I wanted to write a bit about my beer rating system, as I’ve now been using it for a while without any explanation, and it’s not necessarily obvious to anyone else what the different numbers mean.

The system is not very different from the “official” Camra rating system, but in case you’re not familiar with that one either, here’s a full description of how my system works.

Rated 1-5. The ratings go from 1 to 5. I don’t give any half marks. If a beer seems to be “on the border” between two scores, I’ll just have to make that more of an effort to decide which one it really belongs to.

1 – This score is reserved for undrinkable beers. I’ve not given this more than once or twice so far, and it’s normally a case of a poor beer in a poor condition.

2 – Two is a score for beers I don’t like, but I can finish them. They are beers that I would gladly never drink again. It might happen, though, that I’ve given a beer 2, and then come across it at a later date where it fares better, simply because it’s been cared for better.

3 – Three is by far the most common score. This is probably also the widest. It covers beers that I like, but that don’t blow my socks off. Some might just be nice, inoffensive beers. Maybe a cold, crisp lager on a warm day by the sea. Others might be interesting beers with lots of flavour and ambition, but don’t quite work well enough to make a 4.

4 – On a good day you might have a couple of fours. Especially at a beer festival or an excellent pub where the beers have been expertly cared for, and served in pristine condition.

5 – Fives are rare. They should be. If they weren’t the system wouldn’t be very useful, as it wouldn’t be able to single out those beers that go the extra mile, past decent, through lovely and all the way to amazing.