2015 BJCP Style Guidelines Released

huh...all those specialty IPAs, but no wheat IPA category?

 

LOL. Don't give them any ideas.

 

25B - Saison
"Brettanomyces is not typical for this style; Saisons with Brett should be entered in the American Wild Ale category."
yet at least 2-3 of the commercial examples given have brett in them...

 

HA! Don't get me started... I wrote an entire rant on that when the drafts came out and hit Gordon Strong and the AHA with it on Twitter multiple times. The updates to the guidelines were supposed to put the BJCP more on track with the current trends in beer, and the current trend in beer for Farmhouse/Saison is BRETT! And then they took it from the Belgian Ale category and stuck it in the Belgian Strongs?

 

Sweet. Downloaded.
Ergh. Could you get your Acrobat wiz to link the TOC to the corresponding pages the styles are actually described in, or do I have to do it myself? Nothing like a fat pdf that can't be utilized.

 

bah

 

Justin...my guess is these weren't always pleasant back & forths regarding where to draw lines among those that pulled this together. I see where they were going with the American Wild Ales category, but agree that saisons have been moving towards a more brett forward line-up. Still would think you would need a saison category that doesn't identify itself with brett, but rather the more 'traditional' saison (like du pont). Definitely disagree with the move of saison to strong Belgian though...

 

I can see having a "clean" and a "brett" sub-category of Saison.
why is DuPont considered traditional? yes, it is the most well known and longest lasting saison brewery (and by all accounts, veeery different from the supposed origins of saison). most historical evidence shows saisons were pretty much just very young lambic

 

How so? And can you point to the evidence?

 

Phil Markowskis Farmhouse Ales is a good start

 

that is why I put traditional in quotes...cause it is the more contemporary (post WWII) version of traditional that i'm talking about.

 

At least they ditched the "Munich-style" and "Franconian-style" Kellerbier designations in favor of "Pale" and "Amber." I guess they had to do something to appease all the competition folks. Still, judging Kellerbier based on 4 oz samples is more than a little absurd. Can't *wait* to see all the amped up versions that will be appearing soon as brewers vie for the judges' attention.

 

I have had a gripe with the California Common guidelines for years. Happy to see that it no longer has to be an exact clone of Anchor Steam.

 

So a 5% pale Saison is in the Belgian Strong Ale category with 9% dark ales?

 

No. BDSA is in the new Trappist category.

 

So a 5% pale Saison is in the same category as a 9% golden strong ale?

 

@telejunkie and @ncaudle Du Pont has Brett in it according to Farmhouse Ales. Their house yeast is a blend of 4 strains, the Sacc appears to be related to Red Wine yeast, and at least 1 Brett strain is in the mix. Another BA posted this before in the original thread about the drafts, but I will reference it here as well: my defense of Brett in Saison.

 

Reading through the contributors and reviewers there are some names that were a surprise.

Ron Pattinson. Glad to see he had opportunity to participate.

Ant Hayes. He has passed on, but he had input on British styles before his passing.

 

Can someone who knows someone within the BJCP ask them why they're using Kaiserdom Rauchbier as a commercial example when it's no longer available?