but yeah, the reviews tend to favor big beers too much (you can't drink those every night IMHO).

Sometimes I just don't get it - yesterday I tried a Hobgoblin for the first time. LOVED it. In fact quickly found a great recipe here and plan on doing that soon.

For kicks checked to see what they thought on BA, very average score (B). Seemed out of line for such an enjoyable beer.

'The Bros' (founders) gave it an 'A-', so at least there is some sanity there...

aliu630 said:

When I look at the ratings on beeradvocate, I get the impression that the grades they give beers seem to be based on what type of beer style the beer is instead of if the beer matches the beer style it's suppose to be. Also I noticed that certain beer styles will have higher ratings than others. For example, American Macro Lagers and Light Lagers have very low scores. It would seem more helpful to score the beers based on matching their beer style as this would be more objective than subjective. How do you guys pick which beers you want to try out and are there other sites you use to get reviews?

I don't know if I just made any sense...but discuss

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To me a lot of the BA ratings are directly proportional to the amount of alcohol in the beer. Also those ratings are not like competition judging where the beer is matched against style guidelines, the BA ratings are pretty much a popularity vote. That said I doubt many members here or on any other homebrew forum would give high marks to any of the light yellow fizzy everyday macro beers. IMO the overwhelming majority of homebrewers and craft beer drinkers are in those categories specifically to get away from those mass market beers.