Pliny the Younger and Beer Advocate

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Thu May 17, 2012 11:24 am

Here's an interesting article from Slate on Pliny the Younger and the "democracy" of Beer Advocate.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drin ... beer_.html

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Fri May 18, 2012 2:19 pm

I disagree with the conclusion. The top three on BA are all limited in quantity and access. Westy was on top because for the longest time it was considered hard to get and there's a premium put on that. I'd certainly suggest Pliny or CBS are harder to get your hands on than a Westy these days, something the author doesn't quite understand.

In the end you will probably get the same results with 1 expert or 1000 average joes. People like to show off by finding rare beers and usually they'll end up reviewing them pretty favourably to justify the extra expense or just to make other enthusiasts jealous. Democracy is overrated.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Fri May 18, 2012 3:30 pm

Yes, rare beers always score much higher on BA, as do higher ABV and EXTREME styles.

If you understand the bias on the site, the scoring system and reviews are still useful.

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Fri May 18, 2012 3:40 pm

Didn't say they weren't, but when the author suggests beer-of-the-people Pliny replacing the elitist West 12 was due to the virtues of democratic reviews that's wrong. It's great to have access to a wealth of opinions, but in aggregate they're still susceptible to the same draw-backs that the "experts" have.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Fri May 18, 2012 4:28 pm

Bytowner wrote:Didn't say they weren't, but when the author suggests beer-of-the-people Pliny replacing the elitist West 12 was due to the virtues of democratic reviews that's wrong. It's great to have access to a wealth of opinions, but in aggregate they're still susceptible to the same draw-backs that the "experts" have.

I think the author was trying to tie in 2 related stories that really don't fit that well.

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Fri May 18, 2012 5:23 pm

The classic case of confusing a popularity contest with a qualitative judgment. Even so, it's still more fun to see what a whole lot of people decide is their favourite rather than a few 'experts', but it's still just opinion in the end.

I like to get opinions and input from other beer lovers as guideposts towards things I should try. However, what I like, I like and that's just me. The beauty of this whole 'craft beer revolution' is we have lots of choices, we don't have to suffer the choices of the heard. Enjoy and stop taking it so seriously!!!

Maybe I should seek out and try the "worst beer in the world". It could be a hidden gem... Nah, it's probably just some trendy sour that will make me sick.