BJCP Guidelines – What You Need To Know

Stout, lager, IPA, and others are names you’ve probably heard or read if you’re interested in beer. If you’re a homebrewer, you’re likely already quite familiar with all of them.

Now, when it comes to grouping beer, cider, and mead, there needs to be some standard. It can help in everything from judging in competitions to addressing beer styles around the world better.

That’s where the BJCP guidelines come in. BJCP = The Beer Judge Certification Program.

Of course, these guidelines often change with time and as the industry evolves by itself. It’s easy to feel lost or confused when trying to classify your own beer, and even certain styles and categories might be altered.

With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines: mainly what they are and how they work. We’ll summarize the guidelines themselves and explain the relevant factors at play when determining how these guidelines function.

What are the BJCP guidelines?

The BJCP uses certain terms to specify beer “types”; they deal with both categories and subcategories as well as beer styles. Subcategories are the most important term; they’re somewhat similar to styles, and they identify major features from beer.

Beer style is very specific, and each one has a precise and defined description; they’re the standard approach for judges. On the other hand, categories are essentially groups. They gather similar beer types, but not all subcategories need to be related to each other.

Beer is often grouped by their home country, but this has little to do with their characteristics. It’s mostly used to understand history or markets, depending on the judges’ needs. (Here’s more on How to Become a Beer Judge)

How do the styles and categories work?

A common mistake is to learn style names instead of their descriptions; this is what makes everything feel confusing. Names are mostly used to identify different styles. In a similar vein, assigning a style is the first step, grouping (or categorizing) them the second, and naming these groups the last.

Style names aren’t supposed to be mandatory for breweries. They’re only used for reference, for they’re often the appropriate description of a style. When different styles use the same name, their original region is often added to the style.

That doesn’t mean that:

  • All beers must be named with their style.
  • Breweries or regions own the style name.
  • Local markets always call the beer by their style.

Which guidelines are considered?

The following isn’t an exact description of the format, but a summary of the different guidelines followed by the BJCP.

About the beer

Judges consider the style’s essence and how it’s different from others. The consumer-grade description or impression of the beer is one of the first guidelines, and it stretches to how regular people would describe styles.

Then, the appearance, aroma, taste, and mouth sensation are the fundamental elements for determining a style. They’re also independent from the manufacture, as even the same ingredients and processes can deliver different experiences. These four elements refer to perception.

However, styles tend to include typical ingredients and processes. While there’s no exact recipe for a style, characteristic elements can be taken into account.

The beer’s context

Here’s where history plays a role. Now, the BJCP doesn’t focus on history, but how the beer originated is often take into consideration when determining styles. This is especially true for the previous cases: when different styles adopt the same name.

Additional notes or even trivia can also account for a beer style. They’re not mandatory, but brewers can add their own comments when submitting their products for review.

Comparisons

The BJCP added style comparisons to their format back in 2015, and it’s basically a description of how a specific style is different from related or even similar styles.

It’s particularly useful because it’s sometimes easier to describe styles by drawing comparisons to already-known styles. That’s why judges might ask for important features that differentiate a style from others.

As such, the format includes a section to provide clues like the context or sensations when tasting a style.

Statistics

The ASBC (American Society of Brewing Chemists) created the SRM (Standard Reference Method) for expressing characteristics fro certain beer. These include both the final and original gravity, the alcohol-to-volume ratio, or IBU (International Bittering Units) as well as the color.

Color tends to vary when using different methods and conventions, but it always refers to visually distinguishable characteristics. If it needs to be analyzed with certain tools, then it doesn’t fall under the “color” criterion.

Statistics are usually employed to determine the order in which to judge different examples; it’s not a relevant criterion for qualifying or disqualifying style examples.

Commercial iterations

Established commercial iterations of beer styles make up an entire guideline for the BJCP. However, the 2015 update reduced the number of examples necessary, and they must be products that represent a style.

It’s important to keep in mind that commercial examples don’t need to be 100% compliant with their style – or be world-class. Commercial examples aren’t perfect references, and judges mostly use it to facilitate judging order. When it comes to defining beer styles, their descriptions are the only accurate approach.

