When selecting your preferred rating scale for beer, there are many to choose from, some official and many non-official. A person could determine the merit of a beer in the range of 0 to 5 beer caps, like the way Untappd is organized or make a judgement on a scale of 0 to 50, like the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). Below, we will take a brief look at these two popular rating systems to better understand how they determine their scores. Ultimately, a craft beer enthusiast can use any system they like or feel free to create their own. It doesn’t matter too much as long as you enjoy drinking your beer and are able to make a note of what to pick up again and what to skip going forward!
Untappd is a free app that allows users to check-in to beers they’ve tried and rate them on a scale of 0 to 5, in .25 intervals. This app is easily accessible, searchable, and hosts millions of beer ratings. I love to be able to quickly search whether or not I have had a beer before and what I thought of it when I am out at a bar. With that said, it is worth noting that there is no consistent method to the ratings given to the beers on this app as each individual user weighs in independently. Because of this, Untappd is both a boon to breweries and the bane of a brewer’s existence. There have been many articles written about the app and its place in the industry, including its rating system. A beer’s average rating on the app can spur demand or push would-be drinkers away – and sometimes that average rating may have nothing to do with the actual quality of the beer. That’s because people may try the beer even though they don’t like the style and give it 0 or 1 star, even though it’s a totally amazing Imperial Stout, or whatever style it happens to be. This sort of crowd-sourced rating system is also vulnerable to hype-beers or breweries, where people overrate things because it was expensive or hard to get, so they give a higher rating than is probably deserved because they don’t want to admit that the beer wasn’t worth the work or loot they spent to get it. My advice is to be thoughtful about your rating of beers on the app, understanding that not every beer is going to be tailor-made for your tastebuds, but that doesn’t mean it’s not great beer.
Of course, the bottle cap rating system can also represent whatever rating system you prefer to use. I relate all of my ratings to a cap, so 70 is 3 caps, 80 is 4 caps, 90+ is 5 caps. What matters is that I keep the scoring I use to determine my Untappd rating consistent.
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) is an official organization that, as the name implies, certifies one’s beer knowledge prior to becoming a judge in brewing competitions. They use their own scale of 0 to 50 to judge the entries in competitions and those points are broken down into categories with weighted point totals. I would say this is more of an evaluation model than a rating system and certainly serves a very different purpose than Untappd’s ratings. The great value of this model is that it provides a checklist of considerations when assigning a rating to the beer.
Judging Criteria:
Aroma: 12 points – Malt, hop, esters, other aromatics
Appearance: 3 points – Color, clarity, head retention/texture
Flavor: 20 points – Malt, hops, fermentation characteristics, balance, finish, other
Mouthfeel: 5 points – Body, carbonation, etc.
Overall: 10 points – Overall drinking pleasure
I think this is a fantastic way to think about rating beer. When I think about putting a rating on a beer, these are the categories that I run through in my head. This rating system forces a drinker to slow down and really examine each part of the drinking experience. Some beers provide a perfect aroma, but maybe fall flat on taste. Without the system, a person might be tempted to underrate the brew when it perfects the majority of what it’s supposed to be because they only rate the flavor.
One thing that I really love about the BJCP rating system is that it gives 20% of a beer’s total score to overall drinking pleasure. If a beer is perfect to style, but it’s not enjoyable to drink then what’s the point?
Whether you prefer referencing the more casual ratings of Untappd or the more thoughtful and intentional ratings of BJCP, both are helpful tools for discovering and selecting your next beer! If you decide to assign beer ratings, feel empowered to design a system that comes naturally to you, whether that be letter grades (A through F) or a large numerical range (0-1000).
Remember, drinking beer is a personal experience and taste is subjective! If you think a beer is good, then it is! Cheers!
PINT JOURNAL 
Informative post! thanks!