To take your (my) mind off of the Halloween show, let's talk about the new Hops To Table mag. It's the preeminent (and only) local beer pub and the publisher John Zervas starts the new issue with a lengthy rebuttal of the SNR beer rating cover story. Like the Energizer bunny, it just keeps going and going...
I have not read it, and indeed, Scott said he considered hiding his copy from me. He summarized it for me (I will read it when I'm mentally prepared), and it really could be written in a sentence. John and I corresponded about it, and I'm not revealing anything private that he doesn't say in the rebuttal by summing it up thusly:
No one who is not a certified beer judge (certified by I forget what acronym) can ever review a beer.
He is including himself in this assertion. We in fact did have a certified beer judge but this doesn't count, for various reasons. I would include in this summing up (although perhaps he might not agree):
No one who is not a certified beer judge can ever review a beer - at least not negatively.
BAR's beer column is out today, and I think due to his enormous influence it's a good thing for Sacramento, but his reviews can be summed up thusly:
It's all good.
Subsequently, he does not get shit, either on social media or in local publications. I am being very reductive about his beer writing, and he tastes carefully and thoughtfully. However, his review
columns are sometimes a hodgepodge of random styles. This one is organized around the Cap City International Beer Fest, so this week there is a clear reason for that. His part of the piece about what makes a good beer list is interesting. The column where a Cantillon Kriek didn't rate more favorably than an Ovila Quad from Sierra Nevada went down about as easily as...a Ruhstaller HopSac.
Certainly some criticism of the SNR piece is warranted, but not much of it. I publicly challenge JZ to assemble a panel of certified judges to blindly taste these same beers and see if their rankings differ significantly from ours. I realize that the tasting notes will but I didn't take the notes seriously in the first place. I focused on the grades. I have heard from a pro beer judge that even in that world there is pressure to not say anything negative, so I imagine on a grading system their grades would probably range from A-C, which would be grade inflation, so a ranking would be better.
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16 comments:
The Great Beer Wars of 2014 - the loser gets officially labelled as "a marginal beer."
My two hops plants from last year have returned and are growing like crazy. It should be a way better harvest this year. I also planted two more Chinook rhizomes after this two i planted last year never sprouted. A big "plus" for backyard hops in the garden is that rats/squirrels dont eat them
are you gonna brew beer? hops are so beautiful!
are you gonna brew beer? hops are so beautiful!
are you gonna brew beer? hops are so beautiful!
the dreaded triple post! and I only hit the button once
there's a good show at WR tonight. Vasas is playing.
I'm not sure what you're asking.
I'll have Aaron Probe do the brewing. I'll bag the hops and give them to him and then he'll bring me some beer
Rose Melberg also just got added to a different pop show there. I think it's the one on May 22nd.
I was asking if you were going to brew beer. Asked and answered.
I was joking since you "three-peted"
First, I don't really know what I'm talking about because I'm basing this all on your one sentence about what he wrote.
I won't let that stop me, though.I find JZs stance super annoying. But, he apparently had no problem titling his mag Hops to Table, a construction that should have died long ago. So, my expectations are low to begin with.
Are there certified restaurant critics, I wonder? Perhaps no one should be allowed to publish an opinion on anything without proper credentials. Perhaps journalists, for example, should be required to have not merely a degree in journalism, but a second degree in whatever subject they happen to be reporting on.
Don't get me started on music critics! How sites like Pitchfork can have losers with nary a degree in music theory publish their subjective opinions without being shouted down by certified music appreciators is beyond me.
Or, well they probably do get lots of guff. I have plenty of guff to give them, now I think of it.
But it seems to me it all really comes down to the fact that SNR piece hurt people's feelings, and no one likes that. But, regular old beer drinkers do have a right to have an opinion about whether or not they like particular beers. And there's no reason those opinions should be restricted from publication. As long as the reviewers weren't trying to pass themselves off as "experts." And, frankly, part of me wonders how anyone can be an expert in something that seems to me to be fundamentally subjective.
JD
I would totally read a publication that only reviews shitty beers.
I stand corrected, BAR has gotten shit in hops to table. I just didn't see it.
Late last year, BAR wrote about his visit to Berryessa. He biked out there, hot day. It was busy, of course, but he was told that he could not get a flight of beer. They weren't serving flights. Sounds like there were terse in their dismissal. BAR wrote about this. JZ went off on him with a similarly long-winded missive in H2T.
NM
Oh, that's right, I might have made a snide comment about that. But it was such a minor thing in a positive piece that was awesome for berryessa!
Hear hear, JD. I thought the same thing "do I need to be a certified baconista to judge the bacon fest?"
If JZ is not a certified journalism judge, why is commenting on journalism? Sure, he's a publisher, but is he a certified judge?
Ruhstaller and River City are making shitty beers and everyone knows it.
I've drain poured every Ruhstaller beer I ever bought.
I totally agreed with your IPA reviews, spot on.
Ruhstaller's new place looks cool, but I want to subject myself to their beer?
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