1. Brewers Information

2019 Style Categories

Remember: styles and category numbers change each year.

(Don’t use last year’s category numbers!)

 

Noteworthy Style Updates for 2019

Complete PDF of style guidelines, specs and descriptions:

Download Here🍻

New Categories:

  • Fresh Hop Beer (Category 20) – Later judging for 2019 allows for this
  • India Pale Lager (Subcategory 40a)
  • Franconian-Style Rotbier (Subcategory 49a)
  • Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale (Category 62)
  • Emerging IPA (Category 65)
  • Contemporary Belgian-Style Gueuze Lambic (Subcategory 91c)

Returning Categories:

  • Non-Alcohol Beer (Category 15)

Updates/Reorganization of Existing Categories:

  • Category 1: American-Style Wheat Beer – combined 2 categories into one
  • Categories 36, 37 & 38: Reorganized Lager, Pilsener and Light Lager categories
  • Categories 49 and 50: Reorganized Dark Lager categories
  • Categories 80 and 81: Reorganized German Sour Ales, Specialty Berliner Weisse is a stand alone category
  • Category 95: Reorganized Belgian Dark Strong Ale and Belgian Quad

Hybrid/Mixed Beer Styles

  1. American-Style Wheat Beer
    1. Subcategory: Light American Wheat Beer without Yeast
    2. Subcategory: Dark American Wheat Beer without Yeast
    3. Subcategory: Light American Wheat Beer with Yeast
    4. Subcategory: Dark American Wheat Beer with Yeast
  2. American-Style Fruit Beer
  3. Fruit Wheat Beer
  4. Belgian-Style Fruit Beer
  5. Pumpkin/Squash Beer or Pumpkin Spice Beer
    1. Subcategory: Pumpkin/Squash Beer
    2. Subcategory: Pumpkin Spice Beer
  6. Field Beer
  7. Chili Beer
  8. Herb and Spice Beer
  9. Chocolate Beer
  10. Coffee Beer
  11. Coffee Stout or Porter
  12. Specialty Beer
  13. Rye Beer
    1. Subcategory: Rye Beer
    2. Subcategory: German-Style Rye Ale
  14. Honey Beer
  15. Non-Alcohol Beer
  16. Session Beer
  17. Session India Pale Ale
  18. Other Strong Beer
    1. Subcategory: Other Strong Beer
    2. Subcategory: American-Style Imperial Porter
    3. Subcategory: American-Style Wheat Wine Ale
  19. Experimental Beer
    1. Subcategory: Experimental Beer
    2. Subcategory: Ginjo Beer or Sake-Yeast Beer
    3. Subcategory: Wild Beer
  20. Fresh Hop Beer
  21. Historical Beer
    1. Subcategory: Historical Beer
    2. Subcategory: Dutch-Style Kuyt Beer
    3. Subcategory: Grodziskie
    4. Subcategory: Adambier
    5. Subcategory: Finnish-Style Sahti
    6. Subcategory: Swedish-Style Gotlandsdricke
    7. Subcategory: Breslau-Style Schoeps
  22. Gluten-Free Beer
  23. American-Belgo-Style Ale
  24. American-Style Sour Ale
  25. Fruited American-Style Sour Ale
  26. Brett Beer
  27. Mixed-Culture Brett Beer
  28. Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer
    1. Subcategory: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Pale to Amber Beer
    2. Subcategory: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Dark Beer
  29. Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer
  30. Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout
  31. Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer
  32. Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer
  33. Aged Beer
  34. Kellerbier or Zwickelbier
    1. Subcategory: Unfiltered European-Style Ale
    2. Subcategory: Unfiltered European-Style Lager
  35. Smoke Beer
    1. Subcategory: Bamberg-Style Weiss Rauchbier
    2. Subcategory: Bamberg-Style Helles Rauchbier
    3. Subcategory: Bamberg-Style Maerzen Rauchbier
    4. Subcategory: Bamberg-Style Bock Rauchbier
    5. Subcategory: Smoke Porter
    6. Subcategory: Other Smoke Beer

Lager Beer Styles

  1. American-Style Lager or American-Style Pilsener
    1. Subcategory: American-Style Lager
    2. Subcategory: American-Style Pilsener
  2. Contemporary American-Style Pilsener
  3. International-Style Pilsener
    1. Subcategory: International-Style Pilsener
    2. Subcategory: Australasian, Latin American or Tropical-Style Light Lager
  4. Light Lager
    1. Subcategory: American-Style Light Lager
    2. Subcategory: American-Style Amber Light Lager
    3. Subcategory: German-Style Leichtbier
  5. India Pale Lager or Malt Liquor
    1. Subcategory: India Pale Lager
    2. Subcategory: American-Style Malt Liquor
  6. American-Style Cream Ale
  7. American-Style Amber Lager
    1. Subcategory: American-Style Amber Lager
    2. Subcategory: California Common Beer
    3. Subcategory: American-Style Maerzen/Oktoberfest
  8. German-Style Pilsener
  9. Bohemian-Style Pilsener
  10. Munich-Style Helles
  11. Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest
    1. Subcategory: Dortmunder/European-Style Export
    2. Subcategory: German-Style Oktoberfest/Wiesn
  12. Vienna-Style Lager
  13. German-Style Maerzen
  14. German-Style Dark Lager
    1. Subcategory: Franconian-Style Rotbier
    2. Subcategory: Munich-Style Dunkel
    3. Subcategory: German-Style Schwarzbier
  15. International-Style Dark Lager
    1. Subcategory: American-Style Dark Lager
    2. Subcategory: European-Style Dark Lager
  16. Bock
    1. Subcategory: Traditional German-Style Bock
    2. Subcategory: German-Style Heller Bock/Maibock
  17. German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock
    1. Subcategory: German-Style Doppelbock
    2. Subcategory: German-Style Eisbock
  18. Baltic-Style Porter