Tagging

Finally, every style has its own attribute tags, which make sorting them into different groups a lot easier. When tagging a style, it’s not necessary to pay attention to the order of the tags themselves.

Finally, tags don’t really mean anything more than a brief summary of the style’s attributes.

Important considerations about the guidelines

Guidelines aren’t static, and this is why they shouldn’t be taken as anything other than references to what you might expect from certain beers. Below, we’ll go through some of the most important things to keep in mind when it comes to the BJCP guidelines.

They’re just guidelines

They describe general features and characteristics of common iterations of each style, and they’re helpful for judging. That’s it; they’re not specifications, and they shouldn’t be used to criticize examples that don’t fully comply with their descriptions.

They’re more suggestions than titles, and their main objective is to aid judges when rating participants in competitions. In fact, they’re supposed to be flexible so that compliance doesn’t hinder well-made products.

It’s not a good idea to take them too seriously, and these guidelines should never change someone’s perception of a product. Guidelines often change from one edition to the other, and getting too caught up with the style descriptions often even kills its essence.

They were designed for homebrewing competitions

We mentioned competitors because of the BJCP guidelines’ origin. Style descriptions were invented (and are still targeted) to help judges in homebrewing competitive events. That’s why the BJCP also differentiates styles to prevent overlaps in the categories.

Styles often make their way to the market, but this has never been their objective. That’s also why commercial examples are often inaccurate representations of the style they’re named after.

Consumers tend to get really confused when talking about beer styles exactly because of this issue. All styles and categories have been designed to be used for home brewing. They’ve never been intended for any audience other than this one.

They aren’t 100% accurate

Similar to the previous point, a lot of people outside the intended audience use the BJCP guidelines. Different companies, groups, and organizations have adopted these criteria – even when not related to the original intent in any way.

There’s no real problem with doing that, and the BJCP itself even enjoys how other groups have found value and even advantages from using their guidelines. The problems come up when people draw assumptions about certain products and styles using commercial use of these guidelines as their sole reference. Even homebrewers have started to use the guidelines to discover rare styles of beer.

Just keep in mind that it’s more of a consequence of their creation instead of the actual objective of the BJCP.

They’re prone to change

Another important reason not to take BJCP guidelines as law when talking about beer is how often it changes. Styles evolve throughout the years, and some of them are even open to debate and interpretation.

Furthermore, if the style name doesn’t change, no one should take this as a hint that beers within these styles haven’t changed. This is particularly true thanks to the difference agents at play for commercial breweries – like market demand and state regulation. Products will change with time. Even styles that have been around for a while are dramatically different from their original iteration.

Style descriptions by the BJCP aim towards beers currently available in today’s market. There’s a special historical category, but these must be specified to be judged by the appropriate guidelines.

Another important consideration is that beer ingredients also change. Hops, in particular, are constantly evolving, and different varieties are constantly introduced into the market to offer new features and sensations.

It’s also because of breweries looking to increase their sales. They’re always looking for ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and that means lots of manufacturing innovations – sometimes even ditching or adding new ingredients.

The main consequence is that styles need to accommodate to this evolution. If ingredients change continuously, then style names would become obsolete very quickly, and it’s also a reason why regions are often added to these names.

Even so, two products within the same style and region might offer quite different sensations. That’s why judging should never be rigid, even if using a current edition of the guidelines. Ingredients and processes can change drastically even before a new edition comes out, and judging should always adapt to these changes.

Finally, beer styles are quite broad exactly because of this reason. The BJCP embraces creativity, and that’s why brewer interpretation is even encouraged within their guidelines. Therefore, styles were made to be flexible.

They’re don’t cover every beer type

The BJCP recognizes beer styles that haven’t been included in their guidelines. There are many reasons why this occurs.

Styles that are rarely heard about are often excluded. This is probably because there aren’t enough brewers making them to make judging feasible; how can you define a style if you don’t have several examples to determine its main characteristics?

Additionally, beer styles that the BJCP suspects might be prone to disappearing soon – or too old for anyone to be producing right now – are often excluded.

