
30 Jul Raters gonna rate rate rate rate – Weekly Update
We don’t close the brewery that often, but this week all the staff that works in production had the week off. They’ve done a great job over the past year, or since we moved into our new Kungsten brewery and brewed our first beer there on the 21st of October 2015. So far we’ve brewed 23 new beers at our Kungsten brewery and released one new beer from our Sockerbruket Sour brewery.
The latest of our new beers is called “Raters gonna rate“, and the best way to explain why we did this beer, I’ll repost one of the questions and answers from last week’s interview with Adam, our head of brewery operations.
What is your biggest challenge as a brewer? What is your personal philosophy on the beer that you want to release?
Adam. Well I guess the main thing is to be self critical. Every single beer you make you should understand what’s wrong with it, before you start looking at what’s right with it. And every single beer that is made there’s something wrong with… just ask raters.
Darryl. Is that why our latest beer is called “Raters gonna rate”?
Adam. We did “Raters gonna rate”, because… well it’s a challenge right? It will stir up some raters and it will be interesting to see what the ones that think rating is important in the context of beer development thinks in the rating of the beer, compared to people trying it for their own sake and publicizing how much they know about beer. Of course it’s tongue in cheek, but half a finger up, from my point of view. I don’t speak on behalf of the whole brewery (laughs).
With that said, this week we’re discussing ratings, judging and the craft beer market.
The top 10 global beers
The following video was published at the end of 2014, but not a lot seems to have changed with regards to the top 10 beers in the world. The criteria was to pick one beer per country that tasted best, sold best and had longevity.
Having been in the craft beer market a couple of years now, I have heard what people have said about some of these beers in this list. The fact is however that the craft beer market is still in its infancy, but is growing steadily. The US which has the biggest craft beer market represents only 15% of their total beer market, with some in the market setting a goal of 20% by 2020.
All the craft beer markets in the world are showing some sort of growth, and seems to follow the same pattern from the US market. Their market share stood at 5.7% in 2011, so the industry has more than doubled in just four years. This is good news for us here in Sweden, where the craft beer market is still in the lower single digits.
Market share stood at 5.7% in 2011, so the industry has more than doubled in just four years.
One of the ways we can grow faster, is to become better. Not just better beer from better breweries, but better reviews from the craft beer lovers out there. Craft breweries such as ourselves don’t mind bad ratings or low ratings. It’s part of parcel of being in a market that is filled with so much choice and so many great breweries. What doesn’t help anyone is not giving a reason for the low rating.
How can we improve a specific beer if there’s no comment added to a low rating? How can we make better beer if the only comment was “I didn’t like it”?
Only together can we grow the market, but for that to happen, the craft breweries would need some concrete feedback from the people drinking their beer.
Victory Brewers Read Mean Beer Reviews
In the video below you’ve got the brewers from Victory Brewing reading some comments written along with reviews of some of their beers. Listening to the comments as a brewery owner, one can only sympathise with them, because we’ve received similar comments. Tough to not get frustrated, but this is where everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
The Untappd algorithm
The Untappd app has really taken the beer drinking world by storm, or here in Sweden in any case. So we we’ve been having a look at how their beer ratings algorithm works. Three things stood out.
- Beer ratings are now calculated at a PURE average. They are not longer weighted against other beers. To get a rating, a beer must have 10 or more ratings.
- You cannot rate a beer a 0. If you do – it’s the same as not rating the beer. By not rating a beer, it doesn’t count toward it’s total. It doesn’t mean a 0 rating.
- You can rate as a many times as you want – but you only get 1 rating per beer per user.
So You Want to Be a Beer Judge?
Really not going to pretend as if I know what it takes to judge beer, as I am still learning about craft beer with every passing day. I get help understanding beer from talking to our brewers as well as other people in our industry who really know beer and what it takes to judge it. One solid resource are the guys and girls from Craftbeer.com.
Our friend Magnus Svensson (M2) judging beer like an expert.
I’ll highlight a few things here, but if you’re interested, the best would be to read their entire article on judging beer and follow the links from there.
Their guide is divided into four main sections:
- Beer Style guidelines, to make sure you understand the differences between different beers.
- Getting started includes practising judging beer, recognising off flavours, expanding your flavour vocabulary and then volunteering.
- Resources for beginners and those a bit more advanced.
- Practice makes perfect.
As I said, this is a great interest for me, as I’ve held my fair share of wine tastings, and in the past 3 years a lot of beer tastings. In my honest opinion, beer tastings are tougher, especially the blind tastings.
