大多数“坏啤酒”并不像您想象的那么糟糕

我忍受了很多bad beersin my life; as a beer writer, it comes with the territory. Narrowing down the absolute worst is impossible, but to give you a taste, I once encountered a pour during a tasting flight that immediately reeked of gym socks and tasted like funky cheese. Purportedly aCalifornia Common, the beer was literally “bad,” infected with some unwanted microbe.

Yet, when we talk about “bad” beers, rarely are they actually these types of flawed products. Thankfully, truly “bad” brews are few and far between. Serving beer with serious flaws—whether the aforementioned gym sock beer or more subtle issues like strong notes of creamed corn (dimethyl sulfide) or nail polish remover (ethyl acetate)—will hurt a brewery’s reputation, and usually brewers either fix these mistakes or go out of business. But at a time when beer comes in a wider range of flavors than ever before, it’s important that we tease apart those that are literally brewed incorrectly and those we simply dislike.

With a huge range of styles from巧克力帝国烈性黑啤酒到酸和咸的戈斯，啤酒是一个主观的雷区，当啤酒饮用者用“不好”表示个人喜好时，他们冒着对行业不利的风险。

在啤酒竞赛中已经了解了这种区别，在这些啤酒比赛中，试图客观地判断产品。啤酒被风格分解，训练有素的法官获得了有关寻找的内容的具体准则。但是，休闲对话不是那么标准化，有时整个样式都被抛入“不良”类别。

On the beer rating appUntappd, millions of users rate beers on a zero-to-five scale, and a quick look at two of the industry’s most popular styles shows an immediate discrepancy. American light lagers are, by far, the county’s best-selling beers. Untappd’s top-rated offering in that style,淋浴啤酒酿造，复合分数为3.79。将其与最高的美国IPA相比，即精酿啤酒运动的事实上的标志性风格：Tree House Brewing的Jjjuliusss得分为4.65。注意差异吗？

总体而言，啤酒社区不可避免地比其他款式更高。很好 - IPA客观上可能比轻度啤酒更有趣，因为有更多的变化空间。但是，有问题的是，当完全可以接受的啤酒被视为“坏”时，仅仅是因为它没有达到兴奋的主观基准。

As an example, look no further than Miller Lite. Like many mainstream brews, America’s third most popular beer brand often gets tossed into the “bad” category. Its Untappd average is a paltry 2.43. But is Miller Lite actually “bad” beer? Just ask a professional beer judge: The brew took home the gold in the American-Style Lager or Light Lager category at the Great American Beer Festival as recently as 2014.

“I think people sometimes confuse intensity of flavor with quality,” explains Jason Pratt, Master Cicerone and Senior Marketing Manager, Innovations, for MillerCoors. “If you’re expecting any light beer to measure up to a Russian imperial stout or imperial IPA on flavor intensity, you’re going to be disappointed. At the same time, if you’re looking for a beer that’s light, refreshing and balanced, a light beer is probably a better fit. When you look at Miller Lite, it checks all of the boxes for what a light beer is supposed to be. That’s why it consistently wins medals when compared to its peers.”

Whatever your personal preference is when it comes to light beers, “bad” is a frustratingly vague descriptor for a beer that, from a technical perspective, may be totally fine.

In his forthcoming book,喝啤酒，思考啤酒：到达每个品脱的底部，认证啤酒法官和高级编辑精酿啤酒和酿造杂志约翰·霍尔（John Holl）专门解决了竞争环境中个人品味与实际质量之间的区别。他写道：“很久以前，我意识到有某些啤酒风格，例如比利时的林中士和四轮摩托车，我只是不喜欢。”“Professionally, I learned how they were supposed to taste and the processes used to make them, but if I had the opportunity to judge a beer contest where they were offered, I’d beg off unless there was no alternative – in which case, I’d give it my honest shot to make an assessment uninfluenced by my personal bias.”

同样的课程也可以应用于休闲饮酒者。霍尔通过电子邮件告诉我们：“这些天来，啤酒有很多选择，并不是每种风格都适合所有人。”“当涉及在线'评级啤酒时，给予低分是不公平的，因为它不适合您的口味。这对啤酒厂和您的饮酒者不公平。”

当然，当我们不喜欢啤酒时，我们仍然需要公开表达。但是饮酒者应该利用这个机会提供更多背景。也许啤酒不是时尚的：有效的抱怨通常可以防止饮酒完全，有时甚至可以从赢得比赛中获得美味的啤酒。也许这很无聊，或者相反：它的口味太浓郁了。也许这是更空灵的事情：您不喜欢罐子的艺术品，啤酒厂的政治或酿酒师的表弟。所有公平的 - 只是保留这个术语“不好”，因为它确实存在缺陷。（如果您还没有研究酿造缺陷, it’s an incredible way to learn about the flavors you probably already know you don’t like in a beer.) If you ever encounter a beer that actually tastes like gym socks, you're going to wish that everyone rating beer would stick to the proper descriptor.