Ale Beer Styles

  1. Golden or Blonde Ale
  2. German-Style Koelsch
  3. English-Style Summer Ale
  4. English-Style or International-Style Pale Ale
    1. Subcategory: Classic English-Style Pale Ale
    2. Subcategory: International-Style Pale Ale
  5. Australian-Style Pale Ale
    1. Subcategory: Classic Australian-Style Pale Ale
    2. Subcategory: Australian-Style Pale Ale
  6. American-Style Pale Ale
  7. Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale
  8. American-Style Strong Pale Ale
  9. Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale
  10. American-Style India Pale Ale
  11. Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale
  12. Emerging India Pale Ale
  13. Imperial India Pale Ale
  14. Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale
  15. American-Style Amber/Red Ale
  16. Double Hoppy Red Ale
  17. Imperial Red Ale
  18. English-Style Mild Ale
    1. Subcategory: English-Style Pale Mild Ale
    2. Subcategory: English-Style Dark Mild Ale
  19. Ordinary or Special Bitter
    1. Subcategory: Ordinary Bitter
    2. Subcategory: Special Bitter or Best Bitter
  20. Extra Special Bitter
    1. Subcategory: American-Style Extra Special Bitter
    2. Subcategory: English-Style Extra Special Bitter
  21. English-Style India Pale Ale
  22. Scottish-Style Ale
    1. Subcategory: Scottish-Style Light Ale
    2. Subcategory: Scottish-Style Heavy Ale
    3. Subcategory: Scottish-Style Export Ale
  23. Irish-Style Red Ale
  24. English-Style Brown Ale
  25. American-Style Brown Ale
  26. American-Style Black Ale
  27. German-Style Sour Ale
    1. Subcategory: Leipzig-Style Gose
    2. Subcategory: Berliner-Style Weisse
  28. Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse
  29. Contemporary Gose
  30. German-Style Altbier
  31. South German-Style Hefeweizen
  32. German-Style Wheat Ale
    1. Subcategory: South German-Style Kristal Weizen
    2. Subcategory: German-Style Leichtes Weizen
    3. Subcategory: South German-Style Bernsteinfarbenes Weizen
    4. Subcategory: South German-Style Dunkel Weizen
    5. Subcategory: South German-Style Weizenbock
  33. Belgian-Style Blonde Ale or Pale Ale
    1. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Pale Ale
    2. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Blonde Ale
  34. Belgian-Style Witbier
  35. Classic Saison
  36. Specialty Saison
  37. Belgian- and French-Style Ale
    1. Subcategory: French-Style Biere de Garde
    2. Subcategory: Other Belgian- and French-Style Ale
  38. Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale
    1. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Lambic
    2. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Gueuze Lambic
    3. Subcategory: Contemporary Belgian-Style Gueuze Lambic
    4. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Fruit Lambic
    5. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale
    6. Subcategory: Other Belgian-Style Sour Ale
  39. Belgian-Style Dubbel
  40. Belgian-Style Tripel
  41. Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale
  42. Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale or Belgian-Style Quadrupel
    1. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale
    2. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Quadrupel
  43. Other Belgian-Style Ale
    1. Subcategory: Other Belgian-Style Abbey Ale
    2. Subcategory: Other Belgian-Style Specialty Ale
    3. Subcategory: Other Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale
    4. Subcategory: Belgian-Style Table Beer
  44. Brown Porter
  45. Robust Porter
  46. Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout
  47. Export Stout
  48. American-Style Stout
  49. Sweet Stout or Cream Stout
  50. Oatmeal Stout
  51. Imperial Stout
    1. Subcategory: American-Style Imperial Stout
    2. Subcategory: British-Style Imperial Stout
  52. Scotch Ale
    1. Subcategory: Traditional Scotch Ale
    2. Subcategory: Peated Scotch Ale
  53. Old Ale or Strong Ale
    1. Subcategory: Old Ale
    2. Subcategory: Strong Ale
  54. Barley Wine-Style Ale
    1. Subcategory: American-Style Barley Wine Ale
    2. Subcategory: British-Style Barley Wine Ale