Exceptional Optics

[Stu McKinlay]

The 5/5 appearance joke has pretty much run its course but I want to get the last of it out of you all.

Forget about how good a beer smells or tastes for a moment. What beer deserves 5/5 for appearance and why? It can be anything, or a combination of things... A great bottle or tap badge (or iPod), a raunchy label, it pours perfectly, it has a head that stands up out of the glass and never fades... Post some pics and wax lyrical.

Praise or condemn the beer if you must but all I really want to hear is what looks hot (and, because we can't ale-ways be positive, what looks like rot).

[James P]

Now these are obviously personal, however if it looks like I'm about to drink liquid vegemite it'll start with a 2/5, and if it looks like Kempicus's first piss of the day, I'd ask them about the need for antibotics or something else to drink.....

[Stu McKinlay]

I'd go one point for each of the following:

Bottle, badge, branding etc (personal, afterall, it is the first thing you eye)
Colour and clarity (to style)
Head, lace and carbonation (to style, a cask beer need no head but it should still lace a little)
Information (personal, ingredients etc are a bonus and may help push me up a point if I'm on the fence, anything that look like an attempt to trick me is a definite no-no).
Invite-me-in-for-a-swim-ability (personal, of course, some beers just look so delicious and it is pretty hard to come up with a scientific reason as to why).


Moa Original (750ml bottle), the beer that I'm thinking about every day at the moment is a 5/5. The bottle and beer look the perfect part, quite exquisite. The hazy look of the beer in the glass prepares you for the big whiff of yeast and hop that you get on the nose - it looks firey yet delicate, and that's what it is. Perfect visuals for a "Saison-ish" beer -
BJCP appearance guide: Often a distinctive pale orange but may be golden or amber in color. There is no correlation between strength and color. Long-lasting, dense, rocky white to ivory head resulting in characteristic “Belgian lace” on the glass as it fades. Clarity is poor to good though haze is not unexpected in this type of unfiltered farmhouse beer. Effervescent.
The design work is a bit naff but it is not quite bad enough to drop it below 5/5.


After I've gone through this process, I complete scoring by subtracting the score from itself and then assigning a random number between 0 and 6. i turn that number upside down, re-evaluate, and then turn it right way up.


Then I finish the slab.

[jt]

It would be interesting to hear what slabs you've bought Stu ...

[Kempicus]

I used to drink lion brown crates at uni...$20 a swap a crate!!! haven't done that in a while though

[jt]

XXXX and Fosters were my fav cheapies when the Aussie were dumping them here

2 doz crates of Steiny blue stubbies once apon a time

[Greig McGill]

Never done slabs. Never will. Not that I'm above it or anything (snob alert) I just never used to like beer, because I thought it all tasted the same. I never used to drink at all really. Oh how times changed! ;)

The sad story is, I was dragged down to a dodgy "westy" type pub in Hamilton called the Down Under Bar regularly on a Friday night by Kempicus, and forcefed Waikato. Or was it Lion Red? I forget. Actually, there was no dragging, and despite the beer choice (one of use swore undying allegiance to Waikato, one to Lion Red, but I forget which is which) I used to love those nights. Sadly, as I've discovered good beer over the last decade, I don't think I've ever enjoyed myself quite as much as those drunken nights singing along to Black Hole Sun, played by a band with a guy who looked EXACTLY like Kim Thayil.

Sorry Seamus, I've outed us both! ;)

[Kempicus]

Nah it's ok i do have a chequered past! i was waikato you were lion red....do you remember that band that used to do an amazing cover of pearl jams alive and he used to do the entire solo? he had a sweet fender telecaster with a Waikato sign painted on it? very sad!
We partially went to the 'down under' for the music and partially for the 'girls with physical defects' that we figured we'd have a better chance with...all the really hot ones were at guvenors tavern...
to be fair our beer tastes moved on to 'premium' beers after a while, you liked 'black ice' and i loved Neil Millers favourite beer FLAME beer....even though it gave me bad breath!

Loved those nights and the chemical beer hangovers!

[denimglen]

That band probably sucks, this band has a song about Double Brown. It pwns you all.

Double Brown! Double Brown!

[Stu McKinlay]

Yeeehah!!! Yeastie Boys got our first 1/5 appearance rating.

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/yeastie-boys-pot-kettle-black/92150/84...

Interestingly it came the exact day that I started this thread and from a user who joined Ratebeer that same day (and then added ten ratings - note: you have to do ten ratings for your rating to count).

Should we name a beer after him? 'Sad Boy Troll Ale' appeal to anyone?

[Kempicus]

it all sounds a bit suspicious to me.....sounds like you've really pissed someone off Stu!
And you're such a likable chap!

Gotta say that's a bit petty if you have....

[Greig McGill]

Based on lack of capitalisation and general spelling/grammar I'm picking ryan. ;) No comments about Monteiths Black though... I'm guessing it's Luke in disguise - a) he loves a good stir, b) Epic rated 5.

Seriously though, it could be real, but the name is just such an obvious "look at me, I'm a troll" call.

[Reviled]

"homebrewish"??? WTF does that even mean? My father in law told me my beer was a bit too homebrewish for him the other day, I asked him to explain what that meant and he couldnt?

Does homebrewish mean that a beer has too much flavour?? Honestly!!

The thing I found funny, is that he drinks really expensive wine and really enjoys it, but as I pointed out, he drinks beer that tastes like water.. He replied to that, beer is more about drinking volume, wine is about savouring... I wonder some times... :o(