Most Popular Beer Styles: 2012 NHC Entry Results

Two weeks ago saw thousands of homebrewers descend on Seattle, WA for the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference.  The conference, among many things, offers seminars, demonstrations, and camaraderie with amateur brewers from all over the country and beyond.  But one of the center points of the event is the culmination of the National Homebrew Competition.  The final round of the comp is held during the Conference with the venerated awards given at the banquet on the last night. 

We've explored the popularity of the different style entries in prior years (2011, 2010).  With the 2012 HNC awards in the books, it was worthwhile to revisit the results and see if the preferred beer style trends continue to be the same or if there is a shift in brewers' preferences. 

For this analysis, I’m only looking at the beer categories themselves (my apologies to the cider and mead makers out there). To normalize the data, all categories are given as the percentage of the total entry pool that they represent. From this year's NHC competition, the most popular and the least popular styles are as follows (with the full dataset given below).

2012 MOST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 1. Stouts (cat. 13) - 630 entries or 8.7% of total

 2. American Ales (cat. 10) - 603 entries or 8.3% of total

 3. India Pale Ales (cat. 14) - 553 entries or 7.6% of total

 4. Belgian and French Ales (cat. 16) - 491 entries or 6.8% of total

 5. Belgian Strong Ales (cat. 18) - 454 entries or 6.2% of total

2012 LEAST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 23. Euro Amber Lagers (cat. 3) - 158 entries or 2.2% of total

 22. Dark Lagers (cat. 4) - 162 entries or 2.2% of total

 21. Fruit Beers (cat. 20) - 169 entries or 2.3% of total

 20. Amber Hybrid Beers (cat. 7) - 174 entries or 2.4% of total

 19. Bock (cat. 5) - 195 entries or 2.7% of total

The top five beer categories have been the same five styles for the past 5 years with the only change being in the ordering.  Belgian & French Ales flip-flopped with Belgian Strong Ales, otherwise the top 5 style rankings remained the same.  As an overall percentage, the number of entries in the top 5 categories increased slightly from 2012 (37.5% vs. 35.7%) representing a slight strengthening in their overall popularity. 

On the other side of the spectrum, lagers still continue to take a beating.  Of the five lager beer style categories, three of them are in the bottom five.  Light Lagers and Pilsners experienced a surge this year, both jumping up two slots (to #15 and #17 respectively), while Bock beers tumbled hard by 5 slots down to #19.  As has been in the past, there are more than three times as many beers entered in the top five categories as compared to the bottom five categories.  

Looking at trends across the past five years (2008 – 2012), popularity has been surging or failing for some categories as the style gain favor or loses it.  Below are the top movers in the positive and negative direction across thefive year span. 

MOST POSITIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '12 / '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Smoke / Wood-Aged Beer - cat. 22 (Ranks: 8, 8, 11, 13, 16)

 2. Sour Ales - cat. 17 (Ranks: 14, 18, 19, 18, 21)

 3. Herb / Spice / Vegetable Beers - cat. 21 (Ranks: 7, 9, 10, 9, 12)

 3. Specialty Beers - cat. 23 (Ranks: 6, 6, 7, 10, 11)

MOST NEGATIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Bock - cat. 5 (Ranks: 19, 14, 15, 16, 14)

 2. Light Hybrid Beers - cat. 6 (Ranks: 11, 10, 9, 8, 7)

 2. Dark Lagers - cat. 4 (Ranks: 22, 20, 22, 20, 18)

 3. Strong Ales - cat. 19 (Ranks: 12, 13, 12, 12, 9)

 3. German Wheat Beers - cat. 15 (Ranks: 16, 16, 13, 15, 13)

The growing popularity of barrel-aged beers and sour beers have definitely played a factor in the rise in popularity of Categories 22 and 17 respectively. For our 2011 analysis, barrel-aged beers were the most positive mover as well.  However, this years tragic drop for Bock beer caused it to shoot up the leaderboard for most negative mover.  A good Maibock or Doppelbock are stable beers, but the style seems to be getting the cold shoulder from competition participants in the last half decade.  

The complete data set for how each beer style category performed is presented below.  

