Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog - Criticism: Generally Good, Personally Painful

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The debate about whether bad reviews help or hinder never goes away.

Broadly speaking there are two points of view:
1. Publicly criticising breweries is unhelpful. It plays into the hands of the bad guys by harming struggling independent breweries in particular. And, anyway, it’s more fun to concentrate on writing about things you*like*— do these miseries who moan constantly actually even*like beer?
2. Only writing positively about breweries is unhelpful. It plays into the hands of the bad guys by depressing expectations of the quality of beer from small, independent breweries in particular. And anyway, cheery-beery Everything is Awesome writing is boring — how can you trust someone who apparently never encounters a bad beer?
We linked to posts broadly aligned to each of those arguments in Saturday’s news round up but there are plenty of others. Here’s Jenn at*Under the Influence, for example, arguing in favour of emphasising the positive.
We think that the tension comes from the difference between the general and the specific. Brewer X might agree in the abstract that honesty is the best policy, and that consumers ought to be demanding, perhaps on the assumption (subconscious or otherwise) that such a culture will favour their lovingly-made beer over lesser products. By all means, expose those charlatans!
But when Blogger Y states bluntly that, actually,*Brewer X’s beer isn’t much good, it’s hard for Brewer X*not to respond by kicking the wastebasket. Don’t they know how hard we work? Don’t they know how tough the market is?
If there’s a downside to negative beer reviews beyond that unpleasant thump to the chest for the brewer it’s that they*might contribute to some hive-mindery, leading people to mindlessly dismiss a beer they would otherwise have enjoyed. But we think that influence is actually more likely to go the other way, generating positive responses to beers that aren’t really that amazing.
Meanwhile, at their best, what bad reviews can offer is a kick up the bum. We’re certain that, even if they play it cool, there are some breweries out there whose response to a run of criticism has been to review their approach and up their game.
Bad reviews*also increase the value of good reviews: if everything is great, then nothing is great.
On balance, we think people should review beer in whichever way they feel comfortable — there are audiences for both approaches after all. We’re going to keep being as honest as we can, which means being disappointed more often than not, but we won’t*judge anyone else for doing otherwise.
What really matters, and what really is good for the industry, is*the idea that beer is worth thinking, talking and writing about, whether negatively or positively.
Criticism: Generally Good, Personally Painful originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog


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