A REMINDER ABOUT OUR RATINGS SYSTEM

For those not as insane and obsessively strange as I am, the notion that I actually spend even microseconds "rating" a beer is a bit too much to take. I have been verbally mocked and harassed by several individuals whom I shall not outright name for said behavior, though I will say that one lives in my house and her name rhymes with "Bebecca". However, if you have stumbled upon this site and have yet to run in terror, I say - please come in, gentle friend. You and I - we understand each other.

Back in April I tried to write up a rudimentary scorecard that detailed Hedonist Beer Jive's "ratings system", in the hope of helping you discern the difference between, say, a 6.5/10 from a 7/10. Oh, you may laugh about such anal retentive hairsplitting now, but who will have the last laugh when you don't listen to me, and end up pouring your Dunkel Weiss down the drain in frustration? So let's revisit the aforementioned ratings system, shall we? It may help you to better understand just what it is that I want you to drink tonight:

10: An exceptional, world-class beer that is among the small handful of the best I've ever had. Reserved for the greats, like DESCHUTES' Black Butte Porter or ANDERSON VALLEY's Boont Amber, or like recent discoveries of mine like TRAPPISTES ROCHEFORT 8 or HACKER PSCHORR DUNKEL WEISS.

9-9.5: A knockout, stellar beer that I'd drink again anytime, anywhere. We've already thrown two 9's on this site at BEAR REPUBLIC's Racer 5 (since lowered to an 8 after my second taste of this) and DRAKE'S Denogginizer, and then gave MOYLAN'S India Pale Ale a killer 9.5. I'd also add that RUSSIAN RIVER's Rejection Belgian Black Ale deserves a 9 as well.

7-8.5: Very good beers that I can recommend and drink repeatedly with pleasure, just lacking something that keeps it from the true heavyweights.

5-6.5: A good microbrew, usually best tasted once before moving on to something else, with the thought that maybe it might get ordered again somewhere down the road.

3-4.5: A disappointment or something just not that worthy. Drinkable, and that's about it.

1-2.5: A crap beer that I will never drink again & will encourage you not to either. So far we've awarded this brilliancy prize to COAST RANGE'S Famhouse Saison 7, and thankfully no one else.

0-0.5: Blatz, Miller Genuine Draft, Coors Light, etc.