What beer styles should be retired?

What is the purpose of identifying beer by style (apart from competitions)?

Unfortunately, in the craft era, it is mostly about marketing.

What it should be about is consumer information.

If I buy a beer identified as style "x", I should have a general idea of what is in the bottle/can or coming out of the tap.

If I buy a Kölsch, Hefeweizen, Oktoberfestbier, or a Pilsener from Germany, I can depend on that.

Beers called the same thing from an American craft brewer? Ha! Good luck!

And American IPA? A complete crap shoot.

I don't so much object to the large number of styles as I do to the brewers rendering them completely meaningless with their marketing.

 

This is why I'm in favor of disclosure on the label. Please list the malts and other grains, hop varieties and how used (late addition, dry hopping) Abv and IBU of course, then most of all tell me what sort of brew this is supposed to be. All this can be done in a long sentence or short paragraph.

 

I get the point of a session beer, it's just the terminology I don't like. To me it equates to a marketing gimmick. I can determine if a beer is session-able myself, I don't need the marketing folks telling me. Make an IPA at 4.0% and sell it, no need to call it a Session IPA or whatever. I would be more inclined to buy it without the session label.

 

The "Euro Dark Lager" category.

 

I have no problem with any 'style' as long s it is clearly and accurately stated for the consumer. I have no desire to drink a pumpkin beer, most black IPA's, barrel aged IPA's, etc., but many people do. Let them enjoy them.

 

Do you think they should all be classified as dunkel lager?

 

Only if there is a significant distinction in brewing method and taste from their non-dunkel stablemates. If color is the main distinction, then no, it should not require a dunkel style.

 

I'm not sure what the difference is, but I see euro dark lager as a dark lager catch all. I personally don't have a problem with it.

 

If dark lagers are lumped together solely or mostly on their dark color, completely overriding their possible inclusion in the style they fit best in, then the style of those beers does little to describe them. Kind of like pumpkin ales - they get lumped together based on pumpkin or pumpkin spice, where they might better fit in the style of the base beer.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much how it's done. There are actually so many regional variations that aren't accounted for, so there's a catch all category for those that either aren't a Schwarzbier or in the Munich style.

 

That's what I figured, I think it could get pretty crazy on here if every regional style was listed. The catch all styles are probably for the best.

 

I can see that with something like a pumpkin porter, pumpkin saison, etc. where it's a similar situation to other beers that are made in one style but with different spices or fruits added (like... gingerbread spiced stout, maple brown ale, vanilla porter, coffee stout, etc.)

But what kind of beer is the "base" beer of the ones just labeled as "Pumpkin Ale," anyway? Those seem to outnumber the "this style of beer, but with pumpkin" versions, and I'm guessing that's why Pumpkin Ale is counted as a style to begin with.

 

This classification exists here because breweries will blend beers and then package them as a "black and tan" beer... so you need a category for that single beer. If not "black and tan" then you'd have to put all of those beers in the porter category (which wouldn't be entirely bad though).

You bring up a good point. One could argue that putting a pumpkin IPA/porter/whatever in a category other than "pumpkin" is not explaining "what the beer really is" either. It becomes a tricky balancing act, and there will always be lots of overlap amongst the style list. In many cases, it becomes a question of degrees for the person picking the category. "Is it more this, or more that." I'm not so sure if the concept of a "base style" is universally applicable to pumpkin beers either. While I've had pumpkin beers that diverge from the norm in various ways (sour, black, etc.)... they are still deviating from a norm or average - and that's beer with pumpkin pie spice being a dominant component. If a pumpkin beer sets itself apart from the pack, then it probably has allegiances to something else and can therefore be put in a style other than "vegetable beer" anyway. Yeah, contradictions are par for the course.

Ha... or maybe the person that does the opposite is the nihilist. I'm not so sure, but I'm watching you.

 

Why would you need Grätzer and Grodziskie when they are the same, just the name in German vs. Polish?

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/12/why-do-i-bother.html

 

I could have worded my post better (it was a bit on the rambling thoughts side). I didn't mean to suggest that they would be two different style listings, but that the inclusion of Grodziskie would stimulate conversation on the style... leading to thoughts on the name(s) of the style.

 

You don't see the word used for marketing here ,its just a generally understood concept. Practically all breweries make low ABV beers and they account for the majority of beer volume. It makes sense to brew a beer that people will buy in large quantities.The bottled share of good beer is small here and cans infinitessimal,the sales lie in pubs.

 

You might like Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum. It is (mostly) about the history of classification systems developed at the London Museum of Natural History. Down side is the author spends half the book trying to convince you that the two most important world issues today are classification of trilobites and poor museum management.

 

I bet I would, thanks for the recommendation. Will track it down, through the library system (free) if possible. Cheers!