2015 STYLE G - BJCP

1 BEER JUDGE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM 2015 STYLE GUIDELINES Beer STYLE Guidelines Copyright 2015 , BJCP, Inc. The BJCP grants the right to make copies for use in BJCP-sanctioned competitions or for educational/judge training purposes. All other rights reserved. Updates available at Edited by Gordon Strong with Kristen England Past Guideline Analysis: Don Blake, Agatha Feltus, Tom Fitzpatrick, Mark Linsner, Jamil Zainasheff New STYLE Contributions: Drew Beechum, Craig Belanger, Dibbs Harting, Antony Hayes, Ben Jankowski, Andew Korty, Larry Nadeau, William Shawn Scott, Ron Smith, Lachlan Strong, Peter Symons, Michael Tonsmeire, Mike Winnie, Tony Wheeler Review and Commentary: Ray Daniels, Roger Deschner, Rick Garvin, Jan Grmela, Bob Hall, Stan Hieronymus, Marek Mahut, Ron Pattinson, Steve Piatz, Evan Rail, Nathan Smith,Petra and Michal V es Final Review: Brian Eichhorn, Agatha Feltus, Dennis Mitchell, Michael Wilcox BJCP Beer STYLE Guidelines 2015 Edition i TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE 2015 IV Styles and Categories.

2 Iv Naming of Styles and Categories .. iv Using the STYLE Guidelines .. v Format of a STYLE Description .. vi STYLE Description Language .. vii INTRODUCTION TO BEER STYLES .. VIII Basic Categorization .. viii Common Attributes of All Beer Styles .. viii Glossary .. ix Hop Terms .. ix Malt or Mashing Terms .. ix Yeast or Fermentation Terms .. ix Quality or Off-Flavor Terms .. ix Appearance Terms .. x Color Reference .. x STYLE Organization .. x STYLE Tag Reference .. xi 1. STANDARD AMERICAN BEER .. 1 1A. American Light Lager .. 1 1B. American Lager .. 1 1C. Cream Ale .. 1 1D. American Wheat Beer .. 2 2. INTERNATIONAL LAGER .. 3 2A. International Pale Lager .. 3 2B. International Amber Lager .. 3 2C. International Dark Lager .. 4 3. CZECH LAGER .. 4 3A. Czech Pale Lager .. 4 3B. Czech Premium Pale Lager .. 5 3C. Czech Amber Lager .. 5 3D. Czech Dark Lager.

3 6 4. PALE MALTY EUROPEAN LAGER .. 6 4A. Munich Helles .. 6 4B. Festbier .. 7 4C. Helles Bock .. 7 5. PALE BITTER EUROPEAN BEER .. 8 5A. German Leichtbier .. 8 5B. K lsch .. 8 5C. German Helles Exportbier .. 9 5D. German Pils .. 9 6. AMBER MALTY EUROPEAN LAGER .. 10 6A. M rzen .. 10 6B. Rauchbier .. 10 6C. Dunkles Bock .. 11 7. AMBER BITTER EUROPEAN BEER .. 12 7A. Vienna Lager .. 12 7B. Altbier .. 12 7C. Kellerbier .. 13 Kellerbier: Pale Kellerbier .. 13 Kellerbier: Amber Kellerbier .. 14 8. DARK EUROPEAN LAGER .. 14 8A. Munich Dunkel .. 14 8B. Schwarzbier .. 15 9. STRONG EUROPEAN BEER .. 16 9A. Doppelbock .. 16 9B. Eisbock .. 16 9C. Baltic Porter .. 17 10. GERMAN WHEAT BEER .. 17 10A. Weissbier .. 17 10B. Dunkles Weissbier .. 18 10C. Weizenbock .. 18 11. BRITISH BITTER .. 19 11A. Ordinary Bitter .. 19 11B. Best Bitter ..20 11C. Strong Bitter ..20 12.

4 PALE COMMONWEALTH BEER .. 21 12A. British Golden Ale .. 21 12B. Australian Sparkling Ale .. 21 12C. English IPA .. 22 13. BROWN BRITISH BEER .. 23 13A. Dark Mild .. 23 13B. British Brown Ale .. 23 13C. English Porter .. 24 ii BJCP Beer STYLE Guidelines 2015 Edition 14. SCOTTISH ALE .. 25 14A. Scottish Light .. 25 14B. Scottish Heavy .. 25 14C. Scottish Export .. 26 15. IRISH BEER .. 26 15A. Irish Red Ale .. 26 15B. Irish Stout .. 27 15C. Irish Extra Stout .. 27 16. DARK BRITISH BEER .. 28 16A. Sweet Stout .. 28 16B. Oatmeal Stout .. 28 16C. Tropical Stout .. 29 16D. Foreign Extra Stout .. 29 17. STRONG BRITISH ALE .. 30 17A. British Strong Ale .. 30 17B. Old Ale .. 30 17C. Wee Heavy .. 31 17D. English Barleywine .. 32 18. PALE AMERICAN 32 18A. Blonde Ale .. 32 18B. American Pale Ale .. 33 19. AMBER AND BROWN AMERICAN BEER .. 34 19A. American Amber Ale.

