There is nothing I can do to stop the endless stream of “Top 10 Beers” and “Top 5 Breweries” and “Top 8 Beer Vacations” lists. Sure, if you’re a brewery you want to see your name up in lights, but can we stop believing any of these lists matter?
Endless, too, is the stream of picture after picture of Heady Topper next to Pliny the Elder from guys waiving their beer pork swords around while proclaiming to know which is “best.” I’ve had them. I like them. Move on.
Whether due to my marginally scientific background (many moons ago) or my current, regular application of legal analysis, I need to know the “why” and “how” as much as I need to know the result.
Thus, I have only one expectation with these lists: tell me your methodology. In the land of click bait it’s an unfulfilled expectation most of the time.
Take these examples: CraftBeer.com’s 2013 Great American Beer Bars and Thrillist.com’s “The Best Craft Brewery In Every State.“
CraftBeer.com is a product of the Brewers Association which has a vested interest in promoting the visibility of craft beer and the places to find it. Thrillist.com generates content to drive traffic to its site to sell advertising and products. I have no problem with either.
CraftBeer.com fully explains its methodology for picking the “best” beer bars. It asks readers to nominate their favorite beer bars and opens up voting on the bars with the most nominations in five regions of the U.S. It’s a popularity contest for sure, but we get to know how the sausage was made.
Thrillist.com did not explain its methodology for picking the best craft brewery in every state. It’s a highly subjective topic made more difficult by the quickly growing number of breweries.
Thus, I asked Lee Breslouer, author of Thrillist’s “Best Craft Brewery in Every State,” to explain how they selected the breweries. Noting they don’t take much too seriously around Thrillist, Lee kindly provided the following explanation:
Our criteria for this piece wasn’t necessarily choosing the brewery that won the most awards, or was the most well-known in the state, though we certainly selected breweries that fit both those criteria. Mostly we were looking for breweries that innovated, that were a fine representative for the craft beer scene in their state, and, mostly, that we’d want to sit down and drink a pint of. Or actually, a bomber of.
Fair enough. At least with this explanation you can decide how well they did. Take Montana, for which they selected Big Sky Brewing Co.
Big Sky is Montana’s most recognizable brewery, distributing to 24 states – 21 more than the next highest distribution. It wins awards, for sure, and is certainly representative of the craft beer scene in Montana, whatever that means (unless you consider it is five times larger than the next closest of Montana’s other 42 operating breweries). Knowledgeable Montana beer drinkers know Big Sky makes more very good one-off beers than the average fan might suspect, but it is not considered a regular innovator. That title would probably go to Carter’s Brewery in Billings.
Thus, in light of Thrillist’s methodology, it’s a predictably safe choice. Until you read their description:
While Moose Drool Brown is the Missoula-based brewer’s best-known concoction, keep an eye out for its equally full-bodied, equally delicious, and equally animal-emblazoned bottles like the Summer Honey and the Trout Slayer wheat.
Summer Honey and Trout Slayer are specifically designed to not be full-bodied. But what did you expect from a list made by folks who 1) likely have little knowledge about Montana’s beer scene, and 2) create lists to generate traffic to sell advertising. Do you really care to put more stock in these lists than that? They don’t, so why should we?
Frankly, the “best” imperial IPA I’ve had in a long time was a local collaboration between Draught Works Brewery and Tamarack Brewing Co. called Citra Mafia. It’s not ranked anywhere, you’ve never heard of it, and we’ll likely never see it again.
Collin McDonnel, co-owner and brewer of HenHouse Brewing Company, captured this sentiment in a piece he wrote for Brewed for Thought:
Seriously, listicles are not just the death of journalism, they are fundamentally inappropriate for talking about small breweries. Do you really believe there is a “best” brewery? Or even a top 10? The whole reason we have 3000 breweries in this country is because we, the beer drinking public, have rejected the Highlander, there-can-be-only-one conception of breweries
Indeed. Check out more of Collin’s thoughts in his full article, Brewer’s Thoughts: There is Not a “Best Brewery.“
The next time you ponder a list, look first for the methodology. Second, head to your local brewery and take in the experience, not the comparisons.
