Beer Preference Survey to Settle Debate

So I recently had a debate with an ignoranus over beer sales and the top selling beers and what the beer style preference is for homebrewers. Without getting into details to skew the results of this I figured I would create my own survey and collect the results (you can view them after you take it).

As more data is collected I will post the results...(specifically homebrewers versus non-homebrewers).

Thanks for taking a minute or two...

http://www.fermentationriot.com/survey.php

Your survey is clearly written with a bias. You included only budget American light lagers and rather expensive craft beers in very limited/extreme styles. You should include some that lie in the middle of the road (in both price and perceived value to the "beer snob"). SN Pale Ale, Sam Adams, Fat Tire, Bud American Ale, the Michelob craft series, Shiner, Amber Bock, etc.

Also lots of gigantic hoppy beers and enormous stouts but not really a wide selection of styles.

I would consider myself a fan of maybe two of those, and I like a wide variety of beers.

The only beers on there I would click are a few of the BMCs and Troegs. If everyone answered honestly, you would probably not like the results. Most of those beers are highly regional and not available to the majority of homebrewers.

So basically this is a survey pitting up arguably some of the best craft beers from renowned California micros against top-selling macros. This survey won't give you the results you are looking for.

First thing to understand is that this subject is a very complex one -- there are many factors and shades of gray that are not accounted for in a survey like this. Preferences also vary for many people depending on the weather and time of year. For example, after a hard day's work, a macropils like Budweiser is actually quite refreshing, and if I want a session beer I would not choose a single one of the micros in that survey. No one can categorize them into single absolute preference like that, just as a beer's "rating" on sites like ratebeer.com has many different scores that contribute to a total.

I can tell you what your survey will look like after a while -- almost all of those craft beers will be marked with "Haven't tried it" and almost all of the macro beers will have "OK" or worse.

alenub said:

I can tell you what your survey will look like after a while -- almost all of those craft beers will be marked with "Haven't tried it" and almost all of the macro beers will have "OK" or worse.

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This. Around here, there's a number of those micros I flat out cannot find, and even then no variation. I'd broaden it out a little bit. Or a lot of bit.

That's one of the worst problems with craft beer in the states, IMO. Distribution. I used to live in New Orleans, and there would be a handful of places to get really good craft beer... but they'd all have the same distributor. That meant if I wanted a bottle of Trois Pistoles and the store could only get La Fin Du Monde, I was outta luck. Your only real chance of finding the craft beers in the survey is either to live in a state with a major urban centre or be in close proximity to California.

From the surface, yes, you can tell that there are a lot of light lagers versus highly flavored craft beers but I am looking for specific detail within those categories such as which beer would a homebrewer prefer Corona or Heineken and even look at the rates for trying beers relative to whether the person homebrews or not?

I want people to be as honest as they can in answering this so yes I do want the truth and will completely accept the truth (however I do understand surveys dont always get you the truth).

I think you're missing the point. If many people cannot try the micros due to unavailability, that's going to make your data meaninglessly inconsistent. I would suggest broadening the sphere of micros and imports and adding in some nationally available ones (SN, Sam Adams, etc). I'd also switch the system out based upon what you're looking for, and instead go with a ranking system.

I like brewing lager and kolsch, there's nothing on the survey for me (and those like me, if they exist.)

That list fits my palate well on the craft beer side. I wouldn't say Two Hearted or Ruination are "extreme" beers.

I finished the survey, and to be honest, I have only tried one of the fancy beers. I don't even think I could find all of them around here. Some variety in your beer selection would be great. And/or, provide context to the choices.

Ex: After mowing the lawn, would you prefer:
or: While eating tacos, would you prefer:
or: please rank the following beers in order of preference, if you were to drink them after a day at the office:

that way, you can get some meaningful data.

Maybe you'll find people like corona when eating Mexican food. Or people don't like an Imperial Stout after mowing the lawn. Or whatever.

The way it is set up makes it seem like you're using "Only good as a session beer" as a negative quality. I don't believe that is a description of beer quality though.

FYI, I didn't answer it. Fix it and I (and I'm sure plenty of others) would be happy to offer our help.

Given the entire list was pretty much overly-hopped ales, stouts, and BMC, yeah I'd rather drink my own piss for pretty much the entire list.....