Tips on how to review craft beer
At Beerbliotek we have a lot of events and tastings for 10-50 people. Since we started we have learned a lot from our consumers at these tastings. One thing that I have noticed is that there’s always a style of beer for everyone. It’s a challenge when someone comes into a brewery and says “I don’t like beer”.
Judging home-brews during a competition.
We’ve done 162 different beers at the last count, and that means a lot of different flavours and tastes. What I usually try and do is find out what it is in beer they do not like. Maybe it’s bitterness, sweetness, darkness, sourness, or something else.
As soon as you know that, it’s easy to take them to the opposite side of the spectrum, and 9 out of 10 times there will be something they like. And it’s usually a surprise that beer could taste like that 🙂
Form Your Own Opinion. It's important to not be influenced by others when reviewing. Everyone is going to have a different experience, so make sure the opinions you express are in fact your own.
If you want to be a better taster or a better rater of beer, then there’s a great article I would recommend you read, from Beer Advocate. It provides some solid tips from experts, as well as some do’s and don’ts. They cover everything from appearance, look, smell, taste, mouthfeel to the overall rating. The four things that stand out in their advice is:
- Respect Beer. And Brewers. Behind each beer is a person with feelings and pride. Brewing might be their passion, livelihood, or entire life. Even if you don’t like a beer, at the very least have some respect and be constructive with your criticism.
- Scoring All Ones or Fives. Rating a beer with all ones (no redeeming qualities) or fives (no room for improvement) should be rare. It can be a sign of someone abusing the rating system, too, so consider writing a review to back up your unusually low or high rating.
- Form Your Own Opinion. It’s important to not be influenced by others when reviewing. Everyone is going to have a different experience, so make sure the opinions you express are in fact your own. Don’t allow others to influence you before you review the beer yourself.
- Don’t Review While Intoxicated. Your judgment will be clouded, as will your senses.
I hope you have enjoyed this week’s brewery update? I’ll say it again; we don’t mind low ratings, as long as we know why. You can help us grow the craft beer market when you give constructive feedback on our beer, which will help us improve them for you. That’s what we call a win win 🙂
I’ll end off with this very last reminder to tag your photos of our cans with #FreshestCanInTheLand, to stand a chance to win tickets to the All in Beer Festival. This is the final week.
That’s it from me for this week. Keep the ratings coming.
Until next week.
Cheers.
#FreshestCanInTheLand #Competition
One month left to compete in our freshest can in the land competition and stand a chance to win tickets to the All in Beer Festival.
#Enjoyspring #HipHops #049 #Beerbliotek #SwedishWestcoast #BeerandFlowers #FreshestCanInTheLand
Hazy orange colour with big and long lasting white head. Tropical fruits aroma with pineapple infront and some pine in the background. Medium sweet taste with tropical fruits at first, then grapefruit with light orange and medium bitter finish. Long bitter aftertaste with light carbonation. Nicely balanced and very drinkable. Great!
#Single #hop #mosaic #120 Beerbliotek #Sweden
Rate: 🍺🍺🍺🍺
#craftbeer #craftbeerlover #craftbeerjunkie #ratebeer #beertasting #beerstagram #beerlover #beer #pivo #freshestcanintheland
A rare glimpse of a Hippopotamus drinking by his favourite watering hole! If you speak "hippo" you would have heard him say: "- So they finally came up with a beer with Hippo Hops? Take my money already!" #beerbliotek #FreshestCanInTheLand #HipHops #hippobeer #sipsavourrepeat #beerbant #beerpics #craftbeer #beerstagram #beernerd #beerknurd #beerisart #beerart #beer #bier #birra #olut #öl #øl #beerporn #cerveza #instabeer #beersofinstagram #beernation #eyeofthebeerholder #takemymoneyalready
Entry one out of many
Meet Bo Ek (his friends call him Bob). Bob is no ordinary guy. He has exquisite taste when it comes to beer. He is also into custom cars and has a keen eye for french cittras. Look at those rims!
Good for you Bob Ek.
