We’re going to get brutally honest about Untappd here. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Get on your smart phone and download it. Then continue reading.
The premise of Untappd is amazing - a social app combining craft beer, friends, and stats. This is the same winning combination that makes sports so appealing, so obviously the creators were on to something.
But there’s one flaw to the whole beautiful thing. All the inputters are massively biased.
Untappd users (myself included) look at a rating for a given beer and make a lightning fast, implicit assumption that the 3.5 star beer is exactly and unequivocally that. But that’s the piece I have a problem with. Those 3.5 stars represent what? Quality? Your taste? Your friends taste? Overall level of outrageousness? Clarity/color/mouthfeel/aroma? An amalgamation of all the above?
It’s difficult to say because we all have our own individual scale for what any number of stars means. For example, I liberally give out 5 star ratings for superb beers, regardless of style, but I know others who only give 5 stars for beers that literally alter their lives. That’s a high bar.
But I have a theory on this particular matter. Let’s be bold and call it the Universal Theory of Untappd.
Collectively, enthusiasts rate a beer primarily on how interesting we find said beer, and only beer enthusiasts rate beers.
The data fits the theory. Beers with tons of flavor potential like Imperial barrel aged stouts, triple-dry-hopped hazy IPAs, and fruited sour beers generally get higher ratings than their less interesting siblings (Helles, Pilsner, Wit, Pale Lager, etc).
Example: From the Top Rated Beer list per Untappd
Top Double IPA: King JJJulius, Tree House Brewing Co.
4.75 stars, 13,000+ ratings
Top Vienna Lager: Fourth Wave, Breakside Brewery,
4.04 stars, 3,000+ ratings
Are you kidding me?! The top vienna lager, a style consumed in 1000 times the quantity of double IPA, has only 4 stars? I wonder if any of those 3,000 people knew they were drinking the highest rated Vienna lager in the world?
Probably not, but I guarantee that 4-star Vienna Lager is better than most 4-star IPAs (and there’s plenty of those in the world). In fact, whenever you find yourself with a 4+ star “working class beer” in your hand, raise your arms in victory because you are about to enjoy a beverage of the highest quality. Yes, this is my biased opinion, but it’s primarily based on my knowledge of your bias.
Let’s take it a level deeper and look at some of Autumn Arch’s more complex beers (i.e. interesting) compared to their more humble counterparts.
Figure 1 - Untappd Ratings vs All Autumn Arch Styles
Check out Figure 1. Surprised? I’m not. Because Autumn Arch brews a fairly wide variety of beer, our brew history is a perfect little microcosm of Untappd. We have the complex beers on one end, and the “working class” beers on the other. And I’m not so naive to ignore the fact that some of those low scores were just beers that deserved a low score (#learning), but some are low because they’re just a lager/pale ale/brown ale (insert your working class beer of choice).
Knowing this, have we changed our approach to the styles of beers we brew? Not really. We don’t chase after Untappd stars even though I do find the data fascinating.
Looking at a trend of our beers’ Untappd ratings over the last year, one will observe the gentle slope upwards (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: All Autumn Arch Beers since the Beginning
I believe this response is occurring for several reasons, some of which are more significant than others:
We have learned to brew better beers #continuousimprovement
Barrel aged sour beers were released starting in January 2020
We canned popular styles of beers within the last 5 months
Customers who were not fans of Autumn Arch stopped buying our beer (and therefore rating it low)
Let’s break this down:
1 - Brewing better beer. Of course this is true. Even the worst breweries tend to at least marginally improve their product. #humannature Dan and the brew crew at Autumn Arch have a constant eye towards improving product quality, and this takes the form of recipe improvement, equipment upgrades, collaboration with other brewers, and learning through experimentation. While I think this is a factor, it’s likely a smaller contributor than some others on this list.
2 - Since barrel-aged sour beers unequivocally fall in the category of “fancy/interesting beer”, I think this is definitely a factor. When we were planning to open Autumn Arch, a barrel-aged sour beer program was always front and center in the plan. Sour beers provide the most varied and diverse opportunities to create a truly unique and flavorful beer; thus far, I think our sour beers have been fairly solid, and I fully expect them to improve as we hone our craft. Clearly, the release of several sour beers this year has provided a modest bump to our Untappd ratings.
3 - We have canned mostly IPAs since we began releases in December. And since we know Untappd biases IPAs a bit higher than other styles, this is definitely a factor in the trend. See the graph below which breaks out our canned beer….50% are IPAs.
4 - While I would like to believe that every customer falls in love with our beers immediately upon the first sip, that’s just not the way beer works. We don’t consume things that we don’t prefer. I think there were a few folks who gave us a shot when we opened but then moved onto their other brewery preferences. That’s a loss for us, but a win for another brewery. #circleoflife
So what’s next?
Autumn Arch will continue to focus on deep flavor profiles, edgy bitterness, and complex relationships. We do this with a fervent attention to fundamental brewing principles, a respect for traditional styles, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Neither Untappd ratings, nor biases, nor White Claws will get in the way of our mission to deliver local/authentic/funky beer to Delaware.