BJCP guidelines are only descriptions of the most common beers currently available.

Commercial beer doesn’t fully accommodate to them

Many breweries advertise new products by naming them after popular styles – even when they don’t match the BJCP guidelines for the said stile. Still, we already discussed how the guidelines aren’t supposed to be taken into consideration when tackling products outside of judging.

Furthermore, commercial examples are also constantly changing. What was once the best example of a beer style might be the opposite in a few years. Again, commercial brands need to stay relevant to current market demand, so it’s only natural for them to evolve their products.

Now that we said all that, here’s the full, sortable list. Updated for 2015 standards.

Follow along with the Homebrew Challenge as we brew each one of these for 99 weeks in a row. Take one down, pass it around….

Style #Beer StyleIBUsSRMOriginal GravityFinal GravityABV
1Standard American Beer
1AAmerican Light Lager8–122–31.028–1.0400.998–1.0082.8–4.2%
1BAmerican Lager8–182–41.040–1.0501.004–1.0104.2–5.3%
1CCream Ale8–202.5–51.042–1.0551.006–1.0124.2–5.6%
1DAmerican Wheat Beer15–303–61.040–1.0551.008–1.0134.0–5.5%
2International Lager
2AInternational Pale Lager18–252–61.042–1.0501.008–1.0124.6–6.0%
2BInternational Amber Lager8–257–141.042–1.0551.008–1.0144.6–6.0%
2CInternational Dark Lager8–2014–221.044–1.0561.008–1.0124.2–6.0%
3Czech Lager
3ACzech Pale Lager20–353–61.028–1.0441.008–1.0143.0–4.1%
3BCzech Premium Pale Lager30–453.5–61.044–1.0601.013–1.0174.2–5.8%
3CCzech Amber Lager20–3510–161.044–1.0601.013–1.0174.4–5.8%
3DCzech Dark Lager18–3414–351.044–1.0601.013–1.0174.4–5.8%
4Pale Malty European Lager
4AMunich Helles16–223–51.044–1.0481.006–1.0124.7–5.4%
4BFestbier18–254–71.054–1.0571.010–1.0125.8–6.3%
4CHelles Bock23–356–111.064–1.0721.011–1.0186.3–7.4%
5Pale Bitter European beer
5AGerman Leichtbier15–282–51.026–1.0341.006–1.0102.4–3.6%
5BKölsch18–303.5–51.044–1.0501.007–1.0114.4–5.2%
5CGerman Helles Exportbier20–304–71.048–1.0561.010–1.0154.8–6.0%
5DGerman Pils22–402–51.044–1.0501.008–1.0134.4–5.2%
6Amber Malty European Lager
6AMärzen18–248–171.054–1.0601.010–1.0145.8–6.3%
6BRauchbier20–3012–221.050–1.0571.012–1.0164.8–6%
6CDunkles Bock20–2714–221.064–1.0721.013–1.0196.3–7.2%
7Amber Bitter European Beer
7AVienna Lager18–309–151.048–1.0551.010–1.0144.7–5.5%
7BAltbier25–5011–171.044–1.0521.008–1.0144.3–5.5%
7CPale Kellerbier20–353–71.045–1.0511.008–1.0124.7–5.4%
7DAmber Kellerbier25–407–171.048–1.0541.012–1.0164.8–5.4%
8Dark European Lager
8AMunich Dunkel18–2814–281.048–1.0561.010–1.0164.5–5.6%
8BSchwarzbier20–3017–301.046–1.0521.010–1.0164.4–5.4%
