Beers judged to best have high ABV on beer advocate.

BuonAnno said:

Personally I love BA and the work they do. I just have an issue with people who will drink something because of the rating it got on BA and not because they enjoy it. I know of people who really detest stouts but will actively seek out bottles of Dark Lord and rave about them. Weird.

Here is my favorite BA story. Through BA I traded a gentleman in California 6 Nugget Nectars for two bottles of Pliny. I threw in several homebrews with my Nugget Nectars hoping that I would get some feedback. Well about a week after I sent them out I got home from work to find a FedEx package on my front step with all of my homebrews in it. Included was a note that said, "I don't drink home made stuff."

Ah......snobbery at its finest.

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I use BA the same way I use Yelp: someone tells me about a beer, I check out a bunch of reviews - both good and bad - and then I try the beer for myself. If anything, BA has served its purpose just by getting people to talk about beer. Yes, beer snobs abound over there, but that's because it's a site that attracts people who think they know a lot about beer. Maybe I'm biased, but the people here at HBT are a bit more qualified because we know what goes into the bottle beyond what you can learn on the brewery tour.

I joined BA in 2001, and at that time it was a good resource when just getting into craft beer. The same handful of guys posted most reviews and general stuff in the forum. Learned alot early on.

I stopped going there much about 5 years ago when there seemed to be an avalanche of snobs and self-made beer geeks. A lot of the top beers are impossible for most of the country to get their hands on, and thus it turns into a lot of dick-sizing over who tried the geekiest and rarest beer. Most of the best session or moderate ABV beers in the world come in a distant second.

I've found people here to be more knowledgeable and helpful about all things beer. Just my $0.02.

BuonAnno said:

Personally I love BA and the work they do. I just have an issue with people who will drink something because of the rating it got on BA and not because they enjoy it. I know of people who really detest stouts but will actively seek out bottles of Dark Lord and rave about them. Weird.

Here is my favorite BA story. Through BA I traded a gentleman in California 6 Nugget Nectars for two bottles of Pliny. I threw in several homebrews with my Nugget Nectars hoping that I would get some feedback. Well about a week after I sent them out I got home from work to find a FedEx package on my front step with all of my homebrews in it. Included was a note that said, "I don't drink home made stuff."

Ah......snobbery at its finest.

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And this was that gentleman:

I'm not surprised at the overall feeling of BA.com on here. There a lot of pretentious blowhards on that site. I do find it a very useful website when browsing the liquor store however.

First of all, when looking at the top rated beers of course the rarity will effect the rating. People hype them in their mind. However, all the beers I've had on that list (including DL, Abyss and Wv12) are incredible beers and worthy of all their praise.

IMO, BA.com is best used from a high level. If a beer had a lot of reviews, then trust the rating. Look at the letter score (A, B-, C, whatever). It's usually a very good indication of the beer's quality. I very rarely read reviews, though I do occasionally read ones by the brothers because they generally know what they are talking about. But don't waste your time reading the 17 descriptions that someone took the time to dream up regarding a particular beer. Your impression will be very different, probably much more honest and reserved, and should be the only one that matters to you.

Basically, use BA.com like a scale, if it says a beer is good, it probably will be. And vice versa. Take any "rankings" as a grain of salt. Everyone's opinion will of course be different.

As stated before, BA is a fine tool to check out what other people generally think about beers that you

A) haven't tried yet
B) can't find anywhere
C) tried and didn't like but want to try again


Otherwise I don't really pay that much attention to it. I like the spirit behind it though.

For me, the problem seems to be that people seem to like when their taste buds are overstimulated.

Ketchup is a much enjoyed condiment, because it combines so many tastes: sweet, salty and sour. The only region of the tongue that isn't stimulated is the bitter region, which many people find displeasing.

So something like a Barrel Aged Barleywine/Stout will get you as close to Ketchup, if you will, as beer can get.

Sweetness. The barrel gives you vanillin, which is the same compound as in Vanilla extract. What do most people associate vanilla with: sweetness.
Add the maltiness of something like a Barleywine, and you have a perfect mix for the sweetness.

Bitterness. Um, do I even need to talk about this?!

Salty. I have a feeling breweries will add salt in their mineral additions, as this gives you the same effect as in food: taste enhancer.

Alcohol. Most of them have higher alcohol %, which is also a taste stimulus (burning sensation, think spicy)

I'm not saying that these kinds of beers don't have their place. Obviously a lot of people like them, and I can enjoy them as well. But what I want to drink may sometimes be something like a simple Pale Ale. Simple sometimes makes wonderful things!

My favorite beer is a 4.5ABV ale. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14331/38481. It is a brew pub, but I go to the one in Toronto -- not Montreal where the chain is from.
They go through a batch in 5 days. So I figure the reason I like it so much is that it is more-or-less fresh and unpasteurized.

It is not bitterly hoppy -- it is lightly hopped. It has light malt, but what I like are the aromatics/esters but not overly so. But it doesn't taste like water.

This is my target brew. I taste around and find a target to brew.

laughing_gnome_invisible said:

site for 'tards.

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+1000000

I like their magazine. I use the site mostly for looking up new beers to try. I usually look up a beer I like and check out the top rated beers for the style. Generally I like the top rated beers if I like the style. The Bros definitely do not promote snobbery and their reviews are usually more accurate then the reviews of the hordes.

I have grown tired of all the hoppy and high alcohol beers. I wish breweries would branch out away from the hoppy beers.

I would add you shouldn't judge the majority by the minority few that are pretentious. I think if special release beers were separated from standard beers we would see the lower ABV beers that are truly appreciated by the general public rise to the top. As it is, the beers that are high on the list are, for the most part, consumed in 22oz or tap and big beers. Anything in a bomber is almost always not an every day beer. At least I don't have the extra cash to drink 22oz bombers every day.

I use the site to read through the tasting notes that seem to be from every day guys when I come across a new beer I'm thinking about buying. I can discern BS reviews from real reviews. I don't think BA as a whole is a piece of garbage like some folks on here that can't seem to separate the good from the bad.

Honestly, I've tried everything in the top 10, (except the Westy, KBS, and the Younger.) They are all fine beers. Would I rate Abyss higher than Black Butte? I doubt it. But are they both good beers? Hells Yeah.

And BuonAnno, I probably wouldn't drink something in a bottle I got from a random person in the mail either, home brew or not.

B

Edcculus said:

No, its just because BA is full of beer snobs who don't really know much about beer...

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Yes I kind of got this vibe while cruising around on there, the "crowd" on there and on this site doesn't have a whole lot in common, I like reading some of the reviews but overall it seems like a site full of beer snobs lol.