The Beer Thread

[James Ford]

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

[stevewizzle]

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

my liver and alcoholism is clearly superior to yours.

it has it's place.  during CBC week, i knew which beers had those high BA ratings.  it made making tough decisions a little easier.

but i also cringed during CBC week when i heard a brewer bragging about his beer rating in the line to piss at meridian pint.  he didn't say he liked it, or why he brewed it, or what inspired the brew... he just said "yeah, it's got 4 stars on untapp'd". i just think there's a lot more to drinking beer than look, taste, smell, and feel.

[Jaguar]

If something is a 90 or above on beer advocate and has a good number of ratings, it's going to get my attention. If it has a 95 with 2400 ratings (the beer in question is Firestone Walker's Union Jack), I can assure you it's (the hoppy beer hating) Jaguar who is WRONG on this one.

Stick to numbers James, because you don't quite have it down with words yet.

It's not a matter of being right or wrong, it's opinion and taste. If I go by your words, than I would be wrong for some beer tasting bad to me. Since when does some poll know my personal tastes? As I stated, in my world, the stuff is disgusting!

Stevewizzle - funny you compared those ratings to Pitchfork because that is exactly what I came in here to do.

The place I buy my wine has charts for their various wines as to what is most popular (or however they word it). I've noticed that it's the lower quality wines that always make it to the top. All that tells me is that most people are buying cheap over quality. I get that Beer Advocate probably isn't based on sales but other beer drinkers opinions, but that is their opinion, not by select high end professionals. Even then, if the pros think it's wonderful, I'm still not buying that swill because .... I DO NOT LIKE IT!!!

Just like if you, James, come on here raving about some band, I know that the odds are that I won't be all that impressed. Doesn't mean the product is, in general, bad. I just know that I probably won't be interested. Same for you when I rave about some band. If you hate them, fine by me. They are bad to you. Won't tumble over my world. Now if Killsaly didn't like them, than I'd wonder what was up.

I can't stand soft greasy bacon wrapped around stuff either. Doesn't make me wrong and some squishy bacon eater right no matter how many health nuts might side with me. It's a PREFERENCE. Get it?

By the way, when I select a beer to drink that I'm not all that familiar with, I go by the words. The descriptions. Never any kind of number. I don't trust them when it comes to beer. Almost made that mistake once on a beer and was even told by the brewer that I probably wouldn't like it if I don't like hoppy beers. There was something about the wording that had my interest so I went with it. Glad that I went with my instinct based on the words because so far, it's still one of my favorite beers.

[imbecile]

I can't stand soft greasy bacon wrapped around stuff either. Doesn't make me wrong and some squishy bacon eater right no matter how many health nuts might side with me. It's a PREFERENCE. Get it?

The Passenger has bacon wrapped deep fried peanut butter cups.  The bacon is a little squishy, which typically weirds me out a bit, but it's absolutely delicious in this situation.

[James Ford]

Are you referring to the real world, one in which you don't know jack shit about beer?

It's the equivalent of me listening to a shoegaze album, and trying to say something constructive about it.

It's not a matter of being right or wrong, it's opinion and taste. If I go by your words, than I would be wrong for some beer tasting bad to me. Since when does some poll know my personal tastes? As I stated, in my world, the stuff is disgusting!

[atomicfront]

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

Because the 85 beer might taste a lot better to you.  Have a mind of you own.

[Jaguar]

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

Because the 85 beer might taste a lot better to you.  Have a mind of you own.

EXACTLY!!!!!!

Certain people prefer to play the beer snobs around here with no respect whatsoever to what others may think or prefer. I don't need other snobs telling me what I can drink and what I can't. That makes them extremely pretentious and unpleasant. They can follow their numbers and other sheep herders all they want. Not my preferred pasture. I'd much rather discover unpopular things that appeal more to my taste rather than stick with what some snot nosed number freak thinks they should like.

[atomicfront]

It isn't like wine ratings which are done by one organization. 

oh look... a.front is wrong again.

there isn't one wine rating organization.  the most widely referenced ratings are those from Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Advocate.  these are magazines/websites.  they will each rate a wine differently.

I am not wrong at all. I am saying a rating by Wine Advocate is one organization.  So it is that organization's view.  Even with three they don't all rate the same wines.  It is hard to have a mob mentality with so few organization rating wine.  Beer Advocate is a ton of people all just following each other.  Still I will buy wine that isn't rated.  Most of it turns out to be good.  Especially Malbecs.  We should have a wine thread.   Hopefully it would be people just drinking wine and saying whether they liked it or not and not I have to drink highly rated wine BS.  

[Jaguar]

I can't stand soft greasy bacon wrapped around stuff either. Doesn't make me wrong and some squishy bacon eater right no matter how many health nuts might side with me. It's a PREFERENCE. Get it?

The Passenger has bacon wrapped deep fried peanut butter cups.  The bacon is a little squishy, which typically weirds me out a bit, but it's absolutely delicious in this situation.

If that bacon was nice and crispy, I probably would like that too, and I tend to not even like peanut butter.

Trader Joe's sells some dark chocolate covered peanut butter cups that get me past my peanut butter dislike. They would be nice with some good cripsy bacon with a pint of a nice sweet maplely stout.

[James Ford]

I've had about half of the beers in the top 100 on this list.

http://beeradvocate.com/lists/top

I've also had my fair share of 85 beers. I can't think of a single 85 beer that was better than anything that's in the top 100 (that I've had) on that list.

