This had nothing to due with a real judging, as the ‘Judges’ have no experience or obtained the experience
needed to do an honest evaluation.

But, what do your expect from the New York Magazine?

Not exactly a bastion of honesty

The mixing of styles irked me, too. It would have been okay if they would have picked standard examples of each style, gave the reviewers some context about each style, and had them determine which of the styles was best suited for their own tastes. But to throw them all together like that just shows the writer’s ignorance.

You also identified another pet peeve of mine–the use of the non-descriptive adjective–”good,” “bad,” “eh.” Sadly, even folks who genuinely prefer craft beers and spend a lot of time reviewing them fall into this trap (look at the reviews for any beers on Ratebeer.com or BeerAdvocate and you’ll find myriad examples).