I was talking to Luke recently and was surprised to find out that in his over 500 beers, he has never rated one 5 stars. That got me thinking about how we all use the rating scale. Here are some stats…
| Row Labels | Average | Standard Deviation | Max | Min |
| Ben | 2.91 | 1.03 | 5 | 0 |
| Dad | 3.54 | 0.70 | 5 | 0 |
| Logan | 3.22 | 0.80 | 5 | 1 |
| Luke | 3.18 | 0.78 | 4.5 | 0 |
| Grand Total | 3.24 | 0.87 | 5 | 0 |
The standard deviation column gives a bit of a feel for how much each user uses the full spread of ratings available to them, but it’s still a bit hard to visualize. So I took all of the ratings and rounded them down so that there were only 6 buckets (0-5). Then I calculated what percentage of each user’s ratings were in each bucket. So effectively, the histogram below is normalized across all users so we can compare apples to apples (e.g. I rate 39% of my beers a 3 and Luke rates 61% of his beers a 3.)
Obviously everybody has their own system for how they use the available ratings, but it does look like they are all close to a normal distribution centered around 3 which makes sense. I think I’ve written this before, but here’s how I personally use the ratings:
- 0 – Yuck. I’d pour it out if you handed it to me. (e.g. Bud Light Lime)
- 1 – I’d politely decline or hand it back if you offered me this.
- 2 – Sure, I’ll drink this but I wouldn’t pay for it.
- 3 – An average beer. I don’t have a problem paying for this but I don’t seek it out.
- 4 – This is a really good beer. If I see it in the grocery store, I’ll probably buy it.
- 5 – Epic beer. Buy it whenever you see it!
And since that’s how I do it, it’s obviously the right way to do it.
A couple year ago, Red Hook in Woodinville did a big remodel of their bar and restaurant. I’m guessing around the same time is when they also made changes to their tour. Most notably, the price is now $5 instead of $1. It’s still worth the money, but it kind of takes the fun out of going multiple times in a row. Maybe that’s the point. You also now drink out of plastic cups and get your souvenir tasting glass at the end. The content has changed a bit too. There’s less trivia and more storytelling, but that could have been a style preference on the part of our guide. All the key parts are still there though.
1000 Beers
In early 2013, I signed up for Untappd and rated my first beer in the app: Fat Tire. Since then, I’ve rode the wave of the growing craft beer scene and continued to sample new beers whenever I have the chance. Recently, I tried my 1000th different beer, so I thought I’d share some thoughts and stats from my tour de beer.
Other than the first year when I was just getting into this, I average about one new beer every three days. 2019 was more like 2 every three days as I got closer and closer to the 1000 mark.
December is the month when I try the most new beers which makes sense because I have family members who enjoy craft beer too so we regularly bring new beer to family gatherings.
Dad jumped on the app early on and then Luke joined too. Logan joined later but he’s off to a good start. (Many other friends and family members have joined as well but this chart just shows the top users that I know.)
Untappd has added more and more stops along their scoring slider but I stick to the whole numbers. I devote three values to fairly good beers and only two to the beers I don’t like as much.
5. Excellent beer. Search this out!
4. Great beer. Pick this anytime without regret.
3. Good beer. I would pay money to drink this.
2. Meh. If you hand me this, I’ll drink it but I won’t pay money for it.
1. If you had me this beer, I’ll decline.
0. Gross. I’ll pour this out.
Only a few beers have ever gotten a 0. One is Bud Light Lime and another is some disgusting jalapeno beer that I had at the beer festival. I couldn’t even get through my taster of it.
Overall my ratings follow a pretty normal distribution, skewed slightly toward the higher end which makes sense because I generally drink beers that I think I’ll like.
I started off enjoying mostly ambers and ESBs, but I’ve developed a strong taste for IPAs. Those dominate my fridge these days with New England style IPAs being my absolute favorite. Here is a breakdown of the different styles of beer (where I’ve had at least 10 of them) and the average rating for each one. Inside each category, I generally find both a 1 and a 5. It’s possible to make any style terrible or great.
My average ratings have increased slightly over the years as I hone in more on the types that I enjoy.
Some people seem a bit skeptical when I rate a beer but countless times I’ve rated a beer and then looked it up to find that I’ve already had the beer… and I gave it the same rating years earlier. The first 100 ratings might be a little wonky as I figured it out, but since then I think I’ve been very consistent.
Finally, let’s look at my favorite and least favorite breweries. For this list I filtered to places where I’ve tried at least 5 different beers. Kevin has the well-deserved top spot!
And here are the breweries that consistently make beer that I don’t like:
This has been an unexpectedly fun hobby. I keep saying that once I get to X different beers, I’m going to stop and just start ordering the ones I love. Maybe I’ll slow down a bit but I really enjoy trying new beers. Cheers!