9Strong European Beer
9ADoppelbock16–266–251.072–1.1121.016–1.0247.0–10.0%
9BEisbock25–3518–301.078–1.1201.020–1.0359.0–14.0%
9CBaltic Porter20–4017–301.060–1.0901.016–1.0246.5–9.5%
10German Wheat Beer
10AWeissbier8–152–61.044–1.0521.010–1.0144.3–5.6%
10BDunkles Weissbier10–1814–231.044–1.0561.010–1.0144.3–5.6%
10CWeizenbock15–306–251.064–1.0901.015–1.0226.5–9.0%
11British Bitter
11AOrdinary Bitter25–358–141.030–1.0391.007–1.0113.2–3.8%
11BBest Bitter25–408–161.040–1.0481.008–1.0123.8–4.6%
11CStrong Bitter30–508–181.048–1.0601.010–1.0164.6–6.2%
12Pale Commonwealth Beer
12ABritish Golden Ale20–452–61.038–1.0531.006–1.0123.8–5.0%
12BAustralian Sparkling Ale20–354–71.038–1.0501.004–1.0064.5–6.0%
12CEnglish IPA40–606–141.050–1.0751.010–1.0185.0–7.5%
13Brown British Beer
13ADark Mild10–2512–251.030–1.0381.008–1.0133.0–3.8%
13BBritish Brown Ale20–3012–221.040–1.0521.008–1.0134.2–5.4%
13CEnglish Porter18–3520–301.040–1.0521.008–1.0144.0–5.4%
14Scottish Ale
14AScottish Light10–2017–221.030–1.0351.010–1.0132.5–3.2%
14BScottish Heavy10–2013–221.035–1.0401.010–1.0153.2–3.9%
14CScottish Export15–3013–221.040–1.0601.010–1.0163.9–6.0%
15Irish Beer
15AIrish Red Ale18–289–141.036–1.0461.010–1.0143.8–5.0%
15BIrish Stout25–4525–401.036–1.0441.007–1.0114.0–4.5%
15CIrish Extra Stout35–5025–401.052–1.0621.010–1.0145.5–6.5%
16Dark British Beer
16ASweet Stout20–4030–401.044–1.0601.012–1.0244.0–6.0%
16BOatmeal Stout25–4022–401.045–1.0651.010–1.0184.2–5.9%
16CTropical Stout30–5030–401.056–1.0751.010–1.0185.5–8.0%
16DForeign Extra Stout50–7030–401.056–1.0751.010–1.0186.3–8.0%
17Strong British Ale
17ABritish Strong Ale30–608–221.055–1.0801.015–1.0225.5–8.0%
17BOld Ale30–6010–221.055–1.0881.015–1.0225.5–9.0%
17CWee Heavy17–3514–251.070–1.1301.018–1.0406.5–10.0%
17DEnglish Barleywine35–708–221.080–1.1201.018–1.0308.0–12.0%
18Pale American Ale
18ABlonde Ale15–283–61.038–1.0541.008–1.0133.8–5.5%
18BAmerican Pale Ale30–505–101.045–1.0601.010–1.0154.5–6.2%
19Amber and Brown American Beer
19AAmerican Amber Ale25–4010–171.045–1.0601.010–1.0154.5–6.2%
19BCalifornia Common30–4510–141.048–1.0541.011–1.0144.5–5.5%
19CAmerican Brown Ale20–3018–351.045–1.0601.010–1.0164.3–6.2%
20American Porter and Stout
20AAmerican Porter25–5022–401.050–1.0701.012–1.0184.8–6.5%
20BAmerican Stout35–7530–401.050–1.0751.010–1.0225.0–7.0%
20CImperial Stout50–9030–401.075–1.1151.018–1.0308.0–12.0%
21IPA - India Pale Ale
21AAmerican IPA40–706–141.056–1.0701.008–1.0145.5–7.5%
21BSpecialty IPA - Belgian IPA50–1005–151.058–1.0801.008–1.0166.2–9.5%
21BSpecialty IPA - Black IPA50–9025–401.050–1.0851.010–1.0185.5–9.0%
21BSpecialty IPA - Brown IPA40–7011–191.056–1.0701.008–1.0165.5–7.5%
