{"id":4997,"date":"2018-03-20T16:09:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T16:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/?p=4997"},"modified":"2018-05-09T19:37:52","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T19:37:52","slug":"data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Chug: An Analysis of RateBeer\u2019s Top 50 Beers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beginning in 2000 as a general beer forum, RateBeer developed into one of the largest beer rating websites in the world, with a listing of more than 470,000 different beers in its database as of early 2013. \u00a0Similar to other beer rating websites, RateBeer maintains an ongoing list of its top rated beers, 50 to be exact.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As with our previous analyses of\u00a0BeerAdvocate<\/a><\/span> and Untappd<\/a><\/span>, we reviewed RateBeer\u2019s Top 50 beers in an attempt to identify any trends regarding brands, beer styles, alcohol content, breweries etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

For fun, we created a sortable list of RateBeer\u2019s Top 50 Beers<\/a><\/span> which can be arranged by brewery, country\/state, ABV, etc.\u00a0 This is the same list that we used to generate most of the results below.<\/span><\/p>\n

And now, on with the show.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1.<\/span> The Top 10 Highest Rated Beers on RateBeer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1) Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout<\/strong> -Toppling Goliath Brewing Company<\/span>
\n 2) Trappist Westvleteren 12 (XII)<\/strong> – Brouwerij Westvleteren
\n<\/span>3) Mornin’ Delight<\/strong> – Toppling Goliath Brewing Company
\n<\/span>4) Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout – Double Barrel Aged<\/strong> – Cigar City Brewing
\n<\/span>5) Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Lord Imperial Stout<\/strong> – 3 Floyds Brewing Co.
\n<\/span>6) Pliny the Younger<\/strong> – Russian River Brewing Company
\n<\/span>7) Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout – Bourbon Vanilla Bean<\/strong> – 3 Floyds Brewing Co.
\n<\/span>8) Speedway Stout – Bourbon Barrel-Aged<\/strong> – AleSmith Brewing Company
\n<\/span>9) Bell’s Black Note Stout<\/strong> – Bell’s Brewery, Inc.
\n<\/span>10) <\/span>CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout)<\/strong> – Founders Brewing Company<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, Toppling Goliath\u2019s Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout<\/strong> is the top rated beer on both RateBeer<\/a><\/span> and BeerAdvocate,<\/a><\/span> and Mornin\u2019 Delight<\/strong> from the same brewery also appears in the top 10 on both lists.\u00a0 The three other beers appearing on both the top 10 from RateBeer and Beer Advocate were Russian River\u2019s Pliny the Younger<\/strong>, Three Floyds\u2019 Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout – Bourbon Barrel Aged<\/strong> and Cigar City\u2019s Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout – Double Barrel Aged<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only beer that RateBeer and Untappd\u2019s share in the top 10 was Double Barrel Hunahpu’s<\/strong> from Cigar City.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/span> The Most Popular Beer Style Listed on RateBeer\u2019s Top 50<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Of the more than the 100 different beer styles<\/a><\/span> in the world, only 9<\/strong> appeared in RateBeer\u2019s list of its Top 50 beers.\u00a0 \u00a0Of those 9 beer styles, it was\u00a0Imperial Stout<\/strong> that stood out by far with\u00a026<\/strong>\u00a0examples of this dark and boozy beer in the Top 50.\u00a0 Examples of Imperial Stout\u00a0<\/strong>dwarfed the next most popular beer style, Double IPA, by almost 400%, making it a statistically significant outlier as represented by the green data point below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Clearly, Imperial Stouts dominate RateBeer\u2019s Top 50, comprising more than half of the beers on the list, which was nearly identical to the percentage of Imperial Stouts on Untappt\u2019s Top 50<\/a><\/span> (52% vs 54%, respectively).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3.<\/span> Analysis of the Alcohol Content of RateBeer\u2019s Top 50<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The majority of beers in RateBeer’s Top 50 had an alcohol content of greater than 9%, as can be seen in the chart below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The average ABV of all the beers listed on Untappd\u2019s Top 50 beers was a boozy 11.39%, <\/strong>which is similar to the 11.55%<\/strong> average ABV of Untappd\u2019s Top 50.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The beer with the lowest ABV on RateBeer\u2019s Top 50 was \u201cAnn\u201d from Hill Farmstead Brewery weighing in at 6.5%<\/strong>, while the most potent beer on the list was \u201cBuba Extreme Jack Daniels BA<\/strong>\u201d (16%<\/strong>) from the Polish brewery Browar Sza\u0142piw.<\/span><\/p>\n

These figures exclude the unlisted ABVs of \u201cTrademark Dispute (Green),\u201d an Imperial Stout from Cycle Brewing, and \u201cAaron,\u201d a Barley Wine from Hill Farmstead.\u00a0 But seeing as how these beers were on the boozier end of the ABV spectrum, the average ABV of the Top 50 is not likely to be affected much.<\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/span> Analysis of the States\/Countries of\u00a0 RateBeer\u2019s Top 50<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Similar to both BeerAdvocate and Untappd, the majority (82%<\/strong>) of beers in RateBeer\u2019s Top 50 were from American breweries.\u00a0 As shown in the chart below, only 9<\/strong> beers in the Top 50 came from non-American breweries; Poland had 1<\/strong>, Sweden 2<\/strong>, and both Denmark and Belgium had 3<\/strong> each.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The average number of beers per state\/country listed above is\u00a03.33<\/strong>, and the only state with a statistically significant number of beers in the Top 50 was California with 8<\/b>, which is considered a statistical outlier.\u00a0 In three impressive cases, all the beers from a given state came from just one brewery, including\u00a0Toppling Goliath <\/strong>in Iowa, 3 Floyd\u2019s<\/strong> in Indiana, and Bell\u2019s <\/strong>in Michigan.<\/span><\/p>\n

