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A more structured commercialized mead review

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Pewter_of_Deodar

NewBee
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Sep 23, 2004
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Cedar Rapids, IA
Vicki,

Just a thought...

The somewhat haphazard nature of threads in the Mead Review area, where people present an opinion and others agree or disagree really gives the reader mixed positions and no real guidance on whether a mead is truly good or not.

I was thinking that since you are such a talented webmistress ::) that we could maybe get something numerical in place, like a spreadsheet. So if I rated Chaucer's, I would rate categories like legs, mouthfeel, aroma, aftertaste, and all the other important characteristics on a scale of 1 to 10. The spreadsheet would take the averages and present a numeric result for each category, for each type of mead judged. Those wishing to review a mead for Gotmead could print out the criteria and fill them in at the tasting...

Looking ahead, we could also do the same thing with the results of our yeast tests, where each reviewer rates each batch from each brewer for the same characteristics, then we numerically combine the batches with the same yeasts to come up with a value for each yeast...

Would it be possible?

Thanks,
Pewter
 
Great thought.

Since the Forum is a database, makes sense to make it an averaging function of database entries.

There isn't a voting functionality that can be "borrowed" from somewhere?
 
There is a database survey on yeasts. You can find it by clicking on this link:

http://sca_brew.homestead.com/files/meadyeast.html

Pewter, you are correct that the nature of some threads do give a mixed review of opinions but remember they are all subjective opinions. Good and bad are relative. Of course they will give a mixed review. In my opinion, It would not be wise to get your guidance on just what others think of a mead. You might be passing up one that you might love. In the end one reviews the data himself with all the mixed positions and then makes his own decision based on his own tastes on whether he wants to try it. If you look at the yeast survey, you will find even it isn't large enough to provide an accurate accessment. As I always say, Meadmaking is as much or more an Art rather than science.

Joe
 
Joe,

Part of the reason for the database is to remove some of the subjectivity or at least put some numbers to it...

Sweetness, clarity, color, aroma, taste, legs... everything on a scale of 1 to 10, would at least give people an idea. Even if each review is subjective in itself, the averaging of those reviews over time tends to make subjectiveness less of an issue...

The other things is having it a little better organized. Where do I find all the comments on Chaucer's? They are in several threads in several areas right now. This would tend to get everything in one place...
 
Since the thread on commercial mead reviews was not started with any judging criteria, standard naming conventions and was not intended as anything other than a group forum discussion thread, it is unrealistic to expect that it would yield anything other than a disjointed set of subjective and non-standard posts in a forum thread environment.

I'm all for a database, but let's not besmurch the collection of opinions nor their value because they are not in a format that conforms to one person's view of how things should be.

I agree that having a more standardized way of recording people's opinions of what they have tasted is a good thing. I think that having a forum thread is a good thing too, because it does allow for some non-standard comments and views, along with some spontaneity.

For people that are not familiar, experienced or even interested in using standards for tasting, a forum thread is a great medium for expressing themselves in an unstructured format. For those of us who are used to grading beers, wines, meads and other beverages on tech sheets a database is probably a good thing. I can say from my experiences of being on several wine panels and boards, that having a numerical system does not in any way shape or form guarantee that the grader really knows the correct value to assign to a particular characteristic.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
Well, I stole a copy of the judging form we used this weekend. I'll be PDF'ing it for your use....

Vicky
 
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