Sunday, January 2, 2011

Beer Styles - BJCP - What Should I Brew?

I am constantly pondering for a beer to brew and am always going back to my favorite styles; belgians, wheats, and IPA's. The reality is that there are numerous beer styles to choose from. The following styles are recognized by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).

The following is a quote from their website www.bjcp.org explaining their purpose.

"The purpose of the Beer Judge Certification Program is to promote beer literacy and the appreciation of real beer, and to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills. We certify and rank beer judges through an examination and monitoring process.

The BJCP was founded in 1985 and has administered the Beer Judge Examination to 5,875 individuals worldwide. 3,647 are currently active judges in the program, with 540 holding the rank of National or higher. Since we started keeping detailed records, our members have judged over 590,931 beers and we have sanctioned over 4,208 competitions. "



The BJCP is the official database for beer styles and defines the parameters needed to meet a particular style. They judge beer, mead, and cider. Here is the list. So read them and let me know what I should brew next. You can find the full style guidelines here: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2008_Guidelines.pdf

American Amber Ale
American Barleywine
American Brown Ale
American IPA
American Pale Ale
American Stout
American Wheat or Rye Beer
Applewine
Baltic Porter
Belgian Blond Ale
Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Belgian Dubbel
Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Belgian Pale Ale
Belgian Specialty Ale
Beglian Tripel
Berliner Weiss
Biere de Garde
Blonde Ale
Bohemian Pilsner
Braggot
Brown Porter
California Common
Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice
Classic American Pilsner
Classic Rauchbier
Common Cider
Common Perry
Cream Ale
Cyser
Dark American Lager
Doppelbock
Dortmunder Export
Dry Mead
Dry Stout
Dunkelweizen
Dusseldorf Altbier
Eisbock
English Barleywine
English Cider
English IPA
Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)
Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
Flanders Red Ale
Foreign Extra Stout
French Cider
Fruit Beer
Fruit Cider
Fruit Lambic
German Pilsner (Pils)
Gueuze
Imperial IPA
Imperial Stout
Irish Red Ale
Kolsch
Lite American Lager
Mailbock/Helles Bock
Metheglin
Mild
Munich Dunkel
Munich Helles
New Englan Cider
Northern English Brown Ale
Northern German Altier
Oatmeal Stout
Oktoberfest/Marzen
Old Ale
Open Category Mead
Other Fruit Melomel
Other Smoked Beer
Other Specialty Cider/Perry
Premium American Lager
Pyment
Robust Porter
Roggenbier (German Rye)
Saison
Schwarzbier (Black Beer)
Scottish Export 80
Scottish Heavy 70
Scottish Light 60
Semi-Sweet Mead
Southern English Brown Ale
Special/Best/Premium Bitter
Specialty Beer
Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
Standard American Lager
Standard/Ordinary Bitter
Straight Lambic
Strong Scoth Ale
Sweet Mead
Sweet Stout
Traditional Bock
Traditional Perry
Vienna Lager
Weizen/Weissbier
Weizenbock
Witbier
Wood Aged Beer

That's it folks. Which of these seem appealing?

cheers!

1 comment: