Day 26 – The Powers of Deduction and Other Ramblings

My mind is constantly mulling over the big questions? What is the meaning of life? Which came first - the chicken or the egg? What is my wife really thinking?

When those central questions of life aren't being worked on, my brain goes in search of other important topics. Lately it has been contemplating the user community on Ratebeer.com.

For the uninitiated, Ratebeer.com is a website where people can rate beers they have tasted. It employs a variety of mathematical techniques to provide some balance, but the overarching goal of the site is to have people record how much they personally liked a beer (as opposed to professional judging, which scores brews based on how they are supposed to look and taste). Anyone can join, of course, and provide their input.

So who are these people?

I think the ratebeerians (my term, not theirs) can be divided into three groups. The first is the professional judge, the second is the serious beer drinker, and the third is the casual beer drinker. How do I know this? Would you believe it is due to my impressive powers of deduction? Oh, you wouldn't. Um, would you believe it is because I have incredible insight into the psyche of the beer drinking population of the world? Ah, not buying that, either, huh? How about I took a wild assed guess?

Okay, moving on...

Here is how I arrived at my conclusion. I looked at the number of ratings provided by ratebeerians. Some number in the thousands. Like, fifteen thousand plus. Some simple math will tell you that even the most rabid beer drinker isn't going to search out and consume 15,000 different beers in the amount of time this site has been in existence. While the internet has been around since the seventies, it didn't become a commercial commodity until the mid- to late-nineties. Thus Ratebeer.com hasn't been around for more than 15 years. Probably closer to ten is my guess.

My quest is 524 beers in a year's time, and while I'm ahead of the curve, it does take a concerted effort to keep on track. Someone would have to undertake this quest, double it, and do it for 15 years in order to reach 15,000 different beers! The only way someone could do this is if they were a professional judge. Judges can sample a lot of different beers at a competition. If they're good and they keep busy, it is not out of the realm of possibility that they would sample in excess of one thousand beers a year.

I rest my case.

Oh, wait, I have two more groups to justify. Silly me...

Some people have ratings in the high hundreds to low thousands. These folks are the serious beer drinkers. Some could be judges, too, I suppose, but I tend to believe these are the people who are serious about trying different beers at events and places they visit. They are also serious about logging their experiences on Ratebeer.com. Someone with ratings in the hundreds would more likely not be a professional judge, but a serious beer drinker with a lot of experience who could be a judge. This is where I aspire to be.

Finally, there are people with only a handful of ratings, comparatively speaking. Granted, they could be a professional judge or a serious beer drinker who is new to the site or simply not interested in logging for posterity's sake their impressions of a beer. For the most part, however, I believe this is a novelty for those who have only a few ratings. They are like I was - a beer drinker who regularly consumed the same brand with the occasional foray into new beer territory. To them, beer is an alcoholic beverage to be quaffed, sometimes in great quantities. It isn't a world unto itself. This isn't a criticism, but an observation from one who was among the many.

Yeah, I've had some brews that I couldn't drink. But I've also had some beers that are much better than what I consumed on a regular basis. My world has change as far as beer drinking is concerned and I doubt I will ever go back. It would be like ordering the same meal everyday when there are so many different cuisines beckoning to you.

So what difference does it make, even if I am right about the three groups? None. Not a wit(bier). My thought, however, was that it would be nice to know which group a rater fell into when I peruse their reviews. See, a judge will rate a beer differently than a serious beer drinker and the same down to the casual beer drinker. True, I can look at the number of ratings they have submitted (I do), but it would be interesting to see the breakdown of a beer by group. In other words, for Beer X, how did the three different groups score it?

Could be an interesting topic over a beer, huh?

So today, the first beer I had was a really great altbier from Alaskan Brewing Company called Alaskan Amber. Truly one of the best beers I've ever had. It is everything I look for in a good beer. For a change, the ratebeerians thought so, too.

The next was a decent brown ale called Turbodog from Abita Brewing. This leaned more toward a porter or stout than a brown ale, but definitely drinkable.

I saved the least for last. It was a style called barleywine from Anchor Brewing Company. I had never had this style before and may not for a while. This was, well, different, and I'm still trying to decide if it was a good different or a not so good different. The ratebeerians loved this stuff, of course, but the jury is still out for me.

Too bad I couldn't see the ratings by group.

By the way, I exceeded my quota for the fourth straight week. Pretty exciting, eh?

A votre sante!

Goal...............524.....365
Progress..........49.......26
Remaining.....475.....339