If you want to talk statistical probability, I got a good one… I bet there’s about a 100% chance that you take life too seriously. Chill out and have a beer.

I was looking at the process from a statistical probability view (to summarize, it was the lone Pint result I questioned, given that at face value 32x more people have tried their beer, and like it better on average). It’s funny how you are acting all sanctimonious with your ham-handed attempt throw doubt on my input by cracterizing me as sitting on a couch, and about how you sought out a 7SA in attempt to build your own credibility and objectivity. . I might buy it…if you didn’t actually live about 15 minutes from SD and if you didn’t have A LINK TO THEIR WEBPAGE ON YOUR TWITTER (hahahahahah!….yeah you sound really fair minded and objective…are they also one of your accounts as well?)

I think the moderator is probably correct in that they just pushed their customers more to get out the vote…which is fine, nothing says they can’t be the “Tracy Flick” of some beer popularity contest if it is really that important to them. I do hope to get out there one day and if that beer is a life changing experience I will gladly come back here and eat crow,.

Thanks, Josh! Cult followings come from people who have actually tried the beer and make an educated opinion based on their experience… Not sit on their couch like and come up with conspiracy theories as to why the only beer they’ve tried in the final is not winning. I made an effort to go find a 7SA on Saturday so I could make an educated decision with my vote. Terry – I highly suggest going to Saloon Door and trying a sampler. I will personally buy you it. Just let me know.

The biggest factor we’ve come to find for winning matchups is promotion by the breweries, especially in the later rounds as general interest fades. In almost every “how did X beer beat Y beer” case, when you look back at the brewery’s social media pages, you’ll see the brewery that wins or does better than expected pushed it a lot and the other was completely silent. Get-out-the-vote was basically SpindleTap’s entire playbook, and it worked well. Tasty AF has a near-cult following around the Clear Lake area, especially among those that frequently visit the brewery.

It’s a tragedy of the commons, unfortunately. We upgraded to more secure polls this year, maybe next year we’ll have he budget for the next level or we’ll change the format.

I drink a lot of Houston beer. Everyone has their preferences.

I understand the sentiment, and when we saw the vote totals were significantly higher for the Hop Gusher rounds, we investigated. SpindleTap boosted their posts on Facebook so more of their fans would see the posts, they told everyone in the taproom to vote, and they had staff and friends literally calling people to vote for their beer. Saint Arnold and Brash were basically silent in comparison. There’s no way to know 100% that they (or any other brewery) cheated. But given the information we found, that does not appear to be the case. And I’m the one that made the decision along with SpindleTap, and I haven’t had a Yellow Rose in over 2 years, so your point there is moot.

Please read Update #3. SpindleTap’s forfeiture was not an easy decision, but both SpindleTap and Houston Beer Guide believe it was the right decision. Personally, I think it shows a ton of integrity for SpindleTap to bring the fraudulent votes to our attention and offer to forfeit, given the massive amount of effort they put into every round.