I was fascinated by this Austin American-Statesman review of Barley Swine, until Mike Sutter described Black Metal Stout as "a surprisingly dull-witted beer from Austin's Jester King, so out of balance you'd think it got drunk on its way out of the bottle." Wow.Oh well, I guess we're all entitled to our own opinions. Even ones that are completely, utterly wrong. I can assure you I won't be relying on Sutter for beer reviews any time soon.
I bet he wouldn't say that to this guy's face.
9 comments:
I have a pretty good (and well tested) palate and I can say that I enjoy Black Metal Stout. It's hard to imagine anyone thinking is below average unless they got a bad batch.
As a general fan of your writing, I'm disappointed in how quickly you discounted an opinion which you don't share.
I realize this is your personal blog, but I think it is irresponsible of you as a critic to say someone "insulted Jester King" by giving one of their beers a negative review.
Anonymous: What would be your definition of "insulted"? Seems to me that's exactly what a negative review is.
in·sult/inˈsəlt/
Verb: Speak to or treat with disrespect or scornful abuse.
Noun: A disrespectful or scornfully abusive remark or action.
I think those definitions are perfectly accurate.
I did not find the reviewer's comments to be scornful or disrespectful to Jester King, the brewery.
The reviewer disliked Black Metal, the beer, and described why.
There is a distinct difference between writing a negative review about a particular beer and insulting a brewery as a whole.
The latter is what your write-up implied.
To be fair, as an avid beer drinker I too find Black Metal to be very mediocre.
I keep hearing allot of hype about this brewery, but I still haven't tasted anything that is really good. Not to mention that I live close to the area and you cant find it anywhere, and you cant use the excuse that its just selling out because stores are saying there just not receiving it. Im trying like it, especially since there so close, but I think its just lots of hype and no real substance.
It's definitely not hype. I loved from the minute I tasted it, and I've had out-of-town friends with no bias toward Austin beers rave over it.
I personally don't care for the Commercial Suicide, but the Wytchmaker and Black Metal are fantastic.
As the brewer of Black Metal, I can say that a lot of thought and trial and error went into the recipe, so seeing it called "dull-witted" was a little hurtful. But aside from that, I have no problem with someone saying they didn't like it.
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