I rate beer
I’ve come to a decision, one that I’ve been thinking about for a while now… I’m starting to rate beer.
Initially, I’m setting out on a one year rating mission to try and score every unique beer which I drink. But why start now? Well, I want to see exactly what I drink over a year, I want to be able to track my drinking, I want to see the beers I loved and the ones I didn’t, I want to see the variety of beer I drink, the quality of beers. Basically, I want to be able to look back at the end of the year and see my drinking from a quantitative view-point, rather than just a qualitative one from memory and pencil scribbles in a note book.
And this is a good year for me to start doing it. I’m going to San Francisco and Santa Rosa in February to drink (I’ll be there for Beer Week and definitely there for certain Russian River releases), I’ll be travelling around the UK more and I’ll have access to a lot more, and different, beers at home. I also want to see if I become obsessed with trying as many new beers as possible just to raise my total rates! Essentially, it’ll be somewhere to permanently store an e-version of my tasting notes that I can easily browse through whenever I want, and others can look through it too.
And this all gets me thinking… why did you get in to rating beer? What motivated you to switch from just a drinker into someone who rates? And tell me, is the best beer you’ve ever had the one which you have given the highest score to?
This is my rating profile. If you go on before January 2010 then you might not see any action but soon after this’ll start to increase. I started rating from Christmas Eve but haven’t put anything in yet. Anyway, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all – eat well, drink very well and I’ll see you in 2010!
Awesome! Looking forward to your reviews.
I got started on Ratebeer about four years ago, with my first ratings occurring at one of the RB Summer Gathering events, held in Washington, DC that year. It was hosted by the top American rater on the site, and had people from all across the country and overseas (some with 7,000+ ratings). I’m drinking with some of the best-known folks on the site, and I had to have someone remind me (more than once) what the rating numbers were. Good times. It’s been much smoother since.
Mark, we’re looking forward to having you in the Bay Area in February. Keep the locals up-to-date with your plans or if you need anything like hotel recommendations, places to crash, etc.
I started rating beers about 3 years ago. It was originally intended to be a personal database for my own record. But now it has turned into a quest to try, and document, as many beers as I can. Immersing yourself in the craft beer culture can be very rewarding. The flavours and styles of good beer is endless. Good luck, enjoy and buy a good notepad. You will go through many notepads.
http://www.left4beer.com
Beer and RateBeer basically started at the same time for me, a little over six years ago. I had this strange notion to take up drinking as a hobby and ruled out wine and whisk(e)y for being too expensive at the time. So I bought some six packs and bombers of beer from my local package store and went at it one evening. The next day I realized that I had indeed accomplished the drinking aspect, but not so much the education part. I think ‘beer information’ was my Internet search phrase that afternoon. RateBeer was on the first page of results and I saw the light.
I started rating to keep track of what I was trying and my opinions. It was a good learning process as I was constantly reading others’ reviews and sorting through numerous informative threads in the forums. As the years have marched on I’ve become more relaxed in beer hunting and now keep the majority of my reviews private for various reasons.
Orval and New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red both received a 4.8 from me. I have far more experience with the former than the latter, but I’d say both deserve that score. However, the best beers I’ve ever drank occurred with pen and notebook stored away in the warming presence of friends and family.
Cheers Ken, will keep you updated about plans for February – I can’t wait!
Flavius, I’ve got a few notebooks ready to go!
Wunderbier, nice comment. The best beers will always be the ones shared with friends and family, I think – the moment is as important as the beer in the glass (my next blog will likely be about that!)
Mark, what wonderful timing! I am just beginning to rate beer as well, with my first rating occurring just a few days before Christmas Eve. This will be helpful and fun to follow each other through the upcoming year and see similarities and differences in the beers we are enjoying and rating.
Cheers!
I am actually planning on doing the same thing, thanks to you, Mark. I have written beer reviews on my own before, but without any kind of “standard” method of quantifying my review. I think for me, I want to use the ratings not only to track wheat I am drinking and liking, but to better educate myself on HOW to rate and what the factors are in beer that I like and dislike.