Sorry but I couldnt resist saying Pliny is ok only as a session beer.

TheMan said:

The way it is set up makes it seem like you're using "Only good as a session beer" as a negative quality. I don't believe that is a description of beer quality though.

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+1. I would say that about both Bud Light and, say, Saranac Pale Ale. Both are just fine as session beers. I'd much rather drink the latter, but I'm also not exactly writing home to tell all my pals about Saranac Pale Ale. It's a good but not very memorable pale. i.e. great session beer.

I agree that you need to fix the survey. If I had a choice between downing 8 Plinys at a BBQ or 8 PBRs or BMCs, I'm drinking the fizzy yellow stuff.

I don't like the choice on the lesser ratings.. Also I can't believe that you do not have Sam Adams listed. Sams are perhaps my favorite commercial beer.

DannPM said:

Given the entire list was pretty much overly-hopped ales, stouts, and BMC, yeah I'd rather drink my own piss for pretty much the entire list.....

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I was the same way, Pliny was the only beer on that list that I tried AND liked. I'm a Belgian beer fan, feelin' a little left out over here...

Not 1 porter or brown ale on the survey. Not 1 scotch ale, hefeweizen or alt. The choices were between pisswater & highly hopped pisswater. Life's too short to drink swill.

Alright, I wasn't initially planning on getting too carried away with this but everyone has now convinced me to get fully carried away with this..Thanks!. It will be a longer version but I don't think most will care about that.

I am thinking it will be split out by categories such as session beers, craft beers, specialty craft, and even scenarios. The final goal will still be comparing homebrewers versus non-homebrewers. I do like the idea of a ranking system but still having the option of not ranking a beer if it has not been tasted.

Pass along suggestions for what you want to see for beers, rating schemes, categories, scenarios, etc. I know some have already been posted and I've taken those in. I will start laying out a rough format and throw it out here before aligning databases with HTML code.

So here are the list of beers I am thinking of for the second version of this investigation. Basically the scenario would be these would be the only beers offered and you would have to select at a minimum your top 5 selections for different situations. I selected beers from brewing companies that are currently in the top~20 for beer sales taking what I assumed to be the flagship brand or other styles that better rounded out this "cooler" of beers. Feel free to shoot me some suggestions on other beers to add or replace and different scenarios.

U.S. Breweries:
Alaskan Brewing and Bottling Co. Alaskan Amber
Anheuser-Busch Inc. Budweiser
Anheuser-Busch Inc. Bud Light
August Schell Brewing Co. Extra Pale Ale
Bell’s Brewery, Inc. Amber Ale
Bell's Brewery Porter
Blue Moon Brewery(MolsonCoors) Blue Moon
Boston Beer Co. Boston Lager
Boulevard Brewing Co. Unfiltered Wheat
D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc. Traditional Lager
Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery 60 minute IPA
Goose Island Beer Co. Honkers Ale
Goose Island Beer Co. 312 Urban Wheat
Harpoon Brewery India Pale Ale
Magic Hat Magic Hat #9
Magic Hat Black Butte Porter
Matt Brewing Co. Saranac Pale Ale
MillerCoors Brewing Co. Miller Lite
MillerCoors Brewing Co. Coors
MillerCoors Brewing Co. Coors Light
Minhas Craft Brewery Minhas Huber Bock
New Belgium Brewing Co. Fat Tire
North American Breweries Labatt Blue
Pabst Pabst Blue Ribbon
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Bock
Stone Brewing Co. Stone Pale Ale
Stone Brewing Co. Stone Smoked Porter

Imports:
Corona, Heineken, Guiness Extra Stout, Fosters

Bass Ale... it's very popular in bars and restaurants and a lot of people will be familiar with it as a choice. Possibly Killian's also.

Based on the first go around, I fear this will be incredibly biased towards what the OP wants to find. Perhaps it would be easier to explain whatever argument started this situation and get some responses to it from homebrewers.

IffyG said:

Based on the first go around, I fear this will be incredibly biased towards what the OP wants to find. Perhaps it would be easier to explain whatever argument started this situation and get some responses to it from homebrewers.

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Agreed.

OP, what exactly is the argument? I don't think you'll skew the results by posting what you're trying to prove. If somebody thinks you're wrong, they'll let ya know, it is the internet after all lol.