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

Because the 85 beer might taste a lot better to you.  Have a mind of you own.

[James Ford]

But what is your mode of discovery? Randomly trying whatever shitty beers they have in the limited distribution bars in Ocean City or wherever it is you live?

If I want to learn about something, anything, I'm going to read as much by people who are passionate about the subject as I can. And take their advice and go on my own from there. Not go out and just start randomly, blindly trying stuff.

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

Because the 85 beer might taste a lot better to you.  Have a mind of you own.

EXACTLY!!!!!!

Certain people prefer to play the beer snobs around here with no respect whatsoever to what others may think or prefer. I don't need other snobs telling me what I can drink and what I can't. That makes them extremely pretentious and unpleasant. They can follow their numbers and other sheep herders all they want. Not my preferred pasture. I'd much rather discover unpopular things that appeal more to my taste rather than stick with what some snot nosed number freak thinks they should like.

[atomicfront]

But what is your mode of discovery? Randomly trying whatever shitty beers they have in the limited distribution bars in Ocean City or wherever it is you live?

If I want to learn about something, anything, I'm going to read as much by people who are passionate about the subject as I can. And take their advice and go on my own from there. Not go out and just start randomly, blindly trying stuff.

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

Because the 85 beer might taste a lot better to you.  Have a mind of you own.

EXACTLY!!!!!!

Certain people prefer to play the beer snobs around here with no respect whatsoever to what others may think or prefer. I don't need other snobs telling me what I can drink and what I can't. That makes them extremely pretentious and unpleasant. They can follow their numbers and other sheep herders all they want. Not my preferred pasture. I'd much rather discover unpopular things that appeal more to my taste rather than stick with what some snot nosed number freak thinks they should like.

Why not?  Are you afraid of making a decision based on your own opinion?  So if you go to tap house that has 50 beers you wont' drink one you haven't heard of before?  Where is your sense of discovery?  To me your view on this is no different than the people who only will drink bud light, miller light or coors light. 

[Jaguar]

Beer Advocate is a ton of people all just following each other.

I see this exact mentality all the time with music. Not just on this board but everywhere. There are a whole lot of bands that my usual crowd think is great and I do not like at all. That's why I don't trust music rating systems either. Besides, if I stuck only to the top rated stuff, I'd miss out on all kinds of other pleasant surprises. By ignoring ratings, it also allows me more variety when I opt to stray from my usual staples.

James, you can keep drinking as many Beer Advocate top rated beers you want. Doesn't phase me in the least. I'm not your liver, a family member, nor that close of a friend. Drink yourself silly for all I care. It makes no difference in my world. Just stay the fuck out of my beer glass!!!

[James Ford]

If there were 50 shows at the 9:30 Club over a three month period, and 20 of them were by bands you love, and you could only reasonably go to three or four of them, how likely would you be to choose to go to a show by a band you've never heard of?

But what is your mode of discovery? Randomly trying whatever shitty beers they have in the limited distribution bars in Ocean City or wherever it is you live?

If I want to learn about something, anything, I'm going to read as much by people who are passionate about the subject as I can. And take their advice and go on my own from there. Not go out and just start randomly, blindly trying stuff.

My liver cares if it's a 95 rating. There's "so many good beers out there" that I couldn't possibly try them all. If I see a beer that has a 95 rating, and plenty of reviews, i'm going to opt to try that over some other beer that has an 85 rating. Why should I waste my time on "good" beer when better beer is available?

who cares if a beer is a 95 rating?  there's so many good beers out there, why do we need to differentiate them by some bullshit point system? everyones palate and style taste is different.  it's like pitchfork, but for beer.

Because the 85 beer might taste a lot better to you.  Have a mind of you own.

EXACTLY!!!!!!

Certain people prefer to play the beer snobs around here with no respect whatsoever to what others may think or prefer. I don't need other snobs telling me what I can drink and what I can't. That makes them extremely pretentious and unpleasant. They can follow their numbers and other sheep herders all they want. Not my preferred pasture. I'd much rather discover unpopular things that appeal more to my taste rather than stick with what some snot nosed number freak thinks they should like.

Why not?  Are you afraid of making a decision based on your own opinion?  So if you go to tap house that has 50 beers you wont' drink one you haven't heard of before?  Where is your sense of discovery?  To me your view on this is no different than the people who only will drink bud light, miller light or coors light. 

[Jaguar]

But what is your mode of discovery? Randomly trying whatever shitty beers they have in the limited distribution bars in Ocean City or wherever it is you live?

If I want to learn about something, anything, I'm going to read as much by people who are passionate about the subject as I can. And take their advice and go on my own from there. Not go out and just start randomly, blindly trying stuff.

It's not random and, again, you missed out on some 'words' I wrote earlier. We have more than you ASSume but living in a slightly remote area does limit its distribution numbers. That's the trade off. I value easy traffic, the beach, small town life, and a number of other things to getting drunk on beer all the time. That's pretty damn low on my list. But, go ahead and drink up! I guess if that's all you have going for you, than maybe I now understand why you are so obsessed with it. Cheers!

Even if it were my favorite beer and Beer Advocate gave it a full 100%, if all I had to look forward to was the bottom of my beer glass, than I'd realize that I had to do some serious re-evalution of my life.