Data Guide for the Beer Perplexed

More Data, More Problems Beer, like any worthwhile topic, may be approached from various angles and on different levels. In this series we have focused on individual beer styles, looking at their characteristics and how they relate to each other. We reviewed the recommendation from one style to another and divized different approaches for making sense of this: link & node, longest path, and PageRank. In our current piece we are going to step back and look at the style categories, cutting down on the nearly... [Read More]

No Beer Style is an Island onto Itself Capturing the link relationships of beer styles offers an opportunity to discover connections and patterns not immediately apparent from simply reading the information or following the recommendations on an one off basis. Leveraging the insight that informed the PageRank algorithm and unleashed a little company called Google upon the world, we can traverse the directional links, the recommendations from one beer to another, to identify the highest scoring beer style as a function of references. The PageRank algo is inspired... [Read More]

Motivation If handed a pale ale and in the other hand you hold a stout it should be simple enough to identify differences.1 These observations would be fairly common and not overly informative. Being introduced to beers in this ham handed manner would not be productive to identifying similarities instead of differences or trying to get from one beer style to another in an instructive way. It would be more helpful to home in on a style you enjoy and branch off steadily from there. There will... [Read More]

How would you describe this? Data: BreweryDB / Vis Source: Mike Bostock Many who begin their beer adventures and step outside the “comfort” of the golden piss pushed by the global players, most especially the males amongst them, get carried away by IBU’s, as witnessed in part by the explosion and sustainability of IPA as a top category. For many the style is a gateway, a steady go-to, or just something to fall back on... [Read More]

What’s in a style? As we inch our way closer to beer authority1 approaching the topic from many angles it is important to occasionally take a deeper dive. This is not one of those times. Not really. Well sort of. We will get more information on beer categories and develop an idea of their characteristics on a closer but still superficial level. It’s like knowing the stats of a player. You may be able to discuss them with more understanding but if you haven’t seen them in... [Read More]

Whole Lotta Beers Out There Beer is delicious but it is not one thing. If you disagree with the former part of the previous sentence please keep the latter in mind. Think of sports, for instance. Many would agree with the blanket statement “sports are fun” but depending on what you have in mind two people can easily have opposite reactions to being presented the opportunity to play ping-pong. Sports are not one thing, music is not one thing, and neither is beer. Presented with a finely crafted brew... [Read More]