I seen this video from The Craft Beer Channel pop up today and gave it a look because I been using Untappd for a long time. I know some people love it and some people hate it. But if you look thru some of the crap,, it can be useful and fun.

click the video below

But what I watched more or less pissed me off for a lack of a better description. Especially since I rather enjoy this channel and was shocked to see what went down.

The premise of the video is how to get the best from Untappd. Alright.. I’m on board, but like I said, I’ve been using it for years and years and years. Not sure how I could be using it wrong, but let’s see.

Then almost immediately the host starts suggesting that giving low ratings of beers is bad and we shouldn’t be doing that.
What? There is a rating “system” but I’m not supposed to use it? Mmmokay.

Apparently Untappd has 4 flaws he goes on.. and it’s me who needs to change and should change my ratings to help out beers and breweries to not fail. WTF am I watching here? No I absolutely am not doing that.

So what are these 4 flaws he says Untappd has??
-1: Big data can be bias.
I get where they are going here,, but it don’t make sense for them. Beers with lots of reviews can and do have lower ratings. That makes sense to me. Think bell curve.

His example is this “world class beer” that they absolutely love. but but the rating is only 3.4 out of 5. Immediately indicating that something is wrong with the system.

+7k or something people checked it in and that’s what the rating comes up as. To me that means some people like it, some people don’t and probably a bunch in between. Sounds a bit normal for just about anything.
But to these guys, because they like the beer so much,, everyone else is apparently wrong and their rating shouldn’t be counted or they shouldn’t be rating at all.

He even mentions that he gave beers higher ratings because the Brewery is famous and he must be the one in the wrong, not the brewery.
This is where I start losing it. There should be no free pass. A poor beer should absolutely get a poor rating. And better beers get better ratings. Notice I’m using ratings, not scores. (See next point)

2: Rate it by style
I’m not exactly sure where I stand on this point (and neither does he,, I’ll come back to that) because I’m not really judging a beer to BJCP specs here. But at the same time I kinda am.

It’s really two points here. Styles shouldn’t be rated against each other. That does make sense at first.. but in the end there is only one rating system here and all beer are using it. There is not too much you can do about that they way it sits.. but in the end you just need to put your rating on each beer you are drinking as fairly as you can. Not many people who use Untappd that I know of use the rating system to favor one style over another. Like give high score to stouts but only give low scores to blonde ales. If it’s good it gets good ratings regardless of the style.

Secondly, If brewery says this beer is a British Strong ale, but you get something thats a helles, but at the same time it tastes phenomenal do you score it bad because its not a British Strong Ale? No of course not. Because your rating how much you like the beer, not the placement or technical accuracy.

I personally would not dock it at all because like I said, I’m rating on how I like it. But I definitely put that in the notes. And quite frankly, I need to do that quite a bit because breweries are playing a weird game of saying a beers is something its not a lot lately.

And even this guy here just a few seconds ago said something to the effect of you should be rating it before you know what it is or looking at the label.
This means to me that he also thinks you rate it on how you like it,, not what its “supposed” to be. But sadly he goes 180 on that in the next section.

3: Beer degrades fast
I will agree with him on that point. I know, you know, everyone knows beer gets old. Beer can change sitting on a shelf or in a truck. Many things can happen to it. Thats the part I agree with.

What I don’t at all agree with is his stance of not rating or not poorly rating if you get a sub par beer. What?
The whole point of rating a beer, rating all beers, is to determine if its good, or bad or mediocre. If you don’t give anything but 5 stars then whats the point in using Untappd at all?

He even mentions that giving a low score would destroy a beers reputation. Yay! Poor beer, poor breweries, no matter how they got to be poor, does not need its reputation falsely propped up no matter what the intentions were. They will either realize they need to improve and fix it.. or thier poor beer won’t be taking up the shelf space of a beer more deserving.

4: Connection lost
You don’t get feedback from the brewers. No, you don’t. You are, or should be rating the beers by how YOU feel about them. Not get swayed by outside influence. Not manipulating higher ratings than you really should just because you are talking to the brewers or a bunch of people who feel the opposite.

The brewers and breweries get your feed back in your scores and notes. If a beer needs a note or suggestion.. put in in the notes. Or use some other form of notification.. but don’t change your rating just because you don’t wanna hurt thier feelings.

I’m sad that this video is trying to make people think that bad beers are because of the drinkers of that beer. Or its our fault that breweries fail because we give bad scores.

Here is a tip for those breweries. Obvious..Don’t make poor beer. I know sometimes that might be difficult, but thats just the way it is. Don’t sell beer that you know will change dramatically for the worse, and not expect bad ratings. Sell that beer in house or something so you can control it. And when you see bad ratings,, look at the problems and address them. Don’t ignore them or think that we don’t know what we are talking about. Thats when we move on to the next beer and forget about yours.

I just don’t agree with most of this video because it’s not helping anyone by giving a rating that is anything other than what you think of the beer as you are drinking it at that moment.

-Don’t rate it high just because it was good last month.
-Don’t rate it high because you know it “should” be better.
-Don’t rate it high just because the brewery is famous or just because everyone else is rating it high.

If the beer is great, score it high! If its poor score it low. This is the way.

Falsely inflated ratings are just as bad for a beer or company than bad ratings. So rate those beers on what you think of them, not just so you fit in with the crowd.

But now what do I think of that channel knowing they inflate ratings? I’ll be looking at them different now.