Rating Beer Raters?

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Apologies if posted elsewhere...

http://flossmoorstation.blogspot.com/2008/01/over-analysis-syndrome.html

1st comment .. someone seems a bit upset:
The whole appreciation of craft beer has sadly turned into a Frankenstein monster. Everyone’s an expert.

What particularly galls me is a beer drinker/critic who "analyzes" a beer, usually with all its "faults" and then has to immediately post on ratebeer or beeradvocate to roundly criticize the beer because it doesn’t meet the artificial style guidelines created by a bunch of geeks from Colorado.

Here you have a brewer who has put himself in debt or near debt, worked hard to create a decent product and taken a substantial business risk, only to have some geek post a negative review, using all the tired buzz words, most that he really doesn’t understand, but it makes him feel better to slam the product because, after all, he knows.

What about the brewer, brewery personnel or pub owner who has worked hard to get where he is, only to be chastised by a guy who took a 2-day course in beer styles and now can pontificate because of his vast wealth of knowledge?

Hey Mr. Beer Expert. Why not walk in the shoes of the people behind the creation of that beer you don’t like, that doesn’t meet the high criteria of your "expert" status as a beer critic, ignoring the most important fact of beer enjoyment---taste is subjective.

Of course, when a certain group makes sweeping pronouncements that suddenly, well-established breweries are no longer considered "craft" beer operations because they hooked up with A-B or Miller for better distribution or took a cash infusion for more capacity, that only helps to foster another form of "over analysis syndrome," beer snobism.

It’s not the craft brewers who are causing this ugly part of the industry, it’s certain elements of self-serving trade organizations and some beer writers and hanger-ons who promote this stupidity---this snobism, this elitism.

You don’t like a beer...maybe I do, but you don’t have to make critical grand prouncements and start posting negative reviews as though you know more than the guy who’s put his money where his mouth is.

get a life

Passionate consumers expressing their opinions is bad?

My response:

Well us beer "critics" also do a lot for promoting good breweries and their best beers. I guess that you don’t understand that concept. People will make special trips to a brewery to try that buzz worthy beer that someone else recommends.

Sure there are beers that get a poor review but in the end the mean averages balance out one persons opinion.

Lastly both beer sites you listed are independent and unbiased. In my case (as well as many) beergeeks, we DO NOT rated based on style guidelines of the BJCP. We rate beer based on how good or bad we think it is. I have given a few bad reviews of Flossmoor beers but the majority of the beers are very good and some even world-class.

We are simply a more educated customer who enjoy beers. Almost none of us ever claim to be an expert but it is fun to learn something new each and every day. Really who is an expert anyway? I am sure there is plenty of things Matt and Andrew still have yet to learn or perfect as well.

Looking forward to the next great Flossmoor Beer!

Mike aka BBB63 @ ratebeer.com

Some people do take this thing a bit too seriously. After all, it’s just beer. Drink it, enjoy it, hell, even a rate a few - but don’t let it consume who you are, your actions and how you interact (or don’t interact) with people.

Sounds like someone needs to quit over analyzing beer anazlyzers.

Ya, moderation is the key. These people don’t complain when the hype causes more excitement than is truly warranted for the taste of their beer. And perhaps some of the people critiquing do know as much or more than them...
Still its only fair and polite to not go overboard and bash anybody, but just state why you do or don’t like something.
He also mentions RB and BA criticizing the beer for not meeting the artificial style guidelines. As far as I know the aim at RB is to rate them purely on a hedonistic scale rather than style adherence which is in their favor if we really know as little as he says.. I’ll admit I don’t know what exactly a perfect Dunkel is supposed to taste like, but I know if I like it, when I try it...
It really is no different than any other business though. If Sony makes shitty tvs that people don’t like picture quality of, tech geeks will post bad reviews on CNET...

I, personally, don’t get the whole RateBeer’ian motive. I mean I get the have a passion for beer. I just don’t get the passion for rating beer as a hobby.

I drink (heavily), I brew, I even rate beers for competitions (local). I can see judging a beer as this directly impacts the brewer either by instilling a sense of pride or by giving tips on how to improve the beer. That’s all fine and well for homebrew. I very seriously doubt a ProBrewer is going to re-formulate because a beer receives a less than satisfactory average on RateBeer. Who knows, maybe they will.

Originally posted by GilaMinumBeer
I, personally, don’t get the whole RateBeer’ian motive. I mean I get the have a passion for beer. I just don’t get the passion for rating beer as a hobby.

Some people collect stamps, some people collect bottles, some people collect ratings. It’s fun.

Originally posted by GilaMinumBeer
I very seriously doubt a ProBrewer is going to re-formulate because a beer receives a less than satisfactory average on RateBeer. Who knows, maybe they will.

I think you’d be surprised...

I am so tired of the "the brewer works really hard, so be nice to his product" argument. Who does that? Who watches a bad movie, listens to a bad song, or eats a bad meal and likes it because the producer put alot of work into it? Nobody. Same with beer.