Since I am not visiting breweries as much, I have decided to start writing about some thoughts on the beer world that I have. My first piece I would really like discussing is Overrated Beers. Whenever I find a new beer, I go to Beer Advocate..as do most of us beer nerds. I personally don't really like Rate Beer I feel like everything is rated high. I trust Beer Advocate...MOST the time. And this is where my beef lies...some beers are just overated.
This idea really came to me when I finally got my hands on Bell's infamous Hopslam. A hopped up double IPA released once a year and sells out quicker than you can say "Kalamazoo." My city, Buffalo, thankfully started getting Bell's late last year so we knew Hopslam would make it to our city. We waited, and waited, and finally found out it was here..ran out and bought a six pack. This beer has been in the top 20 on Beer Advocate for ages, it made headlines on local TV stations for the popularity, and it is a beer I had heard thrown around in a lot of "best beers in the world" conversations. Popped the cap, poured it...meh. It was good, but far from great. Maybe it is just my taste buds, but many beer nerds I know agreed. So why does it sell out so fast? Why does everyone want it? Well..because they don't want to be left out and they want to say they drank this highly popular beer.
Alpine..just days ago according to my brother who lives there..released their popular beer Exponential Hoppiness. The line was massive and they had to send dozens and dozens of people home without any because it was closing time. Dark Lord Day, KBS day, Darkness Day, Hunahpu Day, and I know there are a few others..tickets sell out instantly and lines long as ever. Now I know a lot of beer nerds love the atmosphere of these events...sharing beers with fellow beer nerds and partying it up...I'm all for that! But then you look and these beers all rank in the top 50! Can they all really be THAT much better than all the other beers? I have tried a couple of these Stouts, they are good. But I am left to believe the rankings come from people who wait for hours to get a bottle and have to justify waiting that long by giving it a perfect or near perfect rating. Who wants to say "I stood in a line for 8 hours and spent 30$ on a shitty beer." No one wants to say that...so we get overrated beers.
I see websites where you can buy Dark Lord from 2007-current at prices ranging from 60-200$ A BOTTLE!! I haven't had it, but I bet if you gave the average beer nerd 6 popular, not in high demand Imperial Russian Stouts next to a Dark Lord most wouldn't know the difference. Not saying Dark Lord isn't good, but I have had many Russian Imperial Stouts..including Surly Darkness and some are better then others for sure...but a lot are extremely similar. Here are some videos of the lines you see on Darkness, Dark Lord and Hunahpu Day.
Pliny the Younger..the #2 rated beer in the world. Have I had it? No. Do I wish I could? Of course..it's #2!! But maybe..just maybe, it's #2 because everyone who drinks it waits in a 5 hour line to get in to drink it. Here's a video from Pliny the Younger release..if that's you are you saying after that wait "eh it's ok, my local beer store has better though"...no you're rating it a perfect score cause you feel silly waiting for an average beer.
The #1 beer in the world is HEady Topper...I've had it. A lot of it. And its fantastic and deserves to be #1, but again it is hard to get your hands on it so that definitely helps the ratings. Zombie Dust is #6..had a lot of it also. It's a great beer, but sells out instantly because of it's rating. I have had SO many beers in the last year. Some amazing, some horrible and everything in between. Some of my favorite beers were rated mid-high 90s, and some were high 80s to low 90s. While I always will rely on BA ratings to guide me, I can't let it make all my decisions. And on the other hand, I will NOT wait in long lines or spend gross amounts of money for a beer because it has a "100" rating.
I believe if we made a Sam Adams beer #1 it would sell out instantly. These ratings are what people base their beer lives on. And in my opinion, many are overrated and simply get their position on the list solely because breweries make them hard to get and "rare."
I wrote this just for fun, but would love any opinions from my fellow beer nerds on the whole topic. I am not saying ANY of these beers are bad..they aren't! But when the media told us Renee Zellwegger is gorgeous, I realized sometimes if someone tells you to believe something that isn't true, many people will believe it and follow it. Just like some popular movies are overrated, some popular TV shows are overrated, I think some popular beers are overrated. Cheers!
