It's high time that we update Beer Styles!

While this thread isn’t for me because I’d so love to consolidate beers along with adding necessary styles, I do wonder is there a point behind placing a country qualifier in front of almost every style old and new?

Why American Pastry Stout? Or Belgian Grisette?

I understand that most of these styles have a country/location of origin which can be used to categorize them and be placed in the Beer Style description, but why add it to style names where there doesn’t need a distinction? If a French brewer makes a pastry stout, is it still American?

 

I don’t know if anyone else already mentioned it, but Rosé Beer.

 

Do we really need the "American" or "English" (or whatever) qualifier? In a lot of cases brewers are not really thinking about any of that and one has to put them under a pretty arbitrary umbrella (is this and English or American Golden Ale? or none of that) when entering a new beer. This is specially an issue for beers brewed outside the US.

 

Understood it isn’t technically a style, but is there a way to have a category for session beers?

 

I think with such a huge trend for fruited sours, there needs to a more specific category, as many breweries don’t specify the base style as a Berliner, gose, etc. Having something simple like “Fruited Sour” as an option would be a useful addition to all those barely-even-beer fruit bombs that everyone is releasing!

 

I’m not sure how, and it’s probably too subjective, but to me there needs to be a separation in styles in NE IPAs. Not just the lactose loaded “Milkshake style”, but the current “hazy” ipas are not at all the same style of beers as what NE IPAs were 5~ years ago. The current iteration has no bitterness, typically enough fruit to border on a smoothie, and is very chalky. They are nit even close to beers like Heady Topper, Focal Banger, Sip of Sunshine, Captain’s Daughter, Mastermind, Dinner... Like I said, this is probably impossible, especially when beers like Swish and Ghost in the Machine are completely altered to fit this new murky trend, but I digress.

 

Some suggestions;

• Add American Pilsner
• Rather than adding Radler/Shandy rename Fruit and Field to Fruit/Radler/Shandy
• Instead of adding Kentucky Common rename California Steam/Common to California/Kentucky Steam/Common

 

• German Adambier
• German Dampfbier
• German Kottbusser
• German Leichtbier
• German Lichtenhainer
• German Steinbier
• German Zoigl
• Kentucky Common
• Polish Grodziskie (Grätzer)

Zoigl is not a style. Dampfbier doesn't really exist – there are only two commercial examples in Germany and it is not at all clear what distinguishes them from other beers. Kottbusser and Lichtenhainer are extinct. If American brewers are making these beers call them “American Revivalist Kottbusser” or something.

 

Awesome, the ones to be added by the end of the month are all worthy of their own style.
I would like to see an Imperial Brown Ale but, I'm happy for now.

As far as the Beers styles under consideration, I have almost no clue about the proposed new German styles. I can't wait to find out.

Nice job, Cheers.

 

I agree with your categories.
I think Session IPA should have its own category added. The sessions are trying to be something different than American IPA but are grouped in that category.

 

I agree with this. Coffee Stout or Pastry Stout falls within Stout, Imperial Stout, and Milk Stout varieties.

I am very happy to see American Pils and IPL.

What I find most lacking is the sour options. I remember a post not too long back where all these less sour, fruited, and smoothie sours don't have a real good home at the moment and the suggestion was to put them all under wild ale to be sorted out hopefully later.

So happy overall for some expansion (with restraint) though!

 

So what does that make a dry hopped German Pils fall under?

Edit to add- I was beat to the punch. But some German breweries have been dry hopping Pilsners for as long as they’ve been brewed.

 

Except breweries are literally calling their beers 'kettle sours'.