21BSpecialty IPA - Red IPA40–7011–191.056–1.0701.008–1.0165.5–7.5%
21BSpecialty IPA - Rye IPA50–756–141.056–1.0751.008–1.0145.5–8.0%
21BSpecialty IPA - White IPA40–705–81.056–1.0651.010–1.0165.5–7.0%
22Strong American Ale
22ADouble IPA60–1206–141.065–1.0851.008–1.0187.5–10.0%
22BAmerican Strong Ale50–1007–191.062–1.0901.014–1.0246.3–10.0%
22CAmerican Barleywine50–10010–191.080–1.1201.016–1.0308.0–12.0%
22DWheatwine30–608–151.080–1.1201.016–1.0308.0–12.0%
23European Sour Ale
23ABerliner Weisse3–82–31.028–1.0321.003–1.0062.8–3.8%
23BFlanders Red Ale10–2510–161.048–1.0571.002–1.0124.6–6.5%
23COud Bruin20–2515–221.040–1.0741.008–1.0124.0–8.0%
23DLambic0–103–71.040–1.0541.001–1.0105.0–6.5%
23EGueuze0–103–71.040–1.0601.000–1.0065.0–8.0%
23FFruit Lambic0–103–71.040–1.0601.000–1.0105.0–7.0%
24Belgian Ale
24AWitbier8–202–41.044–1.0521.008–1.0124.5–5.5%
24BBelgian Pale Ale20–308–141.048–1.0541.010–1.0144.8–5.5%
24CBière de Garde18–286–191.060–1.0801.008–1.0166.0–8.5%
25Strong Belgian Ale
25ABelgian Blond Ale15–304–71.062–1.0751.008–1.0186.0–7.5%
25BSaison20–355–141.048–1.0651.002–1.0085.0–7.0%
25CBelgian Golden Strong Ale22–353–61.070–1.0951.005–1.0167.5–10.5%
26Trappist Ale
26ATrappist Single25–453–51.044–1.0541.004–1.0104.8–6.0%
26BBelgian Dubbel15–2510–171.062–1.0751.008–1.0186.0–7.6%
26CBelgian Tripel20–404.5–71.075–1.0851.008–1.0147.5–9.5%
26DBelgian Dark Strong Ale20–3512–221.075–1.1101.010–1.0248.0–12.0%
27Historical Beer
27AGose5–123–41.036–1.0561.006–1.0104.2–4.8%
27AKentucky Common15–3011–201.044–1.0551.010–1.0184.0–5.5%
27ALichtenhainer5–123–61.032–1.0401.004–1.0083.5–4.7%
27ALondon Brown Ale15–2022–351.033–1.0381.012–1.0152.8–3.6%
27APiwo Grodziskie20–353–61.028–1.0321.006–1.0122.5–3.3%
27APre-Prohibition Lager25–403–61.044–1.0601.010–1.0154.5–6.0%
27APre-Prohibition Porter20–3018–301.046–1.0601.010–1.0164.5–6.0%
27ARoggenbier10–2014–191.046–1.0561.010–1.0144.5–6.0%
27ASahti7–154–221.076–1.1201.016–1.0207.0–11.0%
28American Wild Ale
28ABrett BeerNSNSNSNSNS
28BMixed-Fermentation Sour BeerNSNSNSNSNS
28CWild Specialty BeerNSNSNSNSNS
29
Fruit Beer
29AFruit BeerNSNSNSNSNS
29BFruit and Spice BeerNSNSNSNSNS
29CSpecialty Fruit BeerNSNSNSNSNS
30Spiced Beer
30ASpice, Herb, or Vegetable BeerNSNSNSNSNS
30BAutumn Seasonal BeerNSNSNSNSNS
30CWinter Seasonal BeerNSNSNSNSNS
31Alternative Fermentables Beer
31AAlternative Grain BeerNSNSNSNSNS
31BAlternative Sugar BeerNSNSNSNSNS
32Smoked Beer
32AClassic Style Smoked BeerNSNSNSNSNS
32BSpecialty Smoked BeerNSNSNSNSNS
33Wood Beer
33AWood-Aged BeerNSNSNSNSNS
33BSpecialty Wood-Aged BeerNSNSNSNSNS
34Specialty Beer
34AClone BeerNSNSNSNSNS
34BMixed-Style BeerNSNSNSNSNS
34CExperimental BeerNSNSNSNSNS

Similar Posts