has plateaued in recent years, Untappd is increasingly reliant on drinkers outside the U.S. ” That means that as craft’s share of the beer market in the U.S. Given the pressure Untappd ratings exert on how beer is made and sold, it’s clear that whatever the answer is, those users still have great influence-earned or not.Īccording to Smith, Untappd’s usage around the world has been “pretty tightly aligned with growth in craft. There’s a tension between the two descriptions: Either Untappd users are rarified influencers, or they represent the craft beer plebian. But Smith also calls Untappd’s users “tastemakers,” and says he believes there’s still a ways to go until Untappd reaches saturation among U.S.

Next Glass CEO Trace Smith calls Untappd users “the world’s largest audience of beer drinkers,” distinct from the proudly nerdy user bases of RateBeer or BeerAdvocate. (BeerAdvocate is also owned by Untappd parent company Next Glass.) They’ve taken on an economic significance that is unrivaled in the industry. Untappd ratings influence bar owners’, e-retailers’, festival organizers’, and even beer distributors’ business decisions to a degree that other publications, apps, or ratings websites like RateBeer or BeerAdvocate don’t. Untappd isn’t an accurate measure of the collective tastes of the majority, but rather creates consequences based on the preferences of a fervid minority. And when decision-makers in the industry use those views to choose which beers to make and sell, a minority of drinkers stand to wield enormous influence.

Subscribe to Premiumīut, 11 years after its creation, what is now the world’s most popular beer-rating platform reflects the tastes of a more narrow subset of beer drinkers than it lets on. Big plays, smart moves, and otherwise curious indicators of beer's possible future.

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