Is Stronger Better?

Hi Everyone,

I’ve just joined, although I’m no stranger to drinking beer, and no spring chicken either!

I really just wanted to see what’s good drinking out there, so I looked at the ratings for my favourite, and was amazed to see it notched up a mere 46%.

So I looked at thee Top 50 beers - and I didn’t recognise any of them!

I soon realised why when I looked at the details - to my amazement (and I admit, slight concern!) I saw that just about all of them were 10% ABV or more!

Well, I don’t know what anyone else feels, but in my book that’s more than half way to sherry in strength, and not the sort of drink you’d put in a pint glass! In fact with my social conscience hat on, I seriously worry that some people may actually be drinking just a pint of that every night, thinking "well beer can’t hurt you"!

I don’t dispute that a stronger beer has more bite, and more substance (or that I like it too), but it’s a shame to compare a complex, but lighter beer negatively against such a heavy-weight onslaught on the palate and the senses!

Perhaps we should have categories 3% to 4.5%, 4.6% to 6.5% etc. Then, when you do want a good beer you can actually drink by the pint, you can see what’s available.

The Top 50 is customizable. You can enter your own abv cap.

People don’t drink those beers regularly and likely do not drink the entire bottle to themselves, most certainly not a pint on a regular.

Those beers are higher abv, so are served in a proportional smaller volume. Usually savored and sipped, not chugged down.

There are plenty of awesome low abv beers out there, but a hoppy Session IPA or Golden Ale is never going to be able to compete with a rich, melted dark chocolate imperial stout because chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and bourbon are less polarizing than hops.

Thanks GT2 - just a newbie here, me, so that’s useful advice - I clearly need to get on to using the site tools. I’ll be interested to see how mine then rates in the abv range I want!

in general, high ABV beers have more intense taste, thus get higher ratings . thats how they get in the top 50 . ( that and plus rarity , hype, ... )
if you think low abv is better, than you should stick to low ABV . Its always your own taste that defines wether a beer is good or not , not what the 99.999% say ;)

Also pay attention to the "style" percent in each rating- that will give you a better indicator of quality than the "overall" number. The truth is that most folks drink a world class Pilsner on this site and give it a 3-3.3, while an Imperial Stout of very high quality is typically rated closer to a 4. That is a trend that is slowly changing, but there needs to be more folks with the mindset you’ve endorsed here actively rating beer to continue that change.

Originally posted by MrBeerDrinker
Hi Everyone,

I’ve just joined, although I’m no stranger to drinking beer, and no spring chicken either!

I really just wanted to see what’s good drinking out there, so I looked at the ratings for my favourite, and was amazed to see it notched up a mere 46%.

So I looked at thee Top 50 beers - and I didn’t recognise any of them!

I soon realised why when I looked at the details - to my amazement (and I admit, slight concern!) I saw that just about all of them were 10% ABV or more!

Well, I don’t know what anyone else feels, but in my book that’s more than half way to sherry in strength, and not the sort of drink you’d put in a pint glass! In fact with my social conscience hat on

Don’t forget to check the style ratings. A lot of styles tend to skew lower against the over all ratings. Schlitz 1960s formula, for example, is rated 95 in the pale lager category, yet only an 18 over all. And yes, it is damned tasty!

Of course stronger is better. Do u even lift, bro?

Yeah he’s worried about my morality. Lol fucken hay

Hi Gary

Sorry to sound preachy, as I am no paragon of virtue! My liver will surely not stand up to close scrutiny. It’s just that I like to think of people enjoying good things like beer AND having a very long life to enjoy them! I do accept that everyone (in some countries, but not all) has free will, and I would be the very first to support that. Please ignore my social conscience!

Hi b3shine - yes! ... but Gary no, I don’t associate drinking strong beer with having low moral standards!