This is one of the most historic platforms for communication and exchange of opinions about beer. Ratebeer.com was launched in 2000 and informed and brought together a global community, while at the same time it introduced and shared beers, breweries, and beer styles around the world.There are many times when breweries have announced their distinction in the list of the platform’s top ones.
Was it threatened by new platforms and mobile applications? Perhaps so, since in recent years there have been complaints from its visitors and users about its upgrade. It was lagging behind since it did not follow developments, but it still maintained its top positions for information and commenting/evaluating beers. It has been publishing on Facebook since July 2021. In our country we had many users and even an admin, rouhlas. Personally, ratebeer was one of the platforms I followed, but to some extent I was also among those who had complaints. My complaints were more related to the late updating of breweries – adding new ones, archiving those that are not working, and contact information – with ratebeer not being responsible since most of the data could be processed by the breweries themselves.
In February 2019, the platform was acquired by the global giant ABInbev, as announced by Joe Tucker. In 2016, the multinational had acquired a minority stake in the platform through its ZX Ventures interest company. At that time, the main topic of discussion concerned the transparency of the multinational’s beer reviews, with many commenting on whether their labels would be favored.
With a new announcement on the forum, but also to the Facebook staff, one of the co-founders of ratebeer, Joe Tucker, stated that the platform will be available until January 31st of next year. Users will be able to save their contributions, that is, reviews, until January 18th.
As of February 1st, 2025, ratebeer.com will not operate, that is the decision. With several friends of the platform unable to accept the situation, however, a tendency has been formed to save it and continue its operation, according to the comments following the announcement and the addition to Joe Tucker’s post on Facebook.
Are there alternatives? Of course there are. The also popular and historic BeerAdvocate and the newer Untappd. If you like reviews and comments on beers, there will always be options, I hope ratebeer remains among them.
