Promoting Rare and Unrecognized Styles

I believe on RB there's a "Traditional Ale/Other" category on there. Seems to be a catch all category for beers that might not quite fit anywhere else. Might be a good category to add on BA until we can really figure out a good place to put rare/historical beers.

 

That would be really cool to always keep the the rare/obscure beer styles. Perhaps if we changed the category to “Specialty/Obscure”. Then any specific beer styles that are rarely made in recent years could still be on the radar and have visibility. If a particular style becomes “hip” again and lots of brewers are making it again, it could migrate out of that category to appropriate category. Allow both beer consumers and brewers may actually be encouraged to make them if people are more aware). Craft beer makers and consumers love resurrecting rare styles, putting new twists on them... part of the chase right?

 

I like this idea as a category--from which another style could emerge, if there becomes enough interest in brewing it. (I'm thinking of the way something like gose rose in popularity over the previous two decades as an example.) Personally, I find these obscure styles so fascinating, and love reading about them even if I will most likely never try most of them.

 

To follow up a little--since this seems like an appropriate place--

About a year and a half ago I read an article by Martin Thibault about chicha de jora, a corn (maize) based spontaneously fermented drink from Peru. (Incidentally, he's the author of a few other articles on non-commercialized, historically obscured, regionally specific brewing traditions.) Inspired, in part, by this piece over the summer, I initiated a thread asking what is beer. A simple question, with some not so simple answers. Although opinions differed widely, my take-away was that beer as a category isn't easily defined simply by ingredients or even brewing processes. I hope those of you with an appreciation for rare styles might be sympathetic to this stance, even if it ultimately complicates categorical and stylistic definitions.

This said, I'd like to advocate for a category, marker, or some sort of space for chicha, tejuino, and other corn/maize-based styles of spontaneously fermented beverages. Philosophically, I am generally not in favor of nation-based classifications, although I see their merit and historical value (i.e. Russian Imperial Stout, Baltic Porter), although this classification lends itself to a recognition of ingredients and methods indigenous to the Americas, north and south. Right now, it appears that chicha is included in BA under the Fruit and Field designation (per the listing for Dos Luces, in CO), placing their beers in the same company as Sam Adams Cherry Wheat and Magic Hat #9! I am not at all familiar with them or their brewing methods, but I wonder if another designation --or the inclusion of a secondary designation-- might better serve their, and our, purposes. "Rare and Undesignated," would serve this purpose, for the time being.

 

Another consideration...what good does it do to add rare/Obscure beer styles to Beer Advocate database if it only gets 1 rating in a year? I just entered a new Sam Adams nationally distributed / brewer on NYSE beer last light (Alpine Lager) so lack of ratings/reviews that is something to consider as well. I think a rare beer needs some buzz being made within a region or at least one big distro brewer also making an rare style to ensure people are rating and reviewing these beers.

 

I like the idea of a "Specialty/Obscure/Other" style category to put things that don't fit anywhere nicely, or maybe a flag to put on a review to indicate that the beer doesn't really fit into the style indicated. Beers like Shiner Bock come to mind, where it is in no way a "Bock", although that's what it calls itself. It might help reorganize beers into these emerging categories.

 

#2 seems the most logical. If a brewer calls a beer "Style X" - for better or worse that's what it should be in the database. Reviewers can comment accordingly.