Rating System

Several weeks ago, my fiance Ally and I were sitting down to dinner at the Yardhouse in Dedham. And while it is not strictly a brewpub as it does not brew its own beers, we jokingly began to develop a series of criteria for rating brewpubs (out of sheer aggravation at the various negative aspects of the place).

Being brewers ourselves, we want to at the very least chronicle our excursions to pubs and the like, and perhaps share those experiences with others.

In that spirit, we present to you the rating system with which we will rate our experiences at the many brewpubs we visit. And considering that the writing of this blog will most certainly change our perception of eateries and drinkeries, we suspect changes to the rating system itself as we grow and develop our own understandings.

Current Rating elements. Composed initially only of 'S' words, which didn't prove very useful as beer, brew, benefits, backdrop, etc all do not start with S. Oh well!

Beer: This one speaks for itself. Here we will rate the quality of the brew available. We will also look at the variety and selection. High marks going to places with quality beer, a large selection of a variety of styles, and extra points for beer brewed on site.

Service: Here Ally and I will rate things like speed of service, friendliness, routine (but not too frequent) check ins, and general knowledge of the staff.

Setting: The decor of a restaurant reflects, if not defines the managements intended clientele. We are not interested in sports bars, late nights at rowdy (yes I am old and do use the term rowdy) clubs. Places like those will receive lower ratings, assuming we even go to them in the first place.

Food: Having for a long time toyed with the idea of opening "Dubs Pub" the brewpub which will feature "Don't Worry be Hoppy" the west coast double IPA of Wallace household fame, among others, we realized that our favorite brewpubs feature great food along with great beer. It is imperative that we recognize these places that serve up a great pizza with a great ale.

Cleanliness: This one is huge. You cannot have a successful anything if it is not clean. There will be little tolerance for a filthy bar top, table or plates. We had an unfortunate experience at On the Border in Woburn the other day where we received dirty appetizer plates, and when we asked for a new set, they were dirty too!

Value: I firmly believe in the old axiom, you get what you pay for. But, considering the success of the previous rating elements, the 'ol hit on the wallet is a factor in deciding whether to return or not. So if you have a happy hour, or half priced appetizers, or just overall good prices, you'll get good marks here.

So at the moment there are 6 categories. We will rate them on a scale of 10 each. The max being 60. And in order to provide an easily understood system, we'll convert to percentages and give letter grades with which we are all familiar.

So, with great pomp and circumstance, and hopefully a few laughs (though this first post has unfortunately included few chuckles and far too much circumstance) we present to you JAlly's Brewpub Tour.