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Truth in beer reporting and other novel concepts
There seems to be a lot of unnecessary and undeserved hate here. Reading this article as an outsider, someone who's a mere consumer of craft beer and not a blogger, reviewer, or even a communications specialist for Stone, I see nothing but wisdom. Brandon seems to be encouraging people to be honest in their reporting, rather than supporting a "hey, it's better than Budweiser!" ethos. Having read Brandon's blogs for the past year, I rarely see him negatively review any brewery or beer. He seems to adhere to the exact suggestion in one of the comments above to discuss the good experiences he has at particular breweries, rather than accentuating any subpar tastes. If anything, I'd chide him about not being honest enough himself! I've noted that even after panning a brewery, he is willing to return and give them another chance. I can think of one fledgling brewery at which his experiences matched my own, with the first taster flight being so unimpressive that it took about a year for me to have any desire to return. And that brewery had improved markedly, just as Brandon suggested in a follow-up of his own. When he reviews individual beers, those reviews seem to highlight his personal favorites rather than new or otherwise unfamiliar ones. I also do not see any problem with his employment at Stone. That is common knowledge for anybody who follows him, and he does steer away from reviewing their products outside of Stone Brewing fora. So what is the problem? Stone has a reputation for being supportive of the local microbrewing industry, a reputation that seems to be important to the company. How about we lay off the guy here and get into the nitty-gritty of the conversation he is clearly trying to elicit? After all, if you think a bad review of a beer or brewery by Brandon or any blogger, reviewer, or communications specialist for Stone is going to prevent a taste or visit by this craft beer consumer, well, then you think you're entirely more important than you actually are.— August 15, 2013 10:27 a.m.