BJCP styles sorted by History

Hello! As I mentioned in a previous post, I will use this classification system for the studies of the BJCP styles, aiming to become a certified beer judge. I decided to create this post to easily showcase all the categories, and by clicking we can see also the styles underneath. Overtime, I will be adding here the BJCP comercial examples that I had the pleasure to evaluate. Therefore, this is a live publication that wiil be constantly updated. Also, I will leave here some clarification notes.

First, the BJCP style guide is divided into 27 styles and an entire other chapter on specialty beers. Fortunately, these specialty beers are not part of judge evaluation content, so they will not be part of the studies. In the 27 styles, we actually have 26 styles and a final category that encompasses historical beers. This historical beer category includes some styles that were popular in the past but have nearly disappeared. As a result, it is quite rare to find recreations of these styles today. For this reason, these historical beers will also not be covered in the studies, as they are not part of the exam content for judges. Of course, in the future, I would like to explore these historical beers and even attempt to brew each of them. But for now, they’re set aside, and we have “ONLY” 26 styles to evaluate.

Second, unfortunately, it will be impossible to taste absolutely all the styles due to lack of availability. For this specific study, I’m trying to use only the commercial examples described in the BJCP guide. I’m in Europe, and in theory, we might think it would be easier to obtain at least the European styles. Not really. Right in the Pilsner category, I couldn’t find samples of Czech Pale Lager and Leichtbier (a German style). In the case of Czech Pale Lager, it doesn’t seem critical, as it’s a lighter version of the Premium Pale Lager, which I find in abundance here. In other words, there’s a difference in intensity in terms of sensory profile, but the character of the beer is there. In the case of Leichtbier, I’ll read and try to summarize what I find in the BJCP, but I won’t have the experience of sensing its aromas and flavors. I’ll always be looking for ways to obtain these styles without spending more on delivery than on the beer itself. And if we think about styles from outside Europe, it becomes even more challenging. As the distance increases, so does the likelihood of not finding a sample that retains all its attributes. Transport time and storage without protection from light or at higher temperatures can cause the beer to lose its flavors and aromas even faster.

Of course, for many of the styles, we have a local brewery that produces a label in that style. However, breweries don’t have and shouldn’t be expected to produce beers that follow BJCP styles. Remember, the style guide was created for competition purposes. Therefore, the style we read on the label does not always resemble the style guide, and to avoid confusion, I will not describe them here. But as I mentioned above, this is a publication that will be constantly updated, and I hope one day to have all styles evaluated with BJCP commercial examples.

And yes, I’m talking about evaluating, not just tasting. Because actually, I’ve already tried many BJCP commercial examples before. However, there’s a big difference between drinking and tasting, and an even bigger difference between drinking and evaluating. The evaluation process follows a systematic approach to the beer. I had already read and watched videos about the evaluation recommended by the BJCP. Later, in the WSET course, they also had a very similar methodology, which I systematically applied to evaluate about 20 beers during the course. Basically, these methods aim to separate the different aspects of the beer, so that during tasting, we evaluate each one separately (aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel). No worries, a post on the BJCP scoresheet will be coming up soon, and we’ll go into more detail on each one of them.

• 1. Pilsner

  3A.. Czech Pale Lager

  3B. Czech Premium Pale Lager: Primator Premium Lager; Radegast Ryze horká 12; Pilsner Urquell

  5D. German Pils: Jever Pilsener

  5A. German Leichtbier

• 2. Mass Market Pale Lager

  1B American Lager: Bud

  2A International Pale Lager: Bira Morreti, Heinekein

  1A American Light Lager

• 3. European Pale Lager

  5C German Helles Exportbier: DAB Dortmunder

  4A Munich Helles: Augustiner Lagerbier Hell

  4B Festbier

  4C Helles Bock

• 4. Amber Lager

  7A Vienna Lager: Ottakringer Weiner Original

  6A Märzen

  3C Czech Amber Lager: Bernard Jantarový

  2B International Amber Lager: Brooklyn Lager

• 5. European Smoked Beer

  6B Rauchbier: Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen

• 6. Indigenous American Beer

  1C. Cream Ale

  19B. California Common

  18A Blond Ale

• 7. Dark Lager

  8A Munich Dunkel: Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel

  3D Czech Dark Lager: Kozel dark; Primator Dark Lager

  8B Schwarzbier: Köstritzer Schwarzbier

  2C International Dark Lager

• 8. Bock

  6C Dunkles Bock

  9A Doppelbock: Paulaner Salvator, Ayinger Celebrator

  9B Eisbock

• 9. English Pale Ale

  11A. Ordinary Bitter

  11B Best Bitter

  11C Strong Bitter: Robinson Trooper

  12C English IPA

• 10. Pale Ales (derived from English Pale Ale)

  15A Irish Red Ale: O’hara’s Irish Red

  12B Australian Sparkling Ale

  24B Belgian Pale Ale: De Koninck Bolleke

  12A British Golden Ale

• 11. American Pale Beer (derived from English styles)

  18B American Pale Ale

  19A American Amber Ale

  21A American IPA

• 12. American Bitter (derived from American IPA)

  21B Speciality IPA (ALL)

  22A Double IPA

• 13. Top-fermented German Lagers

  5B Kölsch

  7B Altbier: Diebels Alt

• 14. European Farmhouse Beer

  24C Bière de Garde: Ch’Ti Blonde

  25B Saison

• 15. English Mild

  13A Dark Mild

• 16. Dark American Beer

  19C American Brown Ale

  20A American Porter

  20B American Stout

• 17. Porter

  13C English Porter

  9C Baltic Porter

• 18. Irish Stout

  16D Foreign Extra Stout

  15C Irish Extra Stout: O’hara’s Leann Follain

  15B Irish Stout: Guinness Draught, O’hara’s Irish Stout, Murphy’s Irish Stout

• 19. English Stout

  20C Imperial Stout

  16B Oatmeal Stout

  16A Sweet Stout

  16C Tropical Stout

• 20. Strong Ale

  17B Old Ale

  17A British Strong Ale

  22B American Strong Ale

• 21. Barleywine

  17D English Barley Wine

  22C American Barley Wine

  22D Wheatwine

• 22. Belgian Ale

  25A Belgian Blong Ale

  26A Belgian Single: Westmalle Extra

  26B Belgian Dubbel: Westmalle Dubbel

• 23. Belgian Strong Ale

  26C Belgian Tripel: Westmalle Tripel

  25C Belgian Golden Strong Ale

  26D Belgian Dark Strong Ale

• 24. Wheat Beer

  10A Weissbier: Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier

  10B Dunkles Weissbier: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel; Ayinger Urweisse

  10C Weizenbock: Schneider Weisse Aventinus (dark); Weihenstephaner Vitus (Pale)

  24 Witbier: Hoegaarden White

  1D American Wheat Beer

• 25. German Sour Ale

  23A Berliner Weisse

  23G Gose

• 26. Belgian Sour Ale

  23B Flanders Red

  23C Oud Bruin: Petrus Roodbruin, VanderGhinste Roodbruin

  23D Lambic

  23E Gueuze

  23F Fruit Lambic