When identifying outliers like California, we try to look for explanations as to why it is performing at a statistically significant level than other states or countries.\u00a0 One possible explanation for this is the number of breweries in California compared to other states\/countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, some states have more breweries than others, which could potentially increase the number of beers from a given state or country listed in the Top 50.\u00a0 As mentioned, California has the highest number of beers in the Top 50 with a total of 8<\/b>, which seems rather high at first glance.\u00a0 However, if you consider that there are just over 800 breweries in California as of this writing, the relative number of beers contributed by California to the Top 50 based on the number of breweries in the state was just 1.00%<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As shown in the chart above, no longer is California leading in relative terms, but rather Vermont is with 4 from a total of\u00a084 breweries, or 5.48%<\/strong>.\u00a0 Interestingly, 3 out of 4 of the beers from Vermont appearing in the Top 50 were from Hill Farmstead<\/strong>, namely Aaron, Abner, and Ann.\u00a0 In other words, a large part of the reason why Vermont is performing at a statistically significant level is due to Hill Farmstead’s individual level of success.<\/span><\/p>\n

5.<\/span> Most Popular Breweries on RateBeer\u2019s Top Rated Beers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Below is a chart of the number of beers per brewery appearing in RateBeer\u2019s Top 50.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The average number of beers contributed per brewery was 1.92<\/strong>.\u00a0 On the face of it, not a single brewery stuck out as contributing a statistically significant number of beers to RateBeer\u2019s Top 50.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, some breweries produce a greater variety of beers than others, which might create a greater potential for breweries that brew a larger variety of beer to have more beers in the Top 50 than others.\u00a0 So let’s take a look at what happens when we consider the relative\u00a0<\/span>percentage of beers contributed by a particular brewery based on the number of beers that brewery produces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As shown in green above, there were three breweries with a statistically significant percentage of beers in the Top 50 relative to the total number of beers they produce.\u00a0 These outlier breweries were\u00a0Toppling Goliath (8.16%)<\/strong>,\u00a0Rochefort (33.33%)<\/strong> and Westvleteren<\/strong> (66.67%).<\/strong>\u00a0 The Belgian breweries of Rochefort and Westvleteren are special cases in that they produce only three beers each which they’ve perfected over hundreds of years, whereas Toppling Goliath is a relatively new American brewery (2009) that produces 49 different beers, one of which sits in first place on both BeerAdvocate and RateBeer’s top 50.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only is one of Toppling Goliath’s beers the highest rated on both RateBeer and BeerAdvocate’s lists (selling for upwards of $1,000 per bottle on the secondary market), but Toppling Goliath is the only brewery that was consistently determined to be contributing a statistically significant number of beers to the Top 50 relative to the number of beers it produces on BeerAdvocate<\/a><\/span>, Untappd<\/a><\/span> and RateBeer<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, a statistical analysis of three separate beer rating sources with more than 10 million<\/strong> reviews combined have shown that Toppling Goliath<\/strong> is living up to its name in a pretty serious way.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this wasn\u2019t the only data-driven revelation we discovered after chugging all the numbers.\u00a0 In the final episode of Data Chug<\/em>, we put it all together and deliver to you:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Best Beers and Breweries of 2018.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nah, the year ain\u2019t over yet, but we\u2019re just gonna go ahead and let the numbers speak for themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Hi, I\u2019m Dan<\/strong>: Beer Editor for\u00a0Beer Syndicate<\/a><\/span>, Beer and Drinking Blogger, Beer Judge, Gold Medal-Winning Homebrewer, Beer Reviewer,\u00a0American Homebrewers Association<\/a><\/span>\u00a0Member, Shameless Beer Promoter, and Beer Traveler.<\/p>\n\n

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Beginning in 2000 as a general beer forum, RateBeer developed into one of the largest beer rating websites in the world, with a listing of more than 470,000 different beers in its database as of early 2013. \u00a0Similar to other beer rating websites, RateBeer maintains an ongoing list of its top rated beers, 50 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[589],"tags":[1113,1111,1112,1110,1109],"yoast_head":"\r\nData Chug: An Analysis of RateBeer\u2019s Top 50 Beers - Beer Syndicate Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Data Chug: An Analysis of RateBeer\u2019s Top 50 Beers - Beer Syndicate Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beginning in 2000 as a general beer forum, RateBeer developed into one of the largest beer rating websites in the world, with a listing of more than 470,000 different beers in its database as of early 2013. \u00a0Similar to other beer rating websites, RateBeer maintains an ongoing list of its top rated beers, 50 to […]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beer Syndicate Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beersyndicate\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-20T16:09:22+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-09T19:37:52+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/RateBeer.png\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@beersyndicate\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@beersyndicate\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Beer Syndicate Blog\",\"description\":\"Shamelessly Promoting Beer\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"http:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.beersyndicate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/RateBeer.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/\",\"name\":\"Data Chug: An Analysis of RateBeer\\u2019s Top 50 Beers - Beer Syndicate Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-20T16:09:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-09T19:37:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9113e2c99fafc75818eb0ab41bb315c6\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/data-chug-analysis-ratebeers-top-50-beers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9113e2c99fafc75818eb0ab41bb315c6\",\"name\":\"Daniel J. 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