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What is wrong with these people? I think criticism, certainly when substantiated with some explanations as to why, ought to be of interest, be valuable information to the brewer/firm/supplier asking. But I seem to be wrong in thinking such. Often, this kind of question proves to be an outright demand for abject praise, in which own views are pretty much unwanted.
I’m not the first to complain about this – other beer-writers have worded the same kind of observation. However, to give this a more personal, and maybe more Belgian touch, let me relate in short what happened recently, after such demand. To understand the case better: the person asking my opinion, is what you call a “brewery hirer” – in essence somebody who is supposed to be able to brew, but short of having his own installation (yet), he hires brewing space/time at an established brewery.
So, this individual handed me over two beers. After the first, my impression was mixed: being very young, the beer was as one would expect for such thing, but still, some telltale signs were pointing at possible later damage. The second bottle was simple: it reeked, tasted and spoke of infection. So that was what I wrote. On top of that, I tried to hint at some reasons for the origin of this misfortune, by which, I must confess, I didn’t spare the place of brewing at all. Maybe I might have been a tad too severe, as the original brewery in question had produced some pretty decent brews by then already.
Now, do you think this guy tried to munch on what I wrote, tried to marry my criticism with his own knowledge? ¡Que nada! Instead, he sent my whole mail, completely and unabridged to the owner of the brewery. Who, understandably, wasn’t really feeling very amicably to my person, and made such known – I couldn’t fault him on THAT. Apart from the little fact that, in essence, an e-mail is an electronic form of letter, and, as such, subject to confidentiality, this hasn’t helped anybody. Not him, not me, not the owner of the brewery. And, one supposes, probably not the beer. So, what was the point?