RateBeer Best: The results are in!

Originally posted by puzzl

Originally posted by miketd

Originally posted by TAR
In the top ten Best Brewers list:

Founders
Dieu du Ciel
Great Divide Brewing Company
Stone Brewing Co.
Brouwerij de Molen

Utterly aghast about this. I can’t think of one really good beer from any of these brewers, but can think of many that are just plain clumsy, poor and riddled with flaws. We should expect so much more from craft beer, and I say this with the kindest of intentions (although I will undoubtedly be perceived as a snooty mean person).

Not trying to be a dick here, but looking at your top 100 ratings, only a few are recent; almost all of them are from 3+ years ago. Maybe you outgrew beer?

I wager he’s like me, in that over time the element of surprise disappears, and ratings get lower. The more you drink, the more you know, and the lower your ratings get. But that doesn’t mean beer becomes less enjoyable, merely that your standards have become higher before you judge a beer to be world class. I know personally that I enjoy beer now more than ever, despite my top 50 being rather stagnant. A 4.2 now means a lot more today than it did five years ago, because I no longer just award it for stuff like "wow, this is the hoppiest/strongest/sourest/brettiest/craziest beer I’ve ever had!" Now, a 4.2 is something truly world class, something I’d love to revisit over and over again, something that just brings me pure pleasure.

I think a lot of what TAR is getting at is that the breweries he listed just don’t bring that kind of A game to the table that yields 4s for true beer geeks. But their stuff is strong, accessible, and decent enough, and most ratings here are still coming from newer folk (especially of the beers in question), so they get judged a bit higher. Also important is that only a brewers top 3 or 4 beers count; consistency is not an issue at all, and brewers like Great Divide can get by on Yeti/OA Yeti/Chocolate Yeti/Bourbon Yeti alone and not have to worry that Samurai blows.

Originally posted by Guerde

Originally posted by TAR
In the top ten Best Brewers list:

Founders
Dieu du Ciel
Great Divide Brewing Company
Stone Brewing Co.
Brouwerij de Molen

Utterly aghast about this. I can’t think of one really good beer from any of these brewers, but can think of many that are just plain clumsy, poor and riddled with flaws. We should expect so much more from craft beer, and I say this with the kindest of intentions (although I will undoubtedly be perceived as a snooty mean person).

Originally posted by TAR
The term "overrated" has such a negative connotation since it suggests others are wrong. Which of course is untrue given the subjectivity of the sense of taste, smell, etc. "Underappreciated" seems a bit more diplomatic.

It also suggests you have limited experience with this beer. Some batches have been divine.

No, not snooty, just a hypocrite.

Originally posted by beastiefan2k
There is literally nothing I want to drink from Great Divide anymore. After trying some of the recent 12ozers I will probably never buy another beer from them. After looking at TAR’s rating maybe the tripel but probably not.

I refuse to pay the outrageous prices Dieu du Ciel charges after seeing the disaster Peche Mortel has become.

There are some brews from the other breweries I like but none of those make my top list. But then again I must hate beer.

Originally posted by puzzl

I wager he’s like me, in that over time the element of surprise disappears, and ratings get lower. The more you drink, the more you know, and the lower your ratings get.

It is pretty ridiculous that of the top American beers, the ONLY non-imperial stout is Pliny. That is effin’ retarded. I mean, I like a good imp stout, but 14 out of the top 15?!? Come on now.....

De Molen is the first European brewer, just before Struise and Westvleteren. Well done, Menno!!

Well ive said it before and i will say it again.

There NO way Harviestoun deserve to be on the best brewers in the world. bases on 3 of its beers that get a LARGE US distribution.

If the rest of there beers were distrubuted the same, it would get a much lower overall score.

Harviestoun are a decent brewery, but they dont stand out here in the UK.

We need to get a better way of getting an everage score for each brewery than just averaging there ratings for the year, as either distrubution or people hunting 1 beer from that brewery distorts, the overall rating of the brewery.


Would it not be better to average Each beer first and then average teh averages, thus stopping 1 or 2 beers from there catalogue undully influence there score.


ps. i chose Harvistoun as an exmple that stick out for me, but its the overall method that i think is seriously flawed.

If this is a marketing tool for the site. Im pretty convinced that for your average UK punter, taking a look at the list would find it unbelievable that harvistoun stands way above any other UK brewery.Hes not going to understand that there in the list because of the few beers they send to the US, not the ones he see’s in the Pubs here.

Originally posted by cgarvieuk
Well ive said it before and i will say it again.

There NO way Harviestoun deserve to be on the best brewers in the world. bases on 3 of its beers that get a LARGE US distribution.

If the rest of there beers were distrubuted the same, it would get a much lower overall score.

Harviestoun are a decent brewery, but they dont stand out here in the UK.

We need to get a better way of getting an everage score for each brewery than just averaging there ratings for the year, as either distrubution or people hunting 1 beer from that brewery distorts, the overall rating of the brewery.


Would it not be better to average Each beer first and then average teh averages, thus stopping 1 or 2 beers from there catalogue undully influence there score.


ps. i chose Harvistoun as an exmple that stick out for me, but its the overall method that i think is seriously flawed.

If this is a marketing tool for the site. Im pretty convinced that for your average UK punter, taking a look at the list would find it unbelievable that harvistoun stands way above any other UK brewery.Hes not going to understand that there in the list because of the few beers they send to the US, not the ones he see’s in the Pubs here.

Originally posted by bierkoning
De Molen is the first European brewer, just before Struise and Westvleteren. Well done, Menno!!

Originally posted by joet

Originally posted by cgarvieuk
Well ive said it before and i will say it again.

There NO way Harviestoun deserve to be on the best brewers in the world. bases on 3 of its beers that get a LARGE US distribution.

If the rest of there beers were distrubuted the same, it would get a much lower overall score.

Harviestoun are a decent brewery, but they dont stand out here in the UK.

We need to get a better way of getting an everage score for each brewery than just averaging there ratings for the year, as either distrubution or people hunting 1 beer from that brewery distorts, the overall rating of the brewery.


Would it not be better to average Each beer first and then average teh averages, thus stopping 1 or 2 beers from there catalogue undully influence there score.


ps. i chose Harvistoun as an exmple that stick out for me, but its the overall method that i think is seriously flawed.

If this is a marketing tool for the site. Im pretty convinced that for your average UK punter, taking a look at the list would find it unbelievable that harvistoun stands way above any other UK brewery.Hes not going to understand that there in the list because of the few beers they send to the US, not the ones he see’s in the Pubs here.

It’s generous of you to choose Harviestoun as a fellow Scot who, by your ratings, appears to enjoy their beers and still choose them as an example.

But please check the ratings. It’s not just the US raters who love Harviestoun.

And remember de Struise in Belgium and Jesus Christ in Nazareth before them were not well regarded at home. Even the Beatles had to go to Germany.