1) How much of a beer do you need to drink to give a fair rating?
This varies according to style. If it is another Belgian Ale, I can tell quickly what is going on. 1.5 - 2 oz. is fine by me. If it is something ridiculous like BA, Imperial, whatever, 1.5 – 2 oz. is also fine. Sometimes I need 3 oz. or so to make up my mind. I think that after thousands of beers, I don’t need that much to figure out if I like a beer or not. For an infected beer or a industrial pale lager, any amount will do. I find the people who say that you need ½ or full pint somewhat crazy. It is not going to taste different after more than half a litter & considering the ABV of Belgian & craft beers, I would probably die. I cannot see being massively drunk improving my tasting abilities. A lot of beers aren’t even meant to be drunk in such amounts.
BONUS: I have drank beer with several 10k+ Danish folks, I can safely say they drink anything but thimbles.
2) How much can you drink in a day before your ratings get affected?
Technically everything affects your rating doesn’t it? Your mood, what you had before, what you are thinking about etc. As for at what point do I become incapable of properly tasting anything anymore? I suppose if I get significantly tired or drunk, there is no real amount attached to that. Doing 30+ beers is usually no issue, I don’t drink full beers, drink water, change styles,…
3) Why do you think some styles do so well in comparison to others?
Geeks of anything end up preferring more extreme examples of anything, I remember that someone did a scientific study of it. The more you know about something, the more you need extremes to stay engaged. The newer you are to something ,the more likely the extremes are going to scare you away.
Plus the styles that score the highest, survive transport & extreme situations far better, you are more likely to get a premium product. Freshness is less an issue. The extreme flavours easily mask off-flavours. Making a perfect example of certain styles is extremely difficult.
4) Is it fair to rate a cask ale from a one-off taste, as condition varies so much?
Cask ale doesn’t exist where I live more or less. If a keg is flawed or a bottle, usually the brewer is to blame. No issue rating it.
Rating unblended lambiek is complete nonsense. a) breweries sometimes sell less quality to bars they like less or less important events. Quality depends on location. b) Often it is just given for novelty purposes to get an idea & not as an actual beer. c) the variation is through the roof, 1 & 3 year old lambiek can taste nothing alike but have the same entry. d) people rate the wrong beers so often, for instance brewery a might be serving lambiek from brewery b. People don’t ask & rating the beer as a beer from brewery a.
