Beer Styles

Yep.

I can definitely tell the difference between an American and English brown ale. The hops are completely different, but then again homebrewing has given me an appreciation and taste for different hop varieties.

Pils is a little different. In a blind test could I tell Bud from Ayinger Jahrhundert? You bet. Could I tell Staropromen from Czechvar? Probably not.

_Randal

Yes.

No. A lot of people don't have the palate and/or familiarity to do so.

Most of those, yes. American pilsner is, to be diplomatic, very lightly flavored and subtle. Bohemian pils has a strong malt presence with the very distinct aroma of Saaz hops.

European pilsner and German pilsner are tougher. If euro-pils means beers like Heineken and Beck's, I'd have a tough time telling them from American pils. The problem with German pils is that there are at least two very distinct German pils styles. In the south, it's a very soft, delicate beer that's more bitter than, say, a helles but still malty, while in the north it's very dry, sometimes mouth-puckeringly so. I could pick either out, and distinguish them from Boho or American/Euro pils without difficulty.

American and English browns are very different as well. Do a side-by-side with a Pete's Wicked Ale and a Newcastle sometime.

To some degree, yes. But in other areas, no. No one is ever going to convince me that they can explain to me the difference, or identify in a blind taste test, between porter and stout.

-Steve

I have over 100 beers rated on ratebeer.com but it looks like I will just have to keep practicing... sharpen those taste buds :-)

Yeah, but neither of those is a Pilsner. They're different styles of beer; one's a light American lager, the other a slightly sturdier version of a Bavarian Helles.

Definitely tougher with two similar beers like that, unless you've taken the time to become very familiar and have compared them side-by-side a few times.

However, given a glass of Pilsner Urquell and a glass of Bitburger Pils, I can tell the difference quite easily.

It's a little disconcerting that people who aren't familiar with beer styles are judging and rating it.

Phil =====visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:

I am losing sleep over that one myself.... That may lead to awful things and the end of the world as we know it. There is no way that I would be able to look at a beer and rate it's appearance, or smell it and rate it's aroma. Maybe there should be a test that you need to take before you can rate them to keep us low lives away. I am surprised they even let me buy beer (You know.. other than Budweiser)... why waste it on me when they can sell it all to you.

You said so yourself that you can't tell some beer styles apart (translation: they taste the same to you), yet you rate them.

Maybe you should 'sharpen those taste buds' before you rate any more. A bad review from an idiot will still bring a brewery's rating down.

Phil =====visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:

If I like the beer I give it a good rating... if I don't like it I say that as well. Most people in the world don't even know the difference between a lager and an ale much less the subtleties between certain style and sub-styles of beers.

There are many beer drinkers in the world that enjoy beer and you do not need to have a PhD in brewing sciences to know if you like a beer or not. Furthermore that fact that I say I may not be able to identify some styles does not mean that they taste the same to me and the fact that I may not be able to tell you the 4 different types of hops and what region they came from does not mean that I can tell if I enjoyed a beer or if it tasted like shit.

As far as idiots go, you can know a lot about beers and still be an idiot. You can know a lot about beers and still be presumptuous asshole... take yourself for example. Since you obviously know less about me that I know about beers you should follow your own advise and keep your opinions to yourself. Now, if you would like to explain some of these differences I would be more than happy to listen and to read your posts and learn more. I am sure you know much more about beers than I do and as I said just because you are presumptuous does not mean that You don't know what you are talking about and it does not mean that I will not take any CONSTRUCTIVE or EDUCATIONAL message and learn from it.

You told me everything I need to know about you. You can't tell some beers apart and you review them. What more do I need to know?

You may have all this free time, but I don't. Why don't you pick up a copy of the BJCP style guidelines. That's a good start.

One more time: you said you can't tell some beers apart and you review them.

I'm not being presumptuous. I'm being honest and logical. I judge in beer competitions because I know beer. I don't judge in wine competitions because I don't know enough about wine.

You could give someone a bad review because you don't understand the style. Enough of these reviews could affect the brewery.

Phil =====visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:

You found the time to call me an idiot and then post 5 follow up messages.

There are styles that are difficult to tell apart for anyone. I have read many guides/articles on styles and brewing techniques and still find that SOME styles are difficult to tell apart, I would suspect even for you. That was the point of the post.

As far as I know, ratebeer.com is for the general public to rate beers, not just for experts like yourself. I would not ever consider judging a beer competition because I don't have the knowledge for that, however I do know what I like and dislike and that is the purpose of a site like ratebeer.com . I am also sure that a brewer would like to know that he is brewing the perfect example of a particular style (as determined by people like yourself and the ratings of experts and the results of competition) and that there is little commercial value for it if the general public does not like it (as determined by the rating of mere mortals like myself and the thousands of other people that make ratebeer.com such an interesting forum).

The ratebeer.com web site is for anyone to participate, if not there would be some kind of pre-qualification exam to join (like there is to be a judge for a competition). Until that time, I will continue to participate in the forum, to read (and occasionally maybe even post in) this news group. I will still visit

and the articles in ratebeer.com and I will continue to post my ratings. There are plenty of knowledgeable and interesting people in these forums with a lot of knowledge... some of them are even willing to share them without calling those that know less than them idiots.... Amazing how some people can maintain their civility even when hidden behind the anonymity that the internet provides.

One more time: you said you can't tell some beers apart and you review them.

I never called myself an expert. Thank you.

Amazing how you can criticize other people's works but go completely ballistic when they, themselves, are criticized.

Phil =====visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:

Disconcerting? Have you ever browsed those ratings web sites? I thought it was par for the course.