Google. Facebook. Yelp. Untappd. Twitter. There are plenty of places where you can review products and experiences online. But what happens when you have a negative response to a beer—and are hesitant to be completely open about it?
Recently, I’ve seen professional reviewers tiptoe around the fact that a hotly anticipated beer didn’t live up to high expectations—or hesitate to say that a brewery they’re friendly with might not be turning out reliable releases. So I asked The Fervent Few: What good does a bad review—or even a good review—ultimately serve? How much stock do we take in beer reviews, and does it matter who shares them? Here’s what they had to say.
Ian Davis kicked things off by reminding us that a review doesn’t necessarily have to be all flowers and rainbows. “‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.’ It’s total bullshit—especially within craft beer. Constructive criticism of an establishment is, in my opinion, a positive thing. An owner or proprietor should want to hear from those who are passionate about whatever their product may be. I do not condone malicious and offensive reviews that seek to tear others down, though—keep that shit to yourself.”
You can criticize all you want, but don’t be a jerk about it. Daniel Castro Chin is in agreement with Ian: “There’s constructive feedback and then there are insults. Do one, not the other. Usually if you mix in some positives with some negatives, or state things as personal opinions, you err on the side of feedback. If you direct things at the brewery, you’re probably being a prick.”
Neal Buck doesn’t see anything wrong with writing a bad review as long as it falls into one of the following criteria. “To me, there are three good reasons to write a bad review of a beer: 1) To have it as a record for you and your friends to remember what you thought about a beer. 2) To provide constructive criticism for the brewery in question. However, to this point, you should consider why the brewery should care about your opinion. (Do they know you? Are you in the industry? Do you review beers professionally? Are you a regular?). I also think Untappd is not a great place for this. 3) To publicly shame a brewery. This is sometimes needed.”
For Brad Redick, bad reviews are uncommon but occasionally necessary. “I only do two types of negative reviews now, and both are rare. 1) I will post to social if I bought your beer multiple times and multiple times it was oxidized, infected, or chunky. 2) I will post within the confines of this community if I really dislike a beer, but it has to be damn near offensive to my tastes at that point.”
Being delicate about a bad review is fine, as long as people know how to read between the lines, says Dustin Reiner. “I think tiptoeing around it is OK. There is a local reviewer here that goes to all new breweries when they open, and when he says, ‘The food was good,’ or, ‘The place is gorgeous,’ without mentioning their beer, it tells you all you need to know.”
Good Beer Hunting’s own Bryan Roth—friend to beer journalists everywhere—has had several conversations with reviewers about what he sees as a problematic desire to always keep things positive. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with other journalists over the years who refuse to write any negative reviews about breweries or beer because they feel it’s their responsibility to showcase the positive and good things happening. With so many options, they say, it’s best to just stick to what makes people happy. I could go on a very long rant about the problems of this, and the historical structures that have been set in place in beer-focused journalism to create such an ideal.”
But Melissa Jones disagrees. “Taste is so subjective. If the beer is shit, people aren’t going to buy it, and there’s your sign as a brewer. You don’t need Untappd to tell you that. I like the positive reviews, because it reminds me what I loved and what I need to seek out again from a particular place.”
Tait Forman sees value in negative reviews, but wonders what happens when they come from untrusted sources. “There is no benefit to only saying nice things about people’s products or work. I always think of chef David Chang, who talks about the absolute rage he felt upon receiving a negative review for one of his restaurants from the New York Times—only to reflect and realize that he could and should have done better. The same is true for consumer products. Telling your local brewery that every beer they produce is worthy of five stars means that their potentially mediocre beer will stay mediocre.”
Personally, I can’t help but think that relying on people you don’t know, whose tastes and experiences you can’t share, to dictate your decision-making is flawed and ultimately lazy. If we all followed Untappd ratings to the letter, none of us would ever drink Lager—and we might be swayed by disgruntled reviews—“great food, nice service, the music was a little too loud; three stars”—at the expense of our own sense of discovery.
Where do you stand on reviews? Are bad reviews helpful to you? Do reviews guide your beer-buying decisions? Hit us up on social media to share your thoughts, or join The Fervent Few! Take part in conversations with other beer lovers, all while supporting the Good Beer Hunting stories you love.
Hosted by Jim Placy
