Does Stone “Double Bastard “ qualify as a Barleywine?

My personal opinion is there are WAY too many styles and they aren't chosen with a common theme that makes them applicable in the way you suggest. I believe strong ale is a style name that could include at least a few other styles. Perhaps dark strong ale and light strong ale might better be used to describe all these styles, even though this would result in fewer style names. For some reason the idea of fewer style names is rejected as an idea by many/most other BA's, despite the obvious reality that the present system is unruly, lacks commonality, and easily could be improved with a different system of classifying styles that likely would result in a third as many style names, but cause much less confusion such as your question reveals.

This isn't some crazy idea. My hobby of foraging edible mushrooms went through a complete reworking of names given mushroom varieties, which used to be a quagmire like beer style names, and now is regular, logical, and much more helpful

 

I think the goal of making style names easier to understand and use in real life would benefit greatly a huge number of people who find themselves in your similar position of being unable to figure out WTF the reasoning is for the ones we have now. These people HUGELY outnumber the few experts.

My favorite example is Dogfish Head 120. Is it an Imperial IPA? A Barley Wine? A Strong Ale? All three? Some other style? None of them? Your guess is good as mine.

 

The topic of beer styles (e.g., number of beer styles) often turns into a morass. Whatcha gonna do!?!

Cheers!

 

I think the question to ask yourself is, if someone offered you a glass and said try this barleywine, would you try it and say "barleywine my keister, this is an American strong ale!

Lots of gray area in style interpretations as @cavedave said. Ryewine, oatwine, Munichwine, barleywine, speltwine, strong ale, wee heavy, etc etc etc. All strong, sweet, and delicious no matter what you call them.

Truth be told, I put that one up on the barleywine thread hoping to start an argument

 

The only question that matters to me, is it good to you?

 

Me too! Doublebastard was my first email address and I'm very glad those bastards brought it back!

They can call it Peruvian Boom Sauce style beer for all I care, I'm just glad I was able to find a case.

Cheers to good beer by any name

 

No

 

I’m fairly certain strong ale is just a catch all category that came to be in the early 2000s for breweries that didn’t specifically ascribe a style name to their stronger ales.

 

I think the style has been around longer:

https://www.alcoholprofessor.com/blog-posts/british-strong-ale

 

When I think of any “American” style, hops are generally prominent. That’s what separates American barleywines from their English cousins. American strong ale is just a somewhat generic term for beers that aren’t quite barleywines and also aren’t imperial IPAs or imperial stouts. It’s pretty vague but I don’t think it should be confused with any English styles.

 

Amazing the style converntion for beers is so screwed up we have to make excuses for how we interpret them. IMO style names should be consistent enough we don't have to make excuses for them, or try to interpret what is and isn't meant by a name. I understand this would cut down the amount of conversation here, such as trying to figure out why there should be an "Italian Pilsner" style. Really, another IPA style name is needed? Better question is how come there are so many different IPA's when every one of them is pale malt, some kind of crystal/caramel grain, yeast, and hops with some degree of hop presence greater than many other styles. The question should be, "Do we really need so fucking many IPA styles that the name becomes a meaningless joke and an homage to unnecessary complexity and confusion?"