Thursday, October 7, 2010
To review or not review, that is the question.
After finishing up my last post I decided to have a beer that my girlfriend bought recently. I put it in a nice glass and was about to set up the bottle to take a pic for a beer review as I usually do, but unfortunately I tasted it and changed my mind. This beer is from a microbrewery in the pacific northwest that is still trying to make an impact in the craft beer world. I am a huge proponent of supporting microbrewers and with that being said I find it hard to give negative feedback on any brewery that makes craft ales. Getting to my point, the beer was bad, not I wouldn't drink this beer if I was on stranded island bad, it was just really off in so many ways. So here is the dilemma, should I still review the beer and give negative press (assuming more than 20 people actually give any credit to my reviews) or do I ignore this beer and just focus on supporting those beers that can actually give craft beer a good name. I realize that last week I gave some poor reviews of Unibroue beers, but they are a larger company and I did say that poor storage of the beer thanks to Trader Joe's more than likely was the reason for it's poor taste. Even though I am not a practicing Buddhist, I am a firm believer in karma and with the hope and dream of someday opening my own brewery, I wouldn't want some shmuck giving me a poor review. I started this blog to educate and promote beer and brewers that not many people may have heard of. I realize that if I did anything to negatively impact a hardworking brewer, I don't know if I could take myself or this blog seriously. So what should I do? What would you do?
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I like your good thoughts
ReplyDeleteYou should totally review the beer. I would approach the review from a constructive point of view as opposed to just bashing them. This is, of course, under the assumption the beer had brewing flaws. I don't normally bash a beer unless it has a brewing flaw(s) because I take into account people have different palettes. What I like, you might not like, and vice versa. Because of your unique point of view having worked in the industry, I don't think your opinion would count under the "schmuck" category.
ReplyDeleteI've had many serious discussions of craft beer here in the south bay and let me give you this piece of unsolicited advice: supporting a craft brewery doesn't mean blindly supporting everything they do. Sometimes, it means engaging the brewery in honest and critical dialog and letting them know they might have a problem. If the brewery is smart, they'll listen to their customers and evangelists. If they just blow you off, the bad beer is symptomatic of bad people. Move on and don't give it a second thought.