The Edmonton Beer Geeks Anonymous have launched their 2012-13 season in a spectacular way, announcing in their newsletter a couple of new initiatives. First is something that I think may be one of the coolest beer events yet. They have organized a beer tasting on an Edmonton Radial Railway Society’s (ERRS)  streetcar. For those of you not from Edmonton or unfamiliar with ERRS, they are a non-profit group who operate a small fleet of historic streetcars that run during the summer and fall between Old Strathcona and Jasper Avenue, running across the top of the High Level Bridge (an historic Edmonton landmark), and at Fort Edmonton Park. They have refurbished streetcars from the early 1900s, when Edmonton had an operating streetcar system, and are preserving the unique experience of streetcar travel. As for the event, beer will be served at the various stops, and the view from the High Level is unbelievable. The tasting is September 17 and tickets are $20 (which includes beer) in limited quantities.

They also have announced that they have started a beer rating system for Edmonton’s bars and pubs. Seen as a local supplement to online rating sites, the Geeks saw a need for a local rating system that, in their words, Edmontonians “have complete control over how different bars are rated, what criteria are used, and which bars even get a nod”.

The rating works on the following formula: 35% tap list; 35% bottle list; 20% serving and service; 10% staff knowledge. They toss in a 50% reduction in score if inducements are suspected. The final grade is translated into a letter grade, on a scale very similar to most school grading systems. For now the sponsors of the Geeks have preliminary ratings for 16 local pubs. As I cannot yet find this information on their website, without prejudice (meaning I neither endorse nor reject the content of the list) I reprint it below for your convenience:

Edmonton Beer Geeks Anonymous Beer Rating

Wunderbar – A+
Sugarbowl – A
Three Boars – A+
Next Act – B
Accent – B+
Pourhouse – C
Urban Diner – B+
Cha Island – A
MKT – F
Continental Treat – B
Hudsons – F
Ale Yard – F
Original Joe’s – D
Metro Billiards – C
RATT – C
Sherlock Holmes – F

I am not going to comment, at this time, on the actual ratings themselves, because instead I want to first tackle the bigger question of a rating system in general.

This is a controversial step, in my mind. And to be frank, I am undecided as to how I feel about it. In my writing I have tried to advance the demand for quality beer pubs and in doing so have highlighted locations that I thought were doing good things and occasionally took others to task for missing the boat.  I have always been careful, however, to not say one place is better than another, or rank the various options. I try to offer information – sometimes sprinkled with editorial – but leave the final evaluation to others. I do this for two reasons.

First, I believe choosing a preferred watering hole is a subjective, complex decision that people will make for a variety of reasons, including non-beer reasons (such as atmosphere, proximity, familiarity, etc.), and I do not wish to over-simplify the process. Second, I try to keep my eye on the long game. Developing a beer culture takes time and it takes many steps to reach that goal. Some of those steps may frustrate a beer aficionado – such as a chain offering a couple of token craft taps amidst a sea of corporate beer. But they are all, in my opinion, parts of the process. If the presence of a comprehensive beer bar pressures some longtime mainstay to up its game, even just a bit, then that is a victory for good beer. The spate of new and about-to-open pubs with extensive tap lists is an example of that slow, steady progress. I am not sure that a hard rating system helps the process of moving beer forward, as I fear it may discourage partial steps.

But the Geeks are not me (although I do consider myself a “Friend of Geeks”). They are devoted fans of beer – consumers first and foremost. They are unencumbered, and thus free to rate, judge, evaluate and criticize as they see fit. If they want to express frustration at some mediocre bar, or call out a pub for not living up to its marketing hype, then they are well within their rights to do so. And in that context, more power to them! That uncompromising demand for quality beer (and the consumer dollars behind it) may have more impact on changing Edmonton’s beer culture than a decade’s worth of my ramblings. And that might make this poke-in-the-eye rating system a good thing. As you can see, I am not sure.

What I would like to see next is the Geeks placing the ratings (including the raw scores) on their website to promote discussion and debate about both the concept in general and the specific ratings they have calculated. Because, in my mind, that is where the real gain is to be made. Get people talking openly about what makes a good beer bar and engaging in lively debates about the relative merits and demerits of each location. That kind of back-and-forth can serve both beer consumers AND pub operators, for they can learn what it is beer drinkers want from their so-called craft beer pubs.