5 34 19B. California Common .. 34 19C. American Brown 35 20. AMERICAN PORTER AND STOUT .. 35 20A. American Porter .. 35 20B. American Stout .. 36 20C. Imperial Stout .. 36 21. IPA .. 37 21A. American IPA .. 37 21B. Specialty IPA .. 38 Specialty IPA: Belgian IPA .. 38 Specialty IPA: Black IPA .. 39 Specialty IPA: Brown IPA .. 39 Specialty IPA: Red IPA .. 40 Specialty IPA: Rye IPA .. 40 Specialty IPA: White IPA .. 41 22. STRONG AMERICAN 42 22A. Double IPA .. 42 22B. American Strong Ale .. 42 22C. American Barleywine .. 43 22D. Wheatwine .. 44 23. EUROPEAN SOUR ALE .. 44 23A. Berliner Weisse .. 44 23B. Flanders Red Ale .. 45 23C. Oud Bruin .. 45 23D. Lambic .. 46 23E. Gueuze .. 47 23F. Fruit Lambic .. 47 24. BELGIAN ALE .. 48 24A. Witbier .. 48 24B. Belgian Pale Ale .. 49 24C. Bi re de Garde .. 49 25. STRONG BELGIAN ALE .. 50 25A. Belgian Blond Ale .. 50 25B.

6 Saison .. 50 25C. Belgian Golden Strong Ale .. 51 26. TRAPPIST ALE .. 52 26A. Trappist Single .. 52 26B. Belgian Dubbel .. 52 26C. Belgian Tripel .. 53 26D. Belgian Dark Strong Ale .. 53 27. HISTORICAL BEER .. 54 Historical Beer: Gose .. 54 Historical Beer: Kentucky Common .. 55 Historical Beer: Lichtenhainer .. 55 Historical Beer: London Brown Ale .. 56 Historical Beer: Piwo Grodziskie .. 56 Historical Beer: Pre-Prohibition Lager .. 57 Historical Beer: Pre-Prohibition Porter .. 57 Historical Beer: Roggenbier .. 57 Historical Beer: Sahti .. 58 INTRODUCTION TO SPECIALTY-TYPE BEER .. 59 Entering Specialty-Type Beers .. 59 Judging Specialty-Type Beers .. 59 Effects of Added Ingredients on Balance in Beer .. 60 BJCP Beer STYLE Guidelines 2015 Edition iii 28. AMERICAN WILD ALE .. 60 28A. Brett Beer .. 60 28B. Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer .. 61 28C.

7 Wild Specialty Beer .. 61 29. FRUIT BEER .. 62 29A. Fruit Beer .. 62 29B. Fruit and Spice Beer .. 62 29C. Specialty Fruit Beer .. 63 30. SPICED BEER .. 64 30A. Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer .. 64 30B. Autumn Seasonal Beer .. 64 30C. Winter Seasonal 65 31. ALTERNATIVE FERMENTABLES BEER .. 66 31A. Alternative Grain Beer .. 66 31B. Alternative Sugar Beer .. 66 32. SMOKED BEER .. 67 32A. Classic STYLE Smoked Beer .. 67 32B. Specialty Smoked Beer .. 67 33. WOOD BEER .. 68 33A. Wood-Aged Beer .. 68 33B. Specialty Wood-Aged Beer .. 69 34. SPECIALTY BEER .. 70 34A. Clone Beer .. 70 34B. Mixed- STYLE Beer .. 70 34C. Experimental Beer .. 70 APPENDIX A: ALTERNATE CATEGORIZATIONS .. 71 1. Styles Sorted Using 2008 Categories (Strict) .. 71 2. Styles Sorted Using 2008 Guidelines (Modified) .. 72 3. Styles Sorted Using STYLE Family .. 73 4. Styles Sorted Using Country of Origin.

8 74 5. Styles Sorted Using History .. 75 APPENDIX B: LOCAL STYLES .. 77 Argentine Styles .. 77 X1. Dorada Pampeana .. 77 X2. IPA Argenta .. 77 Italian Styles .. 79 X3. Italian Grape Ale .. 79 iv BJCP Beer STYLE Guidelines 2015 Edition INTRODUCTION TO THE 2015 GUIDELINES The 2015 BJCP STYLE Guidelines are a major revision from the 2008 edition. The goals of the new edition are to better address world beer styles as found in their local markets, keep pace with emerging craft beer market trends, describe historical beers now finding a following, better describe the sensory characteristics of modern brewing ingredients, take advantage of new research and references, and help competition organizers better manage the complexity of their events. Many new styles have been added, and some existing styles have been divided into multiple categories or simply renamed.

9 The groupings of styles into categories has a new philosophy that groups styles with similar judging characteristics rather than a common heritage or family name. Do not assume that the same primary characteristic ( , color, strength, balance, dominant flavor, country of origin) was used to determine each category grouping; the reasoning was more variable and nuanced. Some changes have been made to allow us to be more agile in making future revisions. Finally, we have provided some additional guidance on how to use the guidelines to reduce the potential for misuse that we have observed in past editions. If you are familiar with the 2008 guidelines, note that many category names and numbers are changing. Note that we have added an Introduction to Beer Styles section, just as we have had in the past with Mead and Cider styles. This new section addresses common characteristics of beer, and attributes that are assumed by default to be present or absent unless otherwise noted.

10 Styles and Categories The BJCP STYLE Guidelines use some specific terms with specialized meaning: Category, Subcategory, and STYLE . When thinking of beer, mead and cider styles, the subcategory is the most important label subcategory means essentially the same thing as STYLE and identifies the major characteristic of one type of beer, mead or cider. Each STYLE has a well-defined description, which is the basic tool used during judging. When specialty beer descriptions refer to a Classic STYLE , we mean a named STYLE (subcategory name) in the BJCP STYLE Guidelines; see the Introduction to Specialty-Type Beer section for more information. The larger categories are arbitrary groupings of beer, mead, or cider styles, usually with similar characteristics but some subcategories are not necessarily related to others within the same category. The purpose of the structure within the BJCP STYLE Guidelines is to group styles of beer, mead and cider to facilitate judging during competitions; do not attempt to derive additional meaning from these groupings.