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Like it or not, human nature prefers an expert opinion. Sure, we might glare with disdain at said experts towering over us with their puffed-out egos from atop their high-horses, but let's be honest, if we left every final opinion to all us plebes down below, many decisions would end up a mess. There's something to be said for someone with experience and knowledge navigating the way: Would you rather receive driving directions from a van full of people who "know North Jersey" or a GPS device?My point: This month's BeerAdvocate Magazine featured their annual "The People Have Spoken!" consumer opinion poll. I found the article lovingly reprinted on the Stone Brewery website, as well it should be -- Stone had five of the top 25 beers and was named number one on the list of "All-Time Top Breweries on Planet Earth."
Now, let the record show, I am not disparaging Stone Brewing Company. A fine brewery, I enjoyed a Stone IPA quite recently. And I don't fault BeerAdvocate for producing such a poll. Quite the opposite, I far prefer BeerAdvocate to their rival RateBeer.com (for reasons not worth discussing here) and applaud them for constantly giving voice to the opinions of the public, regardless of what those opinions might be.
However, as the above Stone Brewery example exemplifies, for reasons currently undetermined, this power to the people poll is powerfully flawed. As good the Stone Brewery may be, five beers in the top 25 is a beyond Herculean feat -- unless, of course, Herrcules was moonlighting as a ballot box stuffer. Likewise, a number of blogs pointed out that 23 of the top 25 "Breweries on Planet Earth" are American. Take that, rest of the globe, with your 95% of the human population!!
The moral is two-fold: 1) Public opinion polls are usually best left as the strongest of debate fodder, and 2) though room exists for us to respect the opinion of both beer experts and Joe Sixpack, it's best to keep these opinions in balance. We don't want a mutiny on the ship, but the captain is there for a reason.
Want some debate fodder of your own? I've reprinted the Top 10 breweries from the BeerAdvocate poll below or you can read the list yourself and let us know what you think.
- Stone Brewing Company
- Three Floyds Brewing Company
- Victory Brewing Company
- Brewery Ommegang
- AleSmith Brewing Company
- Russian River Brewing Company
- Great Divide Brewing Company
- Allagash Brewing Company
- Bear Republic Brewing Company
- Great Lakes Brewing Company
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12-23-2008 @4:14AM Austin said... I have subscribed to BeerAdvocate since it started, and marveled at its dedication to be about the enjoyment, and study (i know, how ridiculous) of beer. It may not have much else, but the passion for the great taste and soul that can be found in beers made with love OOZES in each of the articles. Awesome to read.
A note on American Brewery domination: I've traveled to a bunch of Latin American Countries, with a specific focus to enjoy the beers of each land (special focus on the home/microbrewed variety). In addition to that, I have become versed (not well, but it takes time) in the history of European beer brewing. What seems to be a common trend (you can also see this with food), is that the United States is rare in its gift of diversity in flavors. It seems that all other nations (brewing exists in nations, not states) excel, or attempt to excel in few varieties in style, rarely more than four or five in grain brews.
The United States on the other hand has given rise to a movement in brewing during the past twenty five years that is unlike that has happened anywhere in the world, or the past for the matter. Honored methods of brewing have become experimentation, archeology, botany, microbiology, artistry, sociology, and pure chance. Rather, many other locals resort to not loving tradition, but bearing the burden of it, keeping recipes and methods static for the sake of tradition rather than the beer itself.
However, that's simply my take on why, currently, US beers rule. Sure it's beer snobbery, but it's love and life that are at the bottom of the glass.
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12-23-2008 @8:53AM nick said... Well said, Austin, and I definitely agree that the breadth and depth of quality beer available in the US is stunning.
That said, the BA audience is largely US-based. The only foreign beers available to the majority are those that are actually exported. Just as a European BA wouldn't be familiar with all of Oskar Blues', Victory's, or Deschutes' offerings, American BAs aren't familiar with a large portion of craft beers available in the rest of the world.
Personally, though, I'll take American beer, hands-down, every time. Are there certain styles other nations' brewers do better? Absolutely. But if I could never drink another import, I'd still be happy.
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12-23-2008 @9:29AM Jon said... I've noticed that Beer Advocate is biased towards certain styles of beer. Its readers like beer that's very high in alcohol and either very sweet or very hoppy. That's what gets the high ratings. Of the top 25, 5 are below 7%, and 5 are below 10%! I'm not sure how much of that is caused by genuine preference for extreme beer, and how much is just snobbery.
Stone makes the kind of beer that Beer Advocate readers like. That doesn't make them the best brewery in the world; it makes them the best purveyor of super-strong beer that 99% of consumers wouldn't enjoy.
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12-23-2008 @10:30AM Beau Burke said... These lists do a terrible disservice to beer culture. I wrote my thoughts earlier this week on my site, http://www.klutzbrau.com
My basic argument is that these lists are simply mis-labeled. I think there are bigger problems with BA though, as exemplified by Todd Alstrom (co-owner of BA) in follow up forum discussions. I won't repost everything I wrote, in the interest of brevity, but I encourage others to read it.
-Beau
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12-24-2008 @2:48PM Jason Alstrom said... Thanks for the coverage ... just a little FYI. I know you were trying to find an angle on this but you obviously went down the wrong road IMO. The top lists are not polls ... they are generated from detailed reviews and scores unlike the best of lists on the site which updated on the min. Its not as simple as someone chiming in saying "this is my favorite beer" ... its a whole lot more complex than that.
As for having "not enough non-American beers." There are hundreds of German, Belgian, English, etc brands that are sent to the US. Perhaps the Germans should be sending their good stuff rather than just the processed grain and hop extracted pale lagers. Perhaps American brewers have finally caught up and surpassed the rest of the beer world as well.
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12-24-2008 @5:16PM Mike Pomranz said... Hey, Jason Alstrom (one of the BeerAdvocate founders for those not in the know), thanks so much for commenting on this post and further explaining the methodology of the "polling" system used to compile the lists. I apologize if you feel the term "poll" to be inaccurate.
However, in my defense, regardless of methodology I find labeling something the "Best on Planet Earth" despite an obvious American bias (BA is a U.S. based website) to be a bit misleading. It's similar to how Americans call their sports teams "World Champions" after winning a U.S. league (and maybe beating a few Canadian teams on the way).
The list is the list. Like any list of opinion it is there for discussion and I am glad we are able to discuss it. I'm not dismissing it, I'm just reacting to it. My point: Though using consumer opinion to create a top beer list is interesting, experts' lists tend to be more valid. The BA article itself says "love or hate 'em." Guess I'm leaning more towards hate 'em!
However, as I said above (and it bears repeating) I "applaud [BeerAdvocate] for constantly giving voice to the opinions of the public, regardless of what those opinions might be." And I used the term "regardless" not be flippant but instead to speak positively of the open forum of beer reviewing and opinion that is BeerAdvocate.com -- a true beer democracy.
Keep up the good work and please keep providing us with lists like the one above for us beer pundits to debate.
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12-26-2008 @2:24PM Jason Alstrom said... You said it right there ... "a list is a list" nothing more, nothing less. Even I don't personally agree with the picks ... but that is my personal preference. Its great to see all of this passion behind this industry, even if it is negative. It would be a boring world of if everyone held hands and agreed on everything.
The lists are there for discussion ... we never said it was a definitive end all list that everyone should follow. Its a simple snap shot of what is happening on BA and it is easy for some people to pick out the very and already obvious to gripe about. The list, the discussion, the disagreements ... I love it all.
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