Why I Don't Rate Beer

I don’t prefer a traditional review style of craft beers for a few reasons. There is too much inconsistency in the market, for one: one bottling of Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza will taste slightly different than a later bottling, for example, and one of the very best conversations one can have with a stranger over a pint of craft beer is the discussion about how the beer has evolved or changed from year to year. Not that this is a bad thing; this is what makes craft beer more similar to the fine wine market than to the macrobrewery experience. I know for a fact that the sun will rise tomorrow, that my dogs hate snow, and that the next can of PBR will taste just like the last can of PBR, which  will taste just like the last can of PBR I drink before I die. Consistency is the mainstay of the macro market, and I am forever glad that it is not the ultimate pursuit of the Michigan craft beer market.

My personal distrust of ratings systems comes in as a close second for why I don’t score beers.  A ratings scale can mean many different things to different people. A score of 5 out of 10, for example, may mean a decent, average beer to some, while many others would rank it as a failure of a beer. A score of C- would seem like a perfectly reasonable beer to try for many people, while the overachieving straight - A students would be turned off by such poor performance. Many people in the reviewing field try to temper this issue in several ways. I know of some who, recognizing that a “x out of 10” scale is unconsciously converted to grades (thus making 5/10 a 50%, or a failing grade), try to adjust by making the lowest score they give a 6. This just masks the issue, and doesn’t get to the root of the problem. I know of others who explain their scores with as much detail as possible, like a restaurant menu carefully explaining exactly what medium rare means. Again, the language leaves too much up to interpretation. One person’s “adequate session beer, worth buying if you can find it on sale” is another’s “pile of discount trash, don’t bother.”

Finally, my own distrust in my palate requires that I not rate beer on a scale. There are so many things that play into my enjoyment of beer that can change day to day that it’s simply an exercise in revisions ad infinitum to try to peg a craft beer to a scale. Drinking a Founder’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout fresh off the tap during the Black Party hosted at Founder’s at 11:00 am on a rainy Saturday with three friends who also love dark beer is a hugely different experience than drinking a half cup of Founder’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout under a crowded tent in a heavy snowfall during the Winter Beer Fest in February: and both are worlds different than sipping a KBS from a tulip in the warm and welcoming environment of one’s favorite bar, surrounded by friends. Even if one has an absolutely consistent craft beer (which as I already mentioned, would not be preferable), one cannot account for changes in mood or environment.

Obviously, beer ratings have their place. Beeradvocate and ratebeer are both favorites saved in my browser. I do base some of my purchases of beer based on aggregate ratings systems, although I always keep in mind that an aggregate ratings system is inherently flawed: ten people giving a beer an A+ rating balanced with ten people giving the beer an F rating does not mean the beer in question is a “C” beer, after all. Aggregate ratings can be used as blunt recommendation systems, not scalpels of alcoholic accuracy.

So what’s the solution? If I write about beer, I can’t just blather on a page, can I?

….why not?

I believe it’s more important to capture the experience of drinking a specific craft beer than it is to ascribe a rating to it. Compare a Dark Horse IPA against a Bell’s IPA against a Saugatuck Brewing IPA. Note the choices of the brewer: did (s)he opt for a combination of barley and hops that lends a fruit experience or a floral one? Is the beer you are drinking more active on the bitter part of the tongue? Did the brewer use the alcohol content to smooth out the bitterness or enhance it? All of these things can help people develop their own feelings toward a beer without locking it into a rating. They develop discussion without encouraging disagreement. Two people can have dichotomous views of a beer but still agree with its flavor profile. My goal is to describe a beer without limiting it to a number that few people – including my future self – would agree with.

I realize that people exist who need the comfort of a score. I know that there are even those who can make the internal leap to realize that a score from a reviewer would not necessarily reflect how others should feel about a beer…although that negates the importance of reviewing things in the first place. So consider the Bottled Michigan posts that you see here less like an objective review and more like Fox News: we report…you decide.