2018 brewers association beer styles

[oliver]

the next step could be a more abstract descriptive system based on the parameters of beer: hoppy, malty, dry, yeasty, strong, dark....

hammer, nail, head. I say that to people all the time, and I usually ask them about one of the more abstract style these days; IPA. What is an India Pale Ale? There are a ton of variations of the style, and for a long time the West Coast IPA reigned, and now the NEIPA reigns. IPA as we know it today (including all the sub styles of IPA that are few and far between) is a bastardization of the original IPA style. And today, it's turned into a heavily hopped creativity project. So what does India have to do with it anymore. Let me write my own styles in the box.

 

[Nosybear]

It does seem to get a bit complicated. It gets so that two very similar beers could be labelled different styles. But that's what you get when trying to create a system while using categories linked to specific times and places.

I think the next step could be a more abstract descriptive system based on the parameters of beer: hoppy, malty, dry, yeasty, strong, dark... rather than styles that are starting to feel a bit like "a shining artifact of the past". We'll see, I suppose.

Agreed. Dimensions could be color, balance (hop vs malt), bitterness, fermentation character... Any other ideas? Rather than a (name your qualifier) IPA, the style would be pale, very hoppy ales.