Beer rating is the process of assessment and evaluation of

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

by use of a points-based system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the

Beer Judge Certification Program The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) is a non-profit organization formed in 1985 to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills. The BJCP certifies and ranks beer judges through an examination and monitoring process. Purpose The BJCP ha ...

(BJCP) in America, though the participants are consumers so it may be termed a score-rated recommendation system. The rating system may be a simple 5 marks, and may be organized by a beer store or

pub chain A pub chain is a group of pubs or bars operating under a unified brand image. Pubs within a chain are tied houses and can, generally, only sell products which the chain owner sanctions. Pubs in a chain normally display their chain branding pr ...

such as Wetherspoon in the UK; or it may be more involved, such as the systems used by beer rating websites such as BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. A 2017 study considered beer ratings to be "a relatively unbiased and informative source of social information".

Websites

BeerAdvocate

BeerAdvocate is an online beer rating site which also rates bars and beer stores. It was founded in 1996, by brothers Todd and Jason Alström, and is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and Denver, Colorado, United States. As of November 2013, BeerAdvocate's database contained about 3,783,570 ratings of about 100,976 beers. As of February 2020, BeerAdvocate is owned by Next Glass, which is also the parent company of

Untappd Untappd is a geosocial networking service and mobile phone application founded by Greg Avola and Tim Mather that allows its users to check in as they drink beers, and share these check-ins and their locations with their friends. It incorpo ...

RateBeer

RateBeer was founded in May 2000 by Bill Buchanan as a forum for beer drinkers to exchange information and share opinions of beer. In June 2000, the Canadian beer writer Josh Oakes joined RateBeer and eventually became editor-in-chief. In June 2001, the web-site consultant Joe Tucker joined, eventually assuming full ownership of RateBeer. In August 2006, RateBeer's annual press-release of the highest rated beers on the site caused concern when various world media reported that supplies of

Westvleteren Westvleteren is a village in the province of West Flanders, Belgium. It is a section of the municipality of Vleteren. The core of it is a linear settlement along the N321 road. Westvleteren is primarily known for the Westvleteren Brewery (), a b ...

12 were sold out due to being listed as the "Best beer in the world" on the site. RateBeer has over 4.5 million ratings (as of early 2013) of more than 470,000 beers, from over 26,000 breweries. In June 2017, it was revealed that

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...

had acquired a minority stake in RateBeer via the incubator ZX Ventures. This purchase led to concerns that the company had a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

, citing that the site could present bias towards Anheuser-Busch InBev brands, that there was a lack of transparency over the role of the company's investment, and that it could potentially gain access to customer data. Several breweries attempted to demand that their listings be removed from the website. Executive director Joe Tucker stated that "Nothing about this investment changes who we are and what we provide. We will just be able to give our community of beer drinkers an even better experience". As of February 2019, RateBeer is fully owned by ZX Ventures, the global growth and innovation arm of AB InBev. On December 18, 2024, it was announced that RateBeer was to cease operations on February 1, 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beer rating

Rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

Rating systems

Websites

BeerAdvocate

RateBeer

See also

References