Unsolicited advice or criticism  is far from palatable.  I am quite sure you have been on the receiving end of unrequested commentary, and did not relish the moment, regardless of the truth of the critique.  However, when one sets their product afloat in the market place, criticism is inevitable.  In that sense, any brewer who puts his/her product in the hands of the consumer may as well accept the fact that they are pandering for more than just cash, they are fetching feedback.  Am I wrong?  Beer Advocate and Rate Beer just might agree.

What is a brewer to do then?  Accept the “everybody’s a critic” phenom as a blessing or a curse.

I have a few thoughts on the matter.

In a recent review, Mike objectively reviewed a line of beers, walking a tight line between truthfulness and demagoguery. Here at Thank Heaven for Beer we revere those who create our favorite beverage and never desire to insult a brewer while reviewing their product.  In his review of St. Arnold Brewery, while he found some of their beers refreshing, Mike honestly stated that one beer in particular, the Oktoberfest, was a sink worthy beer and stated why he rendered such judgment.  The breweries PR/Marketing guy responded with a sublte air of offense. I was a little surprised.

Graceful acceptance of criticism goes a long way in roping in the respect of the critic.  If I ask a friend, “what do you think of this home brew,” and he responds, “It isn’t your best…it is forgettable” (which is actual feedback I received one time), I have two options:  1)I can say, “thanks for your honesty, try this one, you may like it better” or I can say 2) “Get out of my house, you ungrateful mooch.”

Reaction one allows for a preserved relationship and the opportunity to adjust future brews while option two preserves the relationship and spurs interest in future opportunities to taste my product.  While the St. Arnold rep wasn’t a complete jerk, he seemed to lean more toward the former response.

Over the days following Mike’s St. Arnold review, as I was soaking in the scenario, I read an interesting review of Samuel Adams’ Cranberry Lambic at MikeLovesBeer.com.  The Cranberry Lambic did not fare well in the scrutinizing eyes of MikeLovesBeer, but like any tactful critic, MikeLovesBeer was far from incendiary, and stated that the other brews in the Sampler pack that contained the “Lambic” were much better.  Interestingly, in the comments section every commenter agreed with Mike:  The Lambic needs to go.  Doing a little research I was intrigued to find that since its inceptions, Sam Adams’ Cranberry Lambic has garnered primarily negative feedback.

One has to wonder if the opulence of unfavorable reactions reaches the ears of the Samuel Adams marketing team or if the ears are deaf; that is, Sam Adams is unconcerned with the experiences of their customers.   I legitimately wondered if Sam Adams valued the Lambic more so than the loyalty of their customers.  Mike and I both respect Sam Adams and love several of their beers; no disrespect is intended.

While pondering this further, I came across an interesting commercial aired by the Pizza Delivery Chain Dominoes.  Here is a link to view a video of Dominoes’ humble plan. In essence, the commercial states that Dominoes collected negative feedback from customers, and, rather than sweeping it under the rug, put it in the trophy case and made a commitment to right the perceived wrongs of their customers.  What a concept!  Dominoes flaunts reviews that deride the pizza with comments like “the sauce tasted like ketchup,” promising a better sauce.  It will be interesting to see how Dominoes fares as it remakes itself with the word of the critics in mind.

Perhaps the brewing and craft beer industry could learn a bit from Dominoes.  Would it be catastrophic for Sam Adams to remove the ill favored Cranberry Lambic from their Winter sampler pack?  I don’t know…that Lambic is preventing me from picking up a case.  I know how hard it is to let go of some thing that was birthed from the fruits of creativity.  As a homebrewer, my beers are little treasures that I tend to be emotionally attached to and negative feedback hurts:  But it helps.

As an aspiring brewer, I hope that I let my unsolicited advice sink in before my pride does.  I hope that I hold on open ear to my future consumers, because Lord knows, I’m not always right!  A bit of humble pizza pie goes a long way, and a humble, non-knee-jerk response goes conceivably a tad further.

Please share your thoughts!