Beerbliotek Bobek Citra - tailored to your needs, no matter how weird they are! 🎶 by The Handsome Family
#beerbliotek #FreshestCanInTheLand #Bobekcitra #sipsavourrepeat #beerbant #beerpics #craftbeer #beerstagram #beernerd #beerknurd #beerisart #beerart #beer #bier #birra #olut #öl #øl #beerporn #cerveza #instabeer #beersofinstagram #beernation #eyeofthebeerholder #takemymoneyalready
Entry two out of many
Beerbliotek Single Hop Mosaic, Göteborg 2016. Järntorget is the shit.. #beerbliotek #freshestcanintheland #single #mosaic #hop #singlemosaichop #rayban #craftbeer #beerporn #instabeer #goteborg
Webshop
If you’d like to get hold of the same Beer T-Shirt Henrik is wearing then you’d need to get to our webshop soon. We have limited stocks available.
But fear not, we’re releasing our new merchandise range soon, so keep watching this space.
Festivals
Brekeriet Bar with friends – 13 August 2016

Join us as we head down to Malmö for the ”Brekeriet Bar with friends”. They have invited 11 friends to join them behind the bar and we just happen to be one of their friends.
The other breweries that will join us are Malmö Brewing Co, BrewDog, Remmarlöv Gårdsbryggeri, Hyllie Bryggeri, Constant Companion, Brewski, Alefarm Brewing, Stockholm Brewing Co., Dry & Bitter Brewing Company and Charlis Brygghus.
Each brewery/importer will be represented with two beers and a staff member working the bar. This year Darryl and his fiance will be pouring the beer, so come and say hi.
For more information on the festival and getting hold of your tickets, have a look at their website.
All in Beer Festival 4-5 November 2016

One of our favourite festivals is the All In Beer Fest. The reason? It’s just about beer.
We’ll be attending again this year, but if you’d like to attend, then there’s two ways to go about it. Buy a ticket, or enter our #FreshestCanInTheLand competition, where you stand the chance to win two entrance tickets.
Finding our beers in Sweden
Have a look at our Systembolaget page, where you’ll find a map that features the stores that have our beers on their shelves. If you live in other parts of Sweden, then you can follow this link to order the beers directly from Systembolaget.se to your closest store.
Visit our Folköl page if you’d like to find out which Stores & Supermarkets, such as ICA & Hemköp stock our low ABV or “folköl” across Sweden.
You can also follow us on Instagram
Our brewers didn’t go with the flow, but crossed the stream to brew up this crossover between the forgotten Black IPA, and the big New England IPA.
This Black IPA, Crossing the streams in the dark, will be available @systembolaget Monday 1st march 10:00 online and in stores all over Sweden.
Out now at all good bars and restaurants in Sweden, and the rest of the world, at all our usual export markets.
You can cross over to our blog to read more about this Black IPA. Follow the link in our bio.
#beerbliotek #bryggeri #swedishcraftbeer #craftbeer #beer #craftöl #öl #starköl #folköl #systembolaget #bolaget #systemet #sweden #gothenburg #beercans #cans #can #canart #blackipa #bipa #cascadiandarkale
As a brewery we are constantly taking on the challenge to brew new kinds of beers. Sometimes, as the name suggests, we brew Even more of exactly the same.
🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪
Available @systembolaget Monday 1st March at 10:00.
🗺 🗺 🗺
For those not in Sweden, this juicy Double IPA is out now at our usual Export markets all over the world.
💛💜🍻
You can read more juicy details about our latest DIPA on our blog. Follow the link in our bio.
#evenmoreofexactlythesame #ipa #doubleipa #beerbliotek
#beercans #systembolaget #cans #can #canart #craftbeer #beer #sweden #gothenburg
Our brewers have brewed our second White IPA to add to our beer library. The first one we did was our collaboration with @moondogbrewing in Australia, called Modersmjölk, way back in 2017.
Inspired by the classic Belgian Witbier, or ‘white beer’, our brewers decided to mix things up. This White IPA is a marriage of two distinct beer styles; the American IPA with its high hop character and the wheat-based Belgian Wit with its refreshing and spicy presence. We punched up the orange zest and pulled back on the Citra and Cascade hops to let the typical Witbier tones of orange, citrus and a light spiciness from the coriander through.
#beerbliotek #bryggeri #swedishcraftbeer #craftbeer #beer #craftöl #öl #starköl #folköl #systembolaget #bolaget #systemet #sweden #gothenburg #beercans #cans #can #canart #whiteipa #ipa #squarepegroundhole
This afternoon we walked down the road from our brewery for the opening day of @hermanos_tacokiosk to support Niklas and his fun new TacoKiosk adventure! 🌮 And of course we dropped off some beer to add to their menu. We thought our little Pilsner, Li’l Pils, would pair nicely. 👌
Niklas has been a big part of the beerbliotek family and friends with us for a very long time. We wish him and the Hermanos TacoKiosk team the very best of success! We’re all excited to have a new lunch destination.
