Whether you鈥檙e just getting interested in craft beer or, like me, you鈥檇 like to advance your beer knowledge and become a beer judge, a great first step is to learn about the聽different styles of beer.
Thirty years ago, 鈥渂eer鈥 in the United States meant one thing: a fizzy, thin, yellow drink without a lot of flavor. There were only about 40 breweries in the whole country, and most of them produced something similar.
Today, you can鈥檛 miss the signs of change. Craft beer is everywhere. There are 5,000-plus breweries producing beer brands with quirky labels, fun names and hundreds of different styles. It鈥檚 exciting, but it can also be confusing.
So: What is a beer style? "Style" is a term used to identify, differentiate and categorize beers by various factors, including: appearance, flavor, ingredients, alcohol by volume, production method, and history or origin.
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The Beer Judge Certification Program beer style guidelines are written by the BJCP style committee. Since styles keep evolving as brewers keep innovating, these guidelines are periodically reviewed and updated. As of 2015, there were 30-plus categories of styles and 80-plus subcategories.
Studying beer styles is a great way to keep track of it all and continue beer education. To learn more about styles, you can visit online sites like , , , or the .
To push myself to learn more, I鈥檝e decided to sign up for the BJCP exam and become a beer judge 鈥 which, among other things, means I will need to be able to identify styles and know if a beer I鈥檓 drinking is true to the style it claims to be. Whether I finish or not, we鈥檒l see 鈥 but at the very least, I鈥檒l learn more about beer along the way.
To study for this, every couple of weeks (or so) I鈥檒l:
鈥 Pick a different style
鈥⒙燫ead the BJCP guideline info
鈥⒙燜ind some commercial examples locally
鈥⒙燭aste the beers
鈥⒙燜ill out sample tasting sheets for reference
鈥⒙燬et up a study group with beer samples and tasting sheets
鈥⒙燤ake style flashcards
• And write about it for the Cayuga County Craft blog at
It鈥檒l be tough, since studying = tasting beer, but I鈥檒l struggle through it and invite you to join me! Whether you鈥檇 just like to taste beer or take the BJCP exam, I鈥檇 love to study with you, talk about beer styles and take this road together!
Look for the next blog entry for information on the first style: American porters!
Cheers!
Dawn and Marc Schulz are the owners of Prison City Pub & Brewery, 28 State St., Auburn. For more information, call (315) 604-0763, visit or search for the brewpub .
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