2012 NHC Entry Rankings by Beer Style Categories

2012 Rank	Cat. #	Name	# of Entries (2010)	% of Entries (2010)	2011 Rank	2010 Rank
1	13	Stout	630	8.7%	1	2
2	10	American Ale	603	8.3%	2	1
3	14	IPA	553	7.6%	3	4
4	16	Belg & French	491	6.8%	5	3
5	18	Belgian Strong	454	6.2%	4	5
6	23	Specialty Beers	383	5.3%	6	7
7	21	Spiced / Herb	362	5.0%	9	10
8	22	Smoke / Wood	335	4.6%	8	11
9	12	Porter	326	4.5%	7	6
10	9	Scottish & Irish	308	4.2%	11	8
11	6	Light Hybrids	303	4.2%	10	9
12	19	Strong Ale	279	3.8%	13	12
13	8	English Pale Ale	265	3.6%	12	16
14	17	Sour Ale	255	3.5%	18	19
15	2	Pilsner	237	3.3%	17	17
15	15	German Wheat Beer	237	3.3%	16	13
17	1	Light Lager	200	2.7%	19	18
18	11	English Brown	198	2.7%	15	14
19	5	Bock	195	2.7%	14	15
20	7	Amber Hybrid Beer	174	2.4%	21	20
21	20	Fruit Beer	159	2.3%	22	21
22	4	Dark Lager	162	2.2%	20	22
23	3	Euro Amber Lager	158	2.2%	23	21

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


"In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer"
-A. J. P. Taylor

Most Popular Beer Styles: 2011 NHC Entry Results

Its no surprise to anyone who has entered a beer competition that some categories are incredible competitive and others barely have a pulse.  Dozens of bottles are entered in the popular styles and other less popular styles get grouped together and relegated to the 'no-one-loves-me' table in the back.

We've explored this phenomenon last year when the 2010 National Homebrewing Comp was in progress.  With the 2011 NHC complete and awarded, it was worthwhile to revisit the results and see if the preferred beer style trends continue to be the same or if there is a shift brewers preferences. 

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 competition, the most popular and the least popular styles are as follows (with the full dataset given below).

2011 MOST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 1. Stouts (cat. 13) - 566 entries or 8.7% of total

 2. American Ales (cat. 10) - 493 entries or 7.6% of total

 3. India Pale Ales (cat. 14) - 462 entries or 7.1% of total

 4. Belgian Strong Ales (cat. 18) - 404 entries or 6.2% of total

 5. Belgian and French Ales (cat. 16) - 394 entries or 6.1% of total

2011 LEAST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 23. Euro Amber Lagers (cat. 3) - 140 entries or 2.2% of total

 22. Fruit Beers (cat. 20) - 143 entries or 2.2% of total

 21. Amber Hybrid Beers (cat. 7) - 157 entries or 2.4% of total

 20. Dark Lagers (cat. 4) - 171 entries or 2.6% of total

 19. Light Lagers (cat. 1) - 191 entries or 2.9% of total

The top five beer categories have been the same five styles for the past 4 years with the only change being in the ordering.  Stouts and American Ales have flip-flopped for the number one seat each year, while IPAs and the Belgians fight for seats 3 through 5. 

One the other side of the spectrum, lagers in general are taking a beating.  Of the five lager beer styles, three of them are in the bottom five while Pilsners (#17) and Bocks (#14) aren't that much further up.  As has been in the past, there are nearly three times as many beers entered in the top five categories as compared to the bottom five categories.  

Over the past four years (2008 – 2011), there has been some have been changes in the popularity rankings as some style gain favor and others lose it.  As mentioned, the Top Five slots have really changed.  However, there have been other styles have been consistantly climbing or falling. 

MOST POSITIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Smoke / Wood-Aged Beer - cat. 22 (Ranks: 8, 11, 13, 16)

 2. Specialty Beers - cat. 23 (Ranks: 6, 7, 10, 11)

 3. Herb / Spice / Vegtable Beers - cat. 21 (Ranks: 9, 10, 9, 12)

 3. Sour Ales - cat. 17 (Ranks: 18, 19, 18, 21)

MOST NEGATIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Light Lagers - cat. 1 (Ranks: 19, 18, 17, 15)

 1. Strong Ales - cat. 19 (Ranks: 13, 12, 12, 9)

 3. German Wheat Beers - cat. 15 (Ranks: 16, 13, 15, 13)

 3. Scottish & Irish Ales - cat. 9 (Ranks: 11, 8, 7, 8)

 3. Light Hybrid Beers - cat. 6 (Ranks: 10, 9, 8, 7)

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. Those two categories were also the fastest rising categories last year.  However, I was shocked to see Hefeweizens and Scottish/Irish Ales amongst the sinkings beers.  Category 9 is one of my all time favorites styles, yet entry selection has been fickle to it in the past few years.  Sad.

