Mini Review: BCBS Coffee

Aroma is sweet cafe au lait
Appearance is black and opaque
Flavor is mocha cafe au lait. Beer flavor comes through as it warms.
Mouthfeel is thick and creamy.
Overall impression is awesomeness.  :)

Rogue Farms - Marionberry Braggot SG

Smells malty with a berry tinge.  Not as fruity as you would suspect from the name.  A very balanced beer.  You get an berry aftertaste. There is also a bit of a caramel taste.  This would be a good back porch grilling beer and would make a great marinade.

Mini review: Rogue Marionberry Braggot

Aroma is a little roasty malt and honey.  Very light berry aroma
Appearance is dark amber/copper.
Flavor is nice and roasty with a nice berry sweetness.  Warming alcohol is present.
Mouthfeel is smooth and medium-bodied.
Overall Impression is a nice beer and although sweet, very well-balanced for a fruit beer.

Chris Baker/Stone/Insurgenter Collaboration - Xocobeza

Smells like dessert in a class, the cinnamon really comes through.  Nice Roasty taste, like drinking Fireside Cocoa at Christmas time.  I could see pairiing this with pumpkin pie, pecan pie, or sweet potato pie at holiday gatherings.  

Mini Review: Stone/Chris Baker/Insurgente Xocoveza

Aroma of coffee, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, roast malts.
Appearance is black as night and opaque.
Flavor is chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, and vanilla.
Mouthfeel is thick and rich.  Nice and creamy.
Overall impression as described is mexican hot chocolate.

Free Beer and Other Quandries for Beer Writing Ethics

What ethics should the average beer blogger be held to?  Listening to a panel discussion on the subject makes me consider what I would consider ethics in my blogging.  Since I am primarily an amateur blogger doing this for my enjoyment, it's not much of a quandary for me.  Nobody gives me free beer (although I am open to it ;) ) so I suppose it's less of an issue from my perspective.  My focus is also more from a judging and beer appreciation and learning perspective anyway.  I will generally only review beers from a stylistic standpoint, so what I get out of them is what I get out of them.  I also only tend to publish reviews of beer that I like.  Since brewers are not held to strict style guidelines in the first place, I'm not going to write up a review of a beer that doesn't fit into a style because it's counter-productive to the BJCP judging learning process.  I'll just leave those for hedonistic ratings on Untappd.

So, ultimately I'm left to define my own ethics.  Here are my rules for blogging:

1) Always be honest but polite.  When I review beers for 'Commercial Calibration' type reviews, I use the same standards I use when doing score sheets in a competition.  Always be constructive in criticism and try to emphasize the positives before launching into the flaws or suggestions for improvements.  Ultimately the brewer may never see my reviews, but somebody put a lot of work into making the product, so I should respect that, even if their work resulted in something I don't like.

2)  Write what you perceive.  The most simple but effective strategy for me is just that.  You cannot criticize what someone else perceives.  If they smell or taste something, it's not their or your fault if you perceive it differently.  Just like judging in a competition, I write it like I perceive first and foremost.  Overall impressions can get into more opinions, but what I get out of a beer is what I get out of a beer.

3)  Know your own limitations/tastes.  One of the biggest struggles for beer judges is to keep your own biases in check.  We all have preferences for what type of beers or ingredients are to our tastes.  The important thing is to know what those are and not to hold it against a style or beer if it's well made, but just not to our idea of what that style should be.

That's a pretty good summary of how I handle ethics in my case.  Will gladly still review free beer, though.  ;)

Beer Bloggers Conference Opening

Well, the  Trade Show and opening beverages are over and the conference is getting ready to kick off.  Had some great beer (highlights include Firestone Walker Double DBA), and we're about to kick off the real show.  Looking forward to hit up Karl Strauss Brewing, the Yard House, and Stone Liberty Station.  More to follow...