Style Question For Home Brewers

Unless you're entering it in a competition the style doesn't matter much but if you are then you have to go by the competition guidelines however inaccurate they are.As I've said from my soapbox, beers just don't fit into neat compartments and within limits there's no definitive answer.

 

It depends on why you are categorizing beers into style. If the purpose is a BJCP competition, a sour wit is not a wit. It might work best as a Belgian Specialty Ale, but it could depend on how sour it is. BJCP acknowledges slight slight lactic quality can exist in wit. If you listen to the BN podcasts, you may have heard the Jamil Show's Brewing with Style show on wit, in which rails against this interpretation somewhat vehemently. I presonally hold no strong opinion, having never tried the beer in question, but would be happy to formulate one if you can mail me a bottle

If the main objective for categorizing has to do with some historical representation of commercial (or non-commercial beers), I'll hazard a guess that even though the beer may challenge modern style interpretations, there probably is some historical precedent for the beer in the diverse beer culture of Belgium. Yet, beer style concepts applied to Belgian beer seem to require a broad spectrum approach that makes categorization inheretly messy.

 

Cat. 16E allows for some sourness. Since Wit is 16A, try it in 16E.

 

20. Fruit Beer. List underlying style as Imperial Berliner Weisse.