How to Add Beers on BeerAdvocate

Before you add a beer to the BeerAdvocate database, please read the following:

Not Allowed
Adding the following will result in the listing and any related content to be deleted without warning.

• Anything that's not a beer. This includes, but isn't limited to, ciders, meads, kombuchas, sakes, unfermented beverages, flavored malt beverages (FMBs), malternatives, hop waters, hard seltzers, hard sodas, and the like.
• Beers that were doctored post-production. Examples: blended/infused beers.
• Homebrewed beers. They're not licensed, so don't add them.
• Beers that are being released in the distant future.
• Beers that are no longer in production.

Adding a Beer
There are several ways to add a beer.

• Use the "Add Beer" button on brewery profile pages. (easiest method)
• Beers > Add Beer in the site's navigation.

Does It Already Exist?

• Check! Do a search. View the listings. Check the brewery's archived beers.
• Duplicate listings will eventually get merged, and duplicate ratings will get tossed.

Naming Convention
We're currently working on a new, standard naming convention. In the meantime:

• Enter the full beer name. Don't guess, abbreviate, or add unnecessary characters.
• Check your spelling.
• In most cases, there's no need to add the full brewery name to the beer name. It's redundant.
• For collaboration beers, do not add the collaborating breweries, businesses, or other names as part of the beer's name. Collaborators should be included in the beer's notes.
• Do not add a trademark, or similar, symbol to beer names.
• If the style is part of the actual beer name, add it. If it's not, don't.

Beer Marketing Companies
These are companies that don't have a brick and mortar brewery, but sell beer brands by contract brewing with brick and mortar breweries.

• Beers should ALWAYS be listed under the (beer marketing) company that owns the brands.
• NEVER list beers under the brewery that contract brews them. We do this as the brewing facility may change, often does, but the the brand is not owned by them.

Beer Style

• Don't guess. When it doubt, find out before adding the beer. Google it. Ask the brewery.
• Still can't figure it out? Add it to the base style or nearest match.

Adding Descriptions / Notes

• Select "Update This Beer" link/dropdown menu on the beer's page and "Report an Update." This optional field is for entering a commercial description (or other information that's relevant to the beer) that's been provided by the brewery (e.g. commercial description, collaboration information, hop/malt ingredients, IBUs, etc.), but no personal reviews or opinions.

Beer Series / Special Versions

• Look before entering the beer series as part of the beer name. There might be a standard already established.
• Preferably the series should append to the beer name and be separated with a " - " (space, dash, space).

Recipe Variations

• Brewers will often tweak their beer recipes over the years for numerous reasons, however, don't add a new version of the beer for minor tweaks. Examples: a minor change in ABV, hop / malt variety.
• If there's a significant recipe change, but the brewer doesn't change the brand name, the current beer listing will still be used.

Cask-Conditioned Offerings / Nitro Beers

• Cask-conditioned and nitro are serving types, not beer styles.
• Don't list a separate entry for an existing beer brand.

Vintages

• Many brewers will add a year to the label. Unless the beer is a completely different recipe / style, don't add multiple listings for the same beer

Made a Mistake?

• Use the "Update This Beer" link/dropdown menu on the beer's page and "Report an Update." Note the mistake/what needs to be updated.