The complete data set for how each beer style category performed is presented below.  

2011 NHC Entry Rankings by Beer Style Categories

2011 Rank	Cat. #	Name	# of Entries (2010)	% of Entries (2010)	2010 Rank	2009 Rank
1	13	Stout	566	8.7%	2	1
2	10	American Ale	493	7.6%	1	2
3	14	IPA	462	7.1%	4	4
4	18	Belgian Strong	404	6.2%	5	5
5	16	Belg & French	394	6.1%	3	3
6	23	Specialty Beers	346	5.3%	7	10
7	12	Porter	320	4.9%	6	6
8	22	Smoke / Wood	289	4.5%	11	13
9	21	Spiced/Herb	286	4.4%	10	9
10	6	Light Hybrids	272	4.2%	9	8
11	9	Scottish & Irish	257	4.0%	8	7
12	8	English Pale Ale	256	3.9%	16	11
13	19	Strong Ale	252	3.9%	12	12
14	5	Bock	230	3.5%	15	16
15	11	English Brown	227	3.5%	14	19
16	15	German Wheat Beer	216	3.3%	13	15
17	2	Pilsner	215	3.3%	17	14
18	17	Sour Ales	204	3.1%	19	18
19	1	Light Lager	191	2.9%	18	17
20	4	Dark Lager	171	2.6%	22	20
21	7	Amber Hybrid Beer	157	2.4%	20	22
22	20	Fruit Beer	143	2.2%	21	22
23	3	Euro Amber Lager	140	2.2%	21	23

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


"I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer."
-Homer Simpson

2010 Samuel Adams Longshot Winners Announced

Last week at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), as has become a tradition, Jim Koch announced the winners of the 2010 Samuel Adams Longshot competition.  As we posted earlier, this year's Longshot competition was only focused solely on Category 23.  Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Category 23, Specialty Beer, is the catch-all category.  Commentators predicted this departure from the normal complete beer-style competition format would lead to some interesting results.

So, who were the winners (information taken directly from the September 2010 Samuel Adams "What's on tap" newsletter)?

• "Rodney Kibzey - a second time winner (he also won in '07), Rodney's Blackened Hops is sure to please beer lovers when it appears in the 2011 Longshot pack. Harnessing eight years of homebrewing knowledge, Rodney found that combining debittered dark malts and citrusy hops yielded a surprising and unique flavor for this brew. Its black color hints at roasted malt and coffee flavors, but its the big hop character that really steals the show. Packed with citrusy and piney American hops, this beer has a big flavor and clean bitterness."
• "Richard Roper - Richard’s Friar Hop Ale combines his love of hops with his affinity for spicy Belgian ale. To develop his recipe, he created a hybrid of two styles, uniting the big hoppy taste of an IPA with the spicy, fruity flavor of a Belgian. The toasty caramel sweetness from the malt and Belgian candy sugar mimics a Belgian ale, while the big citrus hop notes of an IPA balance the style. A spicy yeast fermentation and hints of orange and coriander round out the brew. It's a refreshing beer that can be enjoyed any time of year." 
• "Caitlin DeClercq - a first time homebrewer, Caitlin is this year's employee homebrew contest winner. Caitlin's "Honey Bee Lavender Wheat" is an ale brewed with lavender petals & honey. A citrus tartness and slight sweetness from the honey and vanilla balance out the finish in this beer, perfect to sip while kicking back and relaxing."

One observations that can be made about the results is that the two non-employee beers feature styles that have become very popular recently, the Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA) and Belgian IPA.  The July 2010 edition of Brew Your Own Magazine (BYO) featured an article discussing the origins of the CDA and state it is a deep brown to black ale with prominent citrus and pine hop aroma and flavor, balanced by a light roast/chocolate flavor.  The Belgian IPA style, which combines a large hop character and bitterness with the traditional Belgian spicy character found in tripels, has also been gaining favor in the past few years.

Another observation of the results is that the employee winner again features a "flavored" beer.  The 2007 employee winner was an ale flavored with white grapes.  The 2008 winner was a cranberry wit and the 2009 winner was a lemon-pepper saison.

I interpret the results to indicate that this year's competition is not that different than previous years.  The focus on Category 23 may have led to the selection of some newer styles, but it did not lead to the crazy concoctions that I have seen entered in the catch-all category.  It seems that the wildest recipes in the competition, whether the event was limited to Category 23 or not, comes from the Sam Adams employees.

