Dual Beer Styles - Which name do you use?

Or dark.

 

Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy?

Neither - 12 Guinea Ale.

 

"Märzen" is a style and "Festbier" could be considered a style if one were really clutching for straws.

"Oktoberfestbier" is a protected regional designation for beers being brewed specifically for that particular fest by breweries originating from München (= Hofbräu and Augustiner) or pretending to be from München and maintaining a PO Box there for the sake of appearance (like Spaten, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, Franziskaner and Hacker-Pschorr). To consider "Oktoberfest" a seperate style and say so out loud would get you laughed out (or worse) of every brewery or beer garden here in Bayern as everyone outside München would consider it a mortal insult to their own local beers.

"Heller Bock" (How about learning proper German before you make up styles...?) is equal to "Maibock" now ? In my experience 90 % of all those -ator ending beers being sold are dark beers so I don't know who made that pair up but whoever it was should maybe come over here in May and have a few.

Seriously, the lack of knowledge about what's going on in other countries is forgivable but to pretend to know and make up an entire construct of fairy tales based on this lack of knowledge and then defend it to the death to people who clearly know better, simply based on their geographic location, is not worthy of what I would consider a "Beer Advocate".

 

Instead of Black IPA?

 

To quote the German Beer Institute
Dampfbier (literally: steam beer) is a centuries-old style from the region of the Bavarian Forest, the southeastern portion of Bavaria, near the Czech border. It is an all-barley ale, usually deep golden to light amber in color, with a unique feature: It is warm-fermented with Weissbier yeast at a temperature above 70°F (21°C), which gives the beer a slightly phenolic aftertaste. Brewed mostly in the summer, it is medium-bodied, very mildly hopped, and low in effervescence.

 

American Amber/Red Ale--------------> Red Ale
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy---------------> Scottish Barleywine
Milk / Sweet Stout----------------------> Cream Stout (and what the hell is a "sweet stout" anyway?)
Saison / Farmhouse Ale----------------> Farmhouse Ale
American Double / Imperial Stout----> Imperial Stout
American Double / Imperial IPA------> Imperial IPA
Marzen / Oktoberfest-------------------> Oktoberfest
California Common / Steam beer-----> Steam Beer

No opinion on the last two/four.


Also, I don't distinguish among American imperial stouts, Russian imperial stouts and top-fermented "imperial porters." They are all imperial stout. Or porter. Whichever word you prefer.

 

exactly the same for me except i say red instead of amber

 

For those who miss Ron's point, there are no brewing records of any beer called a "Wee Heavy"
It was printed on Fowler's bottles of Twelve Guinea Ale simply denoting a small ("wee" in Scotland) bottle of strong beer.

 

American Amber / Red Ale - Amber Ale
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy - Scotch Ale
Milk / Sweet Stout - Milk Stout
Saison / Farmhouse Ale - Saison
American Double / Imperial Stout - Imperial Stout
American Double / Imperial IPA - Imperial IPA
Marzen / Oktoberfest - Oktoberfest
California Common / Steam beer - Steam
Foreign / Export Stout - Export Stout
Maibock / Helles Bock - Maibock

 

They are not, but there are several similarities. California common is a style. Dampfbier or steam beer is also a style. The trademark Steam Beer registered by Anchor is exactly that, a trademark. So the xxx/xxx equivalent is not accurate. That was my original point. Looking back at my original post I guess that was only clear to me when I posted it

 

Red Ale
Scotch Ale (are all Scotch ales Wee Heavies?)
Milk Stout
Saison/Farmhouse - both
Imperial Stout
Double/Imperial IPA - both
Octoberfest
Steam
Foreign
Maibock

 

Amber
Scotch Ale
Milk Stout
Saison
Imperial Stout
Double IPA
Oktoberfest
Stout
Bock

 

Well in the case of some:
Foreign / Export Stout
Maibock / Helles Bock
They are two different styles of beer that are not interchangeable. While the BJCP recognizes them in the same category, they have very different taste (Lion Stout vs. Guinness yellow label).