Current ratebeer.com Ontario top 10

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 1:12 am

Smash Bomb should be #1 a year from now...

BooBoo · Post by **BooBoo** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:13 am

I'm a bit surprised not to see anything by Beau's on that list (brewery to young?)

Also, in my estimation Tankhouse Ale has slipped markedly over the last couple of years (or my tastes have changed) and I'm surprised to see it on the list. IMO it's not even the best beer produced by Mill Street, as I prefer their Pilsner and Coffee Porter.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:17 am

BooBoo wrote:I'm a bit surprised not to see anything by Beau's on that list (brewery to young?)

Also, in my estimation Tankhouse Ale has slipped markedly over the last couple of years (or my tastes have changed) and I'm surprised to see it on the list. IMO it's not even the best beer produced by Mill Street, as I prefer their Pilsner and Coffee Porter.

Which Beau's products do you think should be on there?

Tankhouse likely benefits in part from people not updating their ratings. I still enjoy it but find it has become somewhat less hoppy than past incarnations.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:25 am

BooBoo wrote:I'm a bit surprised not to see anything by Beau's on that list (brewery to young?)

Also, in my estimation Tankhouse Ale has slipped markedly over the last couple of years (or my tastes have changed) and I'm surprised to see it on the list. IMO it's not even the best beer produced by Mill Street, as I prefer their Pilsner and Coffee Porter.

the highest rated beau's is the beaver river IPEh @ #33 in Ontario

BooBoo · Post by **BooBoo** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:28 am

The Beaver River IPeh. It rates an A- on Beer Advocate, a rating I would agree with. That works out to a 4.1 on a numeric rating scale, which is higher than any of the Rate Beer top ten.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:31 am

BooBoo wrote:The Beaver River IPeh. It rates an A- on Beer Advocate, a rating I would agree with. That works out to a 4.1 on a numeric rating scale, which is higher than any of the Rate Beer top ten.

4.1 would make it the highest rated ipa in THE WORLD on ratebeer

IN THE WORLD!

its currently the #8 ipa brewed in ontario on ratebeer

BooBoo · Post by **BooBoo** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:51 am

Actually it would only be tied with AleSmith IPA for number one in the world. LOL!

I don't use Rate Beer at all, but it appears that although they use the same 5 point ranking system, those scores are much harder earned.

Anyway, I'll stick with my original observation. Beaver River could easily be on that top ten list and Tankhouse Ale should not be.

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:55 am

Probably has something to do with Beaus availability.

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 12:07 pm

I still enjoy Tankhouse but it does seem to be less hoppy than it used to be. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if it is just a matter of my tastes changing.

As for Beau's, part of their problem is distribution. Aside from the Lager, which is available at the LCBO in the GTA, I haven't had the chance to try any of their other stuff. Even when I am downtown at bars like C'est What and Volo, the Beau's IPA is nowhere to be found (aside from special events like Toronto Beer Week, IPA challenges, etc.).

BooBoo · Post by **BooBoo** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 12:12 pm

The best way to access most of Beau's beers is to visit the brewery, something I have done on several occasions but not an easy task for someone in the GTA.

I have tried seven of their beers and they are producing some high quality products.

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 3:16 pm

BooBoo wrote:The best way to access most of Beau's beers is to visit the brewery, something I have done on several occasions but not an easy task for someone in the GTA.

Heck, it's not even an easy task for folks in Ottawa, it's a good treck out to Vankleek Hill.

BooBoo · Post by **BooBoo** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 4:07 pm

I didn't realize it was about 100 kms from Ottawa!

My wife's parents live about 25 kms from the brewery, so whenever we or she visits, a trip to the brewery is usually on tap.

cfrancis · Post by **cfrancis** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:56 pm

The thing I find funny about ratebeer is is fear of people rating anything above 4. When in reality that's an 80% beer. There are a select few beers that get above 4 and god forbid 4.5 or a 5. It seems everyone just automatically lops off .5 on their rating for "respect".

I used to be one of those people now, I've started re rating things thinking on a 100 point scale and then dropping it to the corresponding 5 point number. I realized this when my top beer was rated 4.5 and I thought to myself, "What would a beer have to do in order to get higher than that? And in order to get .5 higher for a perfect score. It seemed implausible that it would happen.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:48 pm

cfrancis wrote:The thing I find funny about ratebeer is is fear of people rating anything above 4. When in reality that's an 80% beer. There are a select few beers that get above 4 and god forbid 4.5 or a 5. It seems everyone just automatically lops off .5 on their rating for "respect".

I don't think people "fear" anything. If you look at the rating scale Aroma x/10, Appearance x/5, Flavour x/10, Palate x/5, Overall x/20.

An average beer would score (for me anyways) A6/A3/F6/P3/O10-12. I am personally stingy on the appearance and palate scores, so 3 is probably what I give out the most. Most decent microbrews would start at 7s for aroma and flavour, and work up from there depending on how impressed I am. I give out very few 10s in these categories. Where other people fall with their rating patterns will vary wildly, but if you look at the scoring system it is not at all surprising that there are very few individual 5.0s. Even less surprising that there are no scores of 5.0 since that would require hundreds of people to agree that the same beer is a 5.0

I don't think you can compare that to sitting down and giving something a single score out of 100 (which is basically what the Overall score is). Or if you do, then the answer to the question ""What would a beer have to do in order to get higher than that?" will vary. For me its often a case of aroma could be less mild, palate could be more full bodied, flavour could have more X/better balance etc.

I have rated 10 beers from Ontario 4+, none higher than 4.2. They were all pretty awesome beers, but all had areas where they could have been just a bit more... something.

More than 3.5 for me is a solid beer. More than 4 is pretty awesome. More than 4.5 is superlatively good. It is all subjective, its all relative.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 5:10 pm

cfrancis wrote: The thing I find funny about ratebeer is is fear of people rating anything above 4. When in reality that's an 80% beer. There are a select few beers that get above 4 and god forbid 4.5 or a 5. It seems everyone just automatically lops off .5 on their rating for "respect".

While Jer and others have good rationalizations, it's not consistent. It is very much like the 90+ wine score mentality, as if that is some magic threshold or quantum leap of quality.

Worse, wine rates on a 51-point scale - from 50 up to and including 100.

Beer rates on a 46-point scale - from .5 to 5.0 in single decimal steps.

So with a 90 or a 4.0 respectively you've really got an 80.4% wine (as opposed to 90%) and a 77.8% beer (as opposed to 80%). Hey those are actually comparable...