The 2011 Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Contest – Category 23 Variety 6-Pack, which features two bottles from each winner, will be available nationwide in select retail stores beginning March 2011.

What do you think about the competition and its winners.  Post a comment and let us know.

Cheers,

TW

“Apparent” Bitterness (IBU/OG) Ranges By Beer Style

After the completion of the initial four BJCP style charts that we published, a reader (thanks Andrew D.) suggested publishing a fifth chart looking at the IBU to OG ratios or “Apparent” bitterness of each style. Given that bitterness is typically set to offset the residual sweetness in a beer, looking at the relative OG and IBU values allows a brewer to gauge whether the style will typically be sweet, balanced, or bitter in the final product.

As was described in the first Style Chart posting, this project started out as a simple impulse, but turned into a series of graphical charts demonstrating how each BJCP style compare to one another.

Click on the thumbnail below to get a higher resolution image of the chart.

In addition to the above, check out the other four Beer Style Charts:

• SRM Color Ranges By Style
• IBU Bitterness Range By Style
• Original & Final Gravity Ranges By Style
• Alcohol By Volume Ranges By Style

Please click here for a higher resolution PDF of this chart or any of the other charts – I’m more than happy to share them.

Slainte!

-JW


"No soldier can fight unless he is properly fed on beef and beer."
-John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough

Most Popular Beer Style Categories: 2010 NHC First Round

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.

Given this notion in mind, I figured it might be interesting, and a bit entertaining, to identify the most popular style categories (as defined by the BJCP) and see if there have been any trends in that popularity over the past few years. With the 2010 National Homebrewing Competition Finals is just around the corner, the 5,759 beer entries that made up the first round are the ideal pool of data to examine. 

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

Interested in Taking a "Longshot" to Get Your Beer Distributed Nationally?

The Boston Beer Company, makers of the popular Sam Adams line of beer, has long been running an annual homebrewing competition called Longshot.  Sam Adams runs the contest to pay homage to the company’s roots, which started in founder Jim Koch’s kitchen homebrewing an old family beer recipe.  The contest also provides Boston Beer with an influx of new beer recipes and a good deal of marketing and exposure. 

Winners of the Longshot competition receive a great deal of recognition and prizes, which attracts a large pool of entries every year (averaging over 1,550 entries per year over the last four years).  Prizes for winning the competition include:

• All expense paid trip to the 2010 Great American Beer Festival, where the finalists pour their beers and the winners are announced.
• National distribution of the winning beers in the 2011 Longshot Variety six-pack, which includes each winner’s likeness on the beer caps.
• One-time royalty payment of $5,000 for winning recipes.
• Invitations to events to promote the winning beers.

Participants send four bottles of homebrew per entry and every beer will receive detailed feedback via judging score sheets.  However, unlike most other homebrew competition, entry into the Longshot competition is free – Sam Adams covers all the expenses for running the contest.  Thus, every contestant gets feedback on their beer, as well as the chance to win big, all for the cost to ship four bottles of beer to a drop-off location.  Information on past winners, finalists, and category winners can be found on the Longshot website.

The contest has been around since at least 1996, as a quick Google search turned up this article from the Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale.  However, the 2010 contest is different from all of those previous to it.  This year, the Longshot competition will focus solely on Category 23.  Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Category 23, Specialty Beer, is the catch-all category.  Sam Adams notes that they are looking for a beer “that is a harmonious marriage of ingredients, processes and beer.  The key attributes of the underlying style will be atypical due to the addition of special ingredients or techniques.  The overall uniqueness of the process, ingredients used, and creativity should be considered.”

This twist on the traditional homebrewing contests, where brewers can enter all 23 beer categories and awards are given for each category, is a fairly dramatic one.  While all of the entries must indicate a “base beer” that the brewer is seeking to innovate upon with different ingredients and techniques, this contest is truly about looking for what is new and different.  Beer brewed to traditional styles, even if they are World Class examples, will not do well in this contest.

Sam Adams is likely changing the Longshot contest for several reasons.  First, it tracks with the current American craft brewing craze of making extreme, different, and crazy beer.  Second, Boston Beer is a commercial brewery that offers more than 30 different beers that cover the style gamut.  As such, any new ideas it could get out of the Longshot competition need to push the brewing envelope.  Third, the change in the rules is a big one and it can be marketed as such – something new and different.

