BeerAdvocate Ignorance Vent. LOL

I stopped going to that site the first week I knew about it... Why? Reviews like this:

Fruity, tropical, and catty. Sweet bready pale malts come through quite a bit and more than expected but this one is overdosed with the hops. Tangerine, Passionfruit, and puckering melon

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WTF is "Catty?" and a "Puckering Melon". This is not even the worst example. I feel like I could make a bull**** review and say it tastes like a hint of Rosewood apple soaked dog hair and people would agree. Really?

I really only use it to see what other people thought of the beers and to see if what I thought matches. I always drink first, take notes and see if my taste is that of the general public. Right now I would say im at about 50% lol.

mhermetz said:

WTF is "Catty?"

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It's a common descriptor of Simcoe hops. A lot of people detect a cat piss like flavor/aroma and it's a bit more cultured to call it catty, rather than cat piss...

see I find that just ridiculous you relate something to cat piss. I don't care if it's more cultured to call it catty.

Lol. But if it tastes like cat piss, then what are you supposed to say? Not much different than the horsey descriptors from brett beers. There are some ridiculous reviews though.

The thing that annoys me most is that I don't give a f*ck what they poured the damned beer into. I'm going to start posting reviews on there stating that the beer was served to me in a pint mason jar just because it annoys me so much. "It was poured into a 22oz snifter and the lacing lazily followed the beer down the glass." STFU!

Well, technically they say "horse blanket" instead of "horse ****."

As someone else noted, BA is nice to see if other people are picking up on the same things I am. I'll usually drink about half of whatever it is I'm drinking, get my thoughts together, then finish the pint with some of the reviews in front of me.

The ratings themselves, though, are worthless. I don't care if someone thinks a beer is a "B-," but I do care if they're tasting more coffee than chocolate, or "stonefruit," or whatever.

the_bird said:

Well, technically they say "horse blanket" instead of "horse ****."

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I assume that's the same as 'barnyard' that others throw around.

IffyG said:

It's a common descriptor of Simcoe hops. A lot of people detect a cat piss like flavor/aroma and it's a bit more cultured to call it catty, rather than cat piss...

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Pretty sad if people know what cat piss tastes like. That was funny. In a sense I can kind of imagine what flavor note they are talking about.

Really? Anyone that has ever changed a litter box knows exactly what cat piss smells like and would have an idea of what it tastes like...

niquejim said:

I appreciate good hops and I like Simcoe when used in moderation, but Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe reminded me of cleaning an overused litter box

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cat-pee-hop-116845/

IffyG said:

Really? Anyone that has ever changed a litter box knows exactly what cat piss smells like and would have an idea of what it tastes like...



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cat-pee-hop-116845/

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+1. I want to rage on all the people who say "derp pretty messed up you've tasted pee". Until I came on this forum I hadn't met anyone who thought that "joke" was funny or worth saying since middle school. I guess I'm just good troll-bait...damnit.

IffyG said:

Really? Anyone that has ever changed a litter box knows exactly what cat piss smells like and would have an idea of what it tastes like...



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cat-pee-hop-116845/

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Sorry about that. I just re read that. Didn't mean to say "you" people. Just people in general, as I like everyone on here. And I'm sure the litter box would give one an idea.

I don't visit BA, but I use ratebeer for reference. The site is an organized catalog of beers with a quick way to pick out a style, abv, commercial description, and general public consensus. Navigating a brewery's website is simply less convenient than firing up the ratebeer app for some quick info on a beer.

IMO the problem with so many beer descriptors is that people don't know how to describe a flavor so they use one that everyone else does, without really knowing if they're tasting the same thing. Horseblanket is the PERFECT example of this. How many of you have tasted a horse blanket? Sure, maybe a few of you grew up on a farm, raised horses, and made an odd flavor connection. What happens now is people see your review, without having any idea what a "horse blanket" smells or tastes like, and say "yeah! That makes sense! This beer tastes like horse blanket!"

The other issue, of course is rarity/abv influencing ratings so heavily...but that topic has been done to death.