Having made 3 NB purchases, I like to drool over the various kits and products. I’ll often check out the reviews. You’ll have ~90% of reviews submitting 5 stars and the other 10% claiming it’s awful.
Specifically, I was looking at trying Wyeast 1945 (Neo Britannia) on a NB barley wine extract and saw some surprisingly bad reviews with others giving it a stellar review.
I guess I don’t see this 100% limited to NB as I’ve been transitioning to more online shopping and seem to notice this other places, too.
Truth. NB came out with Maris Otter extract - I haven’t tried it, but if you don’t like Maris Otter, anyway (and some absolutely dislike it vociferously), then those brewers will give it a bad review. Personally, I like it, so I would be inclined to sing praises of offering it in extract form (assuming the extract was also good).
Truth. NB came out with Maris Otter extract - I haven’t tried it, but if you don’t like Maris Otter, anyway (and some absolutely dislike it vociferously), then those brewers will give it a bad review. Personally, I like it, so I would be inclined to sing praises of offering it in extract form (assuming the extract was also good).[/quote]
I have the British bitter with both the yeast and Extract you are talking about fermenting away as i type this. I’ll let you know what I think of the new version (I will have had Both of them). But like others have said its my taste though not yours.
Most of the time people take the time to do a review it is going to be because they had a strong opinion on the product, either good or bad. If someone basically got what they expected it seems pretty unlikely they’ll take the time to write up a review. I usually will take a look at the reviews to see why people did or did not like the item. Often things will get a bad review because a person expected the wrong thing (made up example: “This Mild isn’t very hoppy at all”) or are using it incorrectly. Other times things will get really good reviews just because the item seems to be popular. I wade through the reviews to get at the pros and cons, doing a search on the forums for a kit or product of interest is also a good way to get more information about what people thought of it.
Rather than looking for reviews on the product page you’re probably better off coming here on the forum and asking users. That way you can be more specific with what you are looking for.
But even more, if you’re wondering about a given product or method it’s usually best to just jump in and try it out yourself. Other people’s personal opinions could sometimes end up steering you away from something you might really like.
The only way you’ll know for sure is if you give it a spin yourself.
But even more, if you’re wondering about a given product or method it’s usually best to just jump in and try it out yourself. Other people’s personal opinions could sometimes end up steering you away from something you might really like.
The only way you’ll know for sure is if you give it a spin yourself.[/quote]
That’s also a good point. If you are talking beer recipe kits or ingredients than yeah, I would just get them and see for yourself. But if it is a big ticket purchase definitely do research.
Don’t you love it when you read a review for a beer or food recipe and the person changed it or didn’t have the ingredients then gives it a bad rating.
I find this all the time for food recipes. Allrecipices.com is notorious for this. I’ll find a recipe with great reviews and rating, make it for dinner, find it mediocre and then check the reviews. Of course, everyone says “five stars, excellent dish. But I swapped out this, added this and that, baked instead of fried and changed all the ingredients. Other than that it was great!”
Yes this here pisses me off. I cant stand that “I added 3LBS of table sugar and changed the 60min hop edition to 3oz of magnum Instead of the .5Oz of Uk Goldings it called for…Oh and at flame out I added a table spoon of cinnamon. Its just way too bitter and has a off taste to it. I wouldn’t recommend buying this kit.” lol
I think the one that really glared at me was a review for the cherry kriek. The comment was that it tasted like a bandaid. Had it been a problem with the NB kit or the yeast, you’d see this with virtually all who used them. I have enough experience and common sense to realize that the reviewer more than likely did something wrong. I still don’t like how it would bring down the score of the beer kit.
I think flip nailed it; I’ve never made it a point to write a review of any product (beer or otherwise) that I was somewhat ambivalent about. You’re always going to get reviews from people who either love or hate it, and as previously noted, some people only hate it because of “user error.” I generally only pay attention to positive ratings if there are quite a few reviews and the people making them seem pretty well informed. The main thing is whether it sounds to you like a solid recipe that appeals to your tastes and that you feel you can pull off. If all of those are true, then I say give it a shot, critics be damned.
Yeah, "My beer didn’t bubble, so I put in the sun for 2 days. Now it tastes like a skunk. If I bottle with a lb. of sugar, will that offset the taste?
This kit /yeast/hop/tube/etc. sucks "
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