Personally, I think the change in the Longshot competition is unfortunate.  This mostly comes from a deep-seated appreciation of traditional beer styles.  I enjoy trying experimental beers periodically, but I dislike the current American beer trend towards all things extreme and different.  If we brewers spend all our time looking for the next best thing, we miss the incredible variety of beer we already have.  The results of this process are often unbalanced and unpleasant to drink, but are awarded accolades simply because they are different.  As such, a contest that promotes this idea as its key concept, even if it has good intentions, is not as good as one that provides opportunity for all the styles.

For more information on entering the Longshot, look here.  The deadline for entries is May 28, 2010.

Cheers,

TW

Alcohol By Volume Ranges By Beer Style

Below is the last Style Chart in the series demonstrates the comparitive Alcohol By Volume (ABV) ranges for each of the BJCP Beer Styles. As was described in the first Stlye Chart posting, this project started out as a simple impulse, but turned into a series of graphical charts demonstrating how each BJCP style compare to one another.

Click on the thumbnail below to get a higher resolution image of the chart.

In addition to the above, check out the other Beer Style Charts:

• SRM Color Ranges By Style
• IBU Bitterness Ranges By Style
• Original & Final Gravity Ranges By Style
• 'Apparent' Bitterness (IBU/OG) Ranges By Style

Please click here for a higher resolution PDF of this or any of the charts.  I'm more than happy to share them.
 
Slainte!
 
-JW
 
 
"I am a firm believer in the people.  If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis.  The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."
-Abraham Lincoln

Original and Final Gravity Ranges By Beer Style Chart

The third Style Chart in the series demonstrates the comparitive Original and Final Gravity ranges for each of the BJCP Beer Styles.  As was described in the first Stlye Chart posting, this project started out as a simple impulse, but turned into a series of graphical charts demonstrating how each BJCP style compare to one another.

Click on the thumbnail below to get a higher resolution image of the chart.

In addition to the above, check out the other Beer Style Charts in the series (all links will be updated when the respective charts are posted)"

• SRM Color Ranges By Style
• IBU Bitterness Ranges By Style
• Alcohol By Volume Ranges By Style
• 'Apparent' Bitterness (IBU/OG) Ranges By Style

Please click here for a higher resolution PDF's of this chart or any other chart in the series - I'm more than happy to share them.

Slainte!

-JW


"We drink all we can.  The rest we sell."
-Utica Club Brewery

IBU Bitterness Ranges By Beer Style Chart

Below is the second Style Chart in the series, which visually compares IBU bitterness for each of the BJCP Beer Styles. As mentioned in the first Style Chart posting, this project started out as a simple impulse while reading the BJCP guidelines, but took on a life of its own, resulting in the charts of this series.

Click on the thumbnail below to get a higher resolution image of the chart.

In addition to the above, check out the other Beer Style Charts (all links will be updated when the charts are posted):

• SRM Color Range By Style
• Original & Final Gravity Ranges By Style
• Alcohol By Volume Ranges By Style
• 'Apparent' Bitterness (IBU/OG) Ranges By Style

Please click here for a higher resolution PDFs of this chart or any of the other charts – I’m more than happy to share them.

Sláinte!

-JW


“Beer soothes the upset soul.”
-Thomas Mann

SRM Color Ranges By Beer Style Chart

One of the handicaps of being a visual learner is that there’s always an inkling to lay concepts out graphically to appreciate them. About a week ago, I started going through the BJCP style guidelines to see how the styles compare with each other in terms of their vital stats. Which style has the highest allowable Original Gravity? Which styles allow for the most IBU’s? It started out as a doodling impulse, but ended up being a small project I got carried away with.  As such, I figured I would share the resulting Style Charts with anyone else that happens to pass by this blog.

The first of these charts – SRM Color Ranges By Style – is displayed below. Simply click on the thumbnail to get a higher resolution image. The other three charts in the series will be added in subsequent posts.

In addition to the above, check out the other Beer Style Charts (all links will be updated when the charts are posted):

• IBU Bitterness Range By Style
• Original & Final Gravity Ranges By Style
• Alcohol By Volume Ranges By Style
• 'Apparent' Bitterness (IBU/OG) Ranges By Style

Please click here for a higher resolution PDFs of this chart or any of the other charts – I’m more than happy to share them.

Sláinte!

-JW

“…Actually, I’m a drinker with writing problems.”

-Brendan Behan