Day 25 – Like a Broken Record

Sunny and mid-eighties today in Tucson...again. Yesterday? The same. Tomorrow? The same. The next six days? The same. It's like a broken record that is stuck on your favorite part.

Having spent most of my life in Michigan, it seems strange to see so much sunshine. It seems unreal that I'm wearing shorts and tee shirts in March and April. And if you don't know this, mid-eighties in Tucson is very pleasant. Our windows are open rather than shut to keep the conditioned air inside. In Michigan, temperatures in the mid-eighties is usually accompanied by humidities in the same range, making even the shade uncomfortable. But here in Tucson, if you're not in the direct sun, it's very comfortable in the shade.

I've been here for almost three months now, but I still can't stop talking about the weather. First thing out of my mouth when I talk to someone back home is the weather report. I'm like a broken record that way.

It's no different than the difficulty I have with scoring the beer I drink. I've written a few times about my struggles with this, namely that my scoring band is very narrow. The last time I had opined that with a focus on beer styles I tend to like, the score would go up. Okay, it's only been a few days, but the average score of the beers I've tried since I wrote that? 2.74. My average for all beers is 2.73. Hmm...not much of a bump, is it?

Like a broken record, I keep trying to figure out why this is happening. Is it due to inexperience? Probably. Could it be due to the fact that I haven't tasted any great beers yet? Maybe, but doubtful (see question #1). Could it be my interpretation of the scoring system is narrow? This last possibility bears closer examination.

The Appearance rating is from 1 to 5, so I'm not too concerned about this one. Of course the contribution of this factor will be narrow because the range itself is. The same is true for the Palate rating, so we can disregard this one, too.

Aroma and taste, however, is from 1 to 10. More variability to impact the final calculated score, so let's look at the guidelines. The upper and lower boundaries are pretty self-explanatory. A 1 or 2 is "awful" and "definitely unpleasant," respectively, while 9 and 10 are "exceptional (rare)" and "one in a thousand, at most." An 8 is "something special; a beer out of the ordinary." That, too, seems to be a value that isn't given often because "out of the ordinary" is extraordinary. So what's left? A 5 is "ok, but not really good." A 6 is "good, but nothing special." And a 7 is "really nice."

A breakdown of the aroma and taste ratings I've given is somewhat revealing. Out of 43 beers I've rated, the average aroma rating is 5.62. I've given out six 5's and five 7's, but a whopping (24) 6's. For taste, the average is 5.44. For this one, a bit more balance. Eight 5's and the same number of 7's, with (21) 6's. Obviously, I'm either evaluating a large number of average beers or I'm being too narrow in my ratings for these two areas.

The final factor is Overall, which goes from 1 to 20. The guidelines are similar, only doubled. If 8 and above is rare, then 16 and above would be as well (it is). If 3 and below is bad, you would expect 6 and below to be the same (it is). So if my average rating is a 6 for aroma and taste, would 12 be my average for overall?

Close...9.9. However, the distribution of ratings is centered around 12 and drops off on either side.

So I think the reason for my "consistency" is becoming a bit clearer. Inexperience rating beer is certainly a main factor, but along with that is my literal translation of the guidelines. I'm not being as liberal in the higher ratings as I could be, which is why the final calculated ratings are hovering around the same values.

I definitely need to give the record needle a nudge. No time like the present.

Fortunately I started out with a really nice Belgian ale, which is among my favorites. If I had started out with a lager that had been on the hoppy side, I might have given it a bump just because. I didn't need a reason to bump this one. Avery Karma Ale is a classic Belgian ale that really delivered. Beautiful color, aroma, and taste. High rating for this one.

The next one? Not so lucky. I chose a Belgian White because I love this style. Unfortunately, this one from Alaskan Brewing Co. called White Ale was either skunky old or just poorly brewed because it was not good. I couldn't have nudged this one up if I wanted to.

Observer's Note: Far be it from me to criticize anyone's ratings on Ratebeer.com. I am no expert, as I have stated repeatedly. But any overall rating of 2.5 indicates an average beer to me. One person rated this last beer a 3.0 - better than average, to my way of thinking. Yet his remarks clearly indicated he did not like this beer. So am I being too critical or are others being too generous? It's a mystery.

The last one was much better. Widmer Hefeweizen was a solid unfiltered wheat beer with character and taste. I gave this one good marks, too.

So, now that I'm more aware of my averaging tendencies, I'm going to make a concerted effort to be more generous to those beers I really like. Maybe I'll get my average up to 7.5.

Ha! Like I haven't heard that before.

Cheers!

Goal...............524.....365
Progress...........46.......25
Remaining......478.....340