Anyone who has entered a beer into competition knows that for some reason, some beer styles always outweigh others in terms of popularity. Year after year, competition after competition, the “darling” styles always receive a good deal of attention, while some of the more interesting categories are left out in the cold.
For this analysis, I’m only looking at the beer categories themselves (my apologies to the cider and mead makers out there). To normalized the data, all categories are given as the percentage of the total entry pool that they represent. From this year's NHC first round, the most popular and the least popular styles are as follows (with the full dataset given below).
2010 MOST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES
1. American Ales (cat. 10) - 509 entries or 8.8% of total
2. Stouts (cat. 13) - 476 entries or 8.3% of total
3. Belgian and French Ales (cat. 16) - 410 entries or 7.1% of total
4. India Pale Ales (cat. 14) - 386 entries or 6.7% of total
5. Belgian Strong Ales (cat. 18) - 362 entries or 6.3% of total
2010 LEAST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES
23. Fruit Beers (cat. 20) - 130 entries or 2.3% of total
22. Dark Lagers (cat. 4) - 144 entries or 2.5% of total
21. Euro Amber Lagers (cat. 3) - 145 entries or 2.5% of total
20. Amber Hybrid Beers (cat. 7) - 152 entries or 2.6% of total
19. Sour Ales (cat. 17) - 163 entries or 2.8% of total
It’s not hard to imaging why Sour Ales trend toward the bottom of the list. While they have a popularity amongst craft beer fanatics, sour beers take a good deal of effort to perfect and they can take years to finish properly. But, what about the other four least popular beer styles – they are fantastic beer styles, but seem to get the cold shoulder from the homebrewing community. There are nearly three times as many beers in the Top Five group as there are in the Bottom Five.
Over the past three years (2008 – 2010), there has been some have been changes in the popularity rankings as some style gain favor and others lose it. The Top Five slots have been consistent all three years, with the same five beer styles always being represented (although with some jockeying back and forth in position). Listed below are the beer styles that have seen the most amount of movement, either positively or negatively, in the rankings.
MOST POSITIVE MOVERS ('10 Rank / '09 Rank / '08 Rank)
1. Smoke / Wood-Aged Beer - cat. 22 (Ranks: 11, 13, 16)
2. Specialty Beers - cat. 23 (Ranks: 7, 10, 11)
3. English Brown Ales - cat. 11 (Ranks: 14, 19, 17)
MOST NEGATIVE MOVERS ('10 Rank / '09 Rank / '08 Rank)
1. English Pale Ale - cat. 8 (Ranks: 16, 11, 10)
2. Dark Lagers - cat. 4 (Ranks: 22, 20, 18)
3. Light Lagers - cat. 1 (Ranks: 18, 17, 15)
4. Strong Ales - cat. 19 (Ranks: 12, 12, 9)
The growing popularity of barrel-ages beers and extreme beers has definitely played a factor in the rise in popularity of Categories 22 and 23. However, I was very shocked to see how English Pale Ales have been falling like a rock in popularity. I personally find this trend very disappointing, as EPA’s (and other session beers) would certainly be on my list of favorite beer styles. Someday, hopefully soon, this style will see a resurgence back to the limelight.
Without any further lamenting or analyzing, here is the complete data how each beer style category was presented this year…
NHC First Round Entry Rankings by Beer Style Categories
| 2010 Rank | Cat. # | Name | # of Entries (2010) | % of Entries (2010) | 2009 Rank | 2008 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | American Ale | 509 | 8.8% | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | 13 | Stout | 476 | 8.3% | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | 16 | Belg & French | 410 | 7.1% | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 14 | IPA | 386 | 6.7% | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 18 | Belgian Strong | 362 | 6.3% | 5 | 3 |
| 6 | 12 | Porter | 292 | 5.1% | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | 23 | Specialty Beers | 275 | 4.8% | 10 | 11 |
| 8 | 9 | Scottish & Irish | 247 | 4.3% | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 6 | Light Hybrids | 245 | 4.3% | 8 | 7 |
| 10 | 21 | Spiced/Herb | 244 | 4.2% | 9 | 12 |
| 11 | 22 | Smoke/Wood-Aged | 226 | 3.9% | 13 | 16 |
| 12 | 19 | Strong Ales | 215 | 3.7% | 12 | 9 |
| 13 | 15 | German Wheat Beers | 206 | 3.6% | 15 | 13 |
| 14 | 11 | English Brown | 199 | 3.5% | 19 | 17 |
| 15 | 5 | Bock | 190 | 3.3% | 16 | 14 |
| 16 | 8 | English Pale Ale | 186 | 3.2% | 11 | 10 |
| 17 | 2 | Pilsner | 183 | 3.2% | 14 | 19 |
| 19 | 17 | Sour Ales | 163 | 2.8% | 18 | 21 |
| 20 | 7 | Amber Hybrids | 152 | 2.6% | 22 | 20 |
| 21 | 3 | European Amber Lager | 145 | 2.5% | 23 | 23 |
| 22 | 4 | Dark Lager | 144 | 2.5% | 20 | 18 |
| 23 | 20 | Fruit Beer | 130 | 2.3% | 21 | 22 |
Everyone has a list of favorite beer styles – let us know which are your favorites and how they are represented in the competition scene.
Slainte!
-JW
"Mmmmm.....Beer."
-Homer Simpson
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