Ratings, Reviews and Why You Might Want To Ignore Them

Today the Chicago Tribune Online ran a story on tasting Trader Joe's beer.  They grouped the beer into the following groups: good, ok, less ok, and ick.  The article points out the little known fact that Gordon Biersch and Firestone Walker brew for Trader Joe's.  Both of these establishments are well known and regarded in the industry.  In fact, Firestone Walker took the Mid-Size Brewing Company award at both World Beer Cup and GABF this year.   The Tribune author only felt a few of these beers to be good.

Well knowing the background of these brewers and having decent experience with Trader Joe's beer I looked deeper.  One beer that caught my eye was Mission St. Pale Ale by Firestone Walker.  Well Beer Advocate's community ranking gives this beer a solid B with at qucik glance ratings from D+ to A+.  So I headed over to ratebeer and see its score of 65 and overall 50 for category.  Ratebeer's system generates a percentile score so it considers this beer to be at the dead center of it's style.

As far as I am concerned, with the exception of my own opinion only two other ratings matter.  World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival.  Both organizations use strict style guides and blind tastings by experienced tasters.  This pale landed a Bronze at WBC 2010 in American Style Pale Ale and Gold at this years GABF.  Not too shabby for a beer with mediocre reviews.

How could a beer be regarded as one of the top beers in its' style get mediocre reviews?  Personally I think it comes down to perception and taste.  When shopping in Trader Joe's for cheap beer you do not expect to find good beer.  Secondly there is taste.  Many people love mushrooms I can't stand the taste.  People need to remember what one likes another despises.

So in the end, take every review you read with a grain of salt.  If the review is very bad the beer probably is, but give things an open shot; mediocre might be your fantastic.  So many reviews are colored by brewery reps, people with vendettas or just plain poor taste.  Go out give it a shot, see what happens and maybe save some money making a great beer all the better.

Denver The Initial Report

So I went to Denver over the weekend.  Here are my initial thoughts: SWEET.  Yeah that sums it up.  We started at a place called Cooper Smith's, New Belgium, and Odell's on day one.  And yes all were awesome.  Day two we took it easy apparently, I am one of those people prone to altitude sickness.  Although sick I still made it out to Tommyknocker on day two.  Day three I rallied and we visited Breckenridge's Ballpark location for lunch, followed by some of the best canned beer ever at Oskar Blues, and finished up with Great Divide before heading to the airport.  Oh and the airport led to more drinking.  Once there we stopped into Boulder Brewing for a drink and the Chophouse for supper and a sampler.

I hinted that I thought Denver made some genuine mistakes in beer.  One is the prevalence of taprooms versus brewpubs.  It caught me off guard that places like Odell's, Great Divide and some others don't feel the need to have a restaurant style environment.  I really think this hurts the business.  There is a movement to show beer belongs on the table just like wine.  A brewpub is the place to show that.  Secondly, the crowd was very young at these places.  Occasionally you would see a couple with kids, but not often.  The inability to create an environment that is truly kid friendly limits the people who will come and sit and sample your beers.  Finally, out of towners (like myself) need a place to sit and relax.  I felt without food I had to drink less.  Now I do understand adding a restaurant takes things like space and management and capital and blah blah blah.  Regardless, I think if some of these establishments truly want to achieve long term bliss it is a critical way to reach your market.  At least to me I felt many of these places where way out in the middle of nowhere.

The other problem?  GABF.  Yes I think GABF being in Denver is a problem.  Not really for Denverites (is that what they are called?), but for the rest of the country.  This obviously requires a much longer and dedicated post.

I plan on writing reviews of each brewery I visited along with tasting notes on a number of beers.  So stay tuned and of course my thoughts on GABF will come before this years event.