If you’re in or around Majorna, Gothenburg 🇸🇪 and in the mood for a ‘not entirely traditional’ tasty taco menu with some folköl, this is the new place to be.
Take Care & Stay Safe
#supportyourlocal #hermanostackokiosk #majorna #gothenburg #beerbliotek #folköl #lilpils #pilsner
We don’t know about you, but we’re ready for the snow to disappear and longing for warmer, sunny days to come 🌞
#sunnydisposition
#supportyourlocal
This is Riccardo, the newest member to grace the beerbliotek brewing team, brewing what is to be the latest beer in our single hop series, Single Hop Idaho 7! More will be revealed soon.
If you enjoy tasting single hop beers as much as we do, our Single Hop Mosaic is currently out in the world, and at @systembolaget , Sweden, right now.
#beerbliotek #supportyourlocal #supportyourlocalbarsandbreweries #swedishcraftbeer #sweden #gothenburg #craftbeer #öl #hop #humle #singlehop #singlehopmosaic #singlehopidaho #singlehopidaho7 #mosaic #idaho
Is the world getting you down?
We have a proposition.
Do the same as a funny clown,
put on a sunny disposition.
🌞
Sunny disposition, a 5,2% New England Session IPA. An ideal springtime beer for all of you hop heads looking for a fresh IPA. The first batch will be heading out the door in a few weeks. More news to come.
#beerbliotek #bryggeri #swedishcraftbeer #craftbeer #beer #craftöl #öl #systembolaget #bolaget #systemet #sweden #gothenburg #hazy #session #ipa #sunnydisposition
Hello world. Happy Shrove Tuesday, or as we say in Sweden, Fettisdagen! Which is also known here as Semla Day.
Way back in 2018, when collaborations were a thing, our old local bakery @sanna_konditori__bageri experimented with our beer in these sweet buns, as can be seen in the video, and won the competition for “Gothenburg City’s best Semla”. Pretty sweet! 🤙
We loved testing their baked goods as much as they enjoyed baking with our beer. What’s your favourite recipe to make with beer? 🍻🧑🍳
For this year we recommend pairing your semla (or semlor) with our newest Porter, Follow me into the dark. Available @systembolaget 🇸🇪
If you’re not Swedish, and a bit confused as to what all the fuss is about, then here’s some Semla facts 👇
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The name semla (plural, semlor) is a loan word from German Semmel, which was the name used for the finest quality wheat flour or semolina. The oldest version of the semla was a plain bread bun, eaten in a bowl of warm milk. In Swedish this is known as hetvägg, from Middle Low German hete Weggen (hot wedges).
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Today, the Swedish semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off, and is then filled with a mix of milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. Today it is often eaten on its own, with coffee or tea. Some people still eat it in a bowl of hot milk. (Many bakeries distinguish between the two by decorating the traditional bun with almonds on top, whereas the jam-filled version has powdered sugar on top).
#bakingwithbeer #semla #pancakeday #shrovetuesday #fettisdagen #öl #beer #gothenburg #göteborg #sweden #beerbliotek #swedishcraftbeer #craftbeer #porter #ipa
Our next Single Hop brew is on the way!
Idaho 7 is one of our favourite Hop varieties, so we decided to show off its peachy characters in this beer. Full bodied and fruity, this is going to be a luscious IPA. 👌
#singlehopidaho7 #singlehop #idaho #ipa #beerbliotek #bryggeri #swedishcraftbeer #craftbeer #beer #craftöl #öl #starköl #folköl #systembolaget #bolaget #systemet #sweden #gothenburg #beercans #cans #can #canart
#supportyourlocal
This is Axel, one of our Brewers, and Madison, one of our Marketing people, in the midst of filling some Red Wine and Bourbon barrels with one of our favourite dark beers we’ve done, Eternal Darkness.
More will be revealed soon on our recent Barrel Ageing project.
In the meantime, Sweden, if you want to have a taste of Eternal Darkness, an Imperial Stout, you can grab a can or two at @systembolaget to #supportyourlocalbrewery.
#beerbliotek #supportyourlocal #supportyourlocalbarsandbreweries #swedishcraftbeer #sweden #gothenburg #craftbeer #öl #barrelageing #redwine #bourbon #eternaldarkness #stout