I’d say the same is true for anyone who puts stuff out there for general consumption. Artists. Chefs. And beer writers.

But here’s the thing with that. Unlike wine, which is pretty much grape-press-ferment and very much dependent on what happens in the vineyard, beer is manufactured. It’s the mechanical operations that maltsters and brewers put those ingredients through that make it beer. The variance from crop to crop is fairly small. The industry demands a great deal of consistency from suppliers, and they receive it. Brewers who know their stuff have all the information needed from maltsters and hop growers to tweak processes and recipes to account for variances. If they miss a number here or there, they have the ability to blend batches. And there are a variety of hop products out there like lupulin powder and bittering extracts that allow for great precision in whatever parameter they are designed to meet. And craft brewers – even small ones – do use these products. Despite minor changes in ingredients, brewers are able to produce an extremely consistent product batch after batch. Think about it. If you order a beer once, you will expect it to taste the same the next time. If it doesn’t, there is a problem. Thus the beer nerd refrain of, “this tasted better last year.”

Additionally, the kinds of issues you mention have nothing to do with the kinds of issues I was alluding to. A brewer could use an entirely different malt and still make a beer that is not dripping diacetyl. The alpha acid percentage of hops could be significantly higher than the last crop, but a brewer worth their salt could still make a beer that wasn’t astringent. Process and technical flaws are only a sign of an inexperienced brewer, not a sign of the complexity of beer.

Personally, your reviews always seem reasonable to me. From reading your posts, I know that you and I have slightly different taste preferences, and I take that into account. But I also trust that you know what chlorophenols taste like, and you will call someone out when they serve flawed beers. I appreciate that a lot.

There are already plenty of “critics” out there who try to avoid saying anything bad. Thank you for telling it the way you see it. If that’s being mean, then please be continue being a meany.