Skip to main content

Brewers Association Announces New Beer Styles for 2018

When evaluating a beer, there’s more to consider than just the flavor. Obviously, the beer should taste good — but that’s a purely subjective qualification. The beer’s flavor, whether an individual preference would deem it tasty or trashy, should follow certain rules applied to its particular classification. That’s where style guides come into play, as reference points for evaluating beer in a non-partisan manner.

Recommended Videos

The Brewers Association is a non-profit organization promoting independent craft brewers. They maintain the official beer style guidelines used by beer judges in competitions. These guidelines are also used by professional and amateur brewers to influence recipe creation. As the landscape of brewing changes and evolves, the style guides must evolve too. Sometimes beer descriptions are modified to reflect current trends, and the guides can also bring brand new styles into the pantheon.

For 2018, the Brewers Association has added several new categories to the official beer style guidelines. All of these are directly influenced by the creativity and diversity in the current craft beer market.

The first is the Juicy or Hazy Ales category, which is then subdivided into Pale Ale, IPA, and Double IPA styles. Sometimes dubbed New England IPAs or West Coast Hazy IPAs, these new definitions make room for this booming style with official classifications.

Contemporary American-Style Pilsner is also on the docket. With this addition, craft brewers are free from the alcohol by volume and hop aroma regulations in the previous, broader specification checklist.

Pale Ales from Down Under have been separated from one to two categories: Classic Australian-Style Pale Ale and Australian-Style Pale Ale. Due to the increased diversity in the Australian beer scene, having two styles keeps the darker, less aromatic traditional recipes intact with Classic and allows brewers the creativity to continue evolving the genre with paler, hoppier and more flavorful variations in the base style.

Finally, Gose and Contemporary Gose were given some technical adjustments to better separate the historic base beer from the diversity created by modern brewing techniques.

Of all of these changes, the Juicy or Hazy Ales trio of additions stand to have the biggest impact on the marketplace, as well as related controversies. To define why they received three separate specs, Charlie Papazian, chief of the Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines, said, “What we discovered and verified was that there was a wide range of alcohol content for what was being perceived in the public as just one style.” He went on to say that the other judging components of appearance, aroma, bitterness, hop character, mouthfeel, and overall balance also backed up the decision.

The new guidelines are available for download and reference now at Brewers Association website.

Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel is the managing editor of Brew/Drink/Run, a website and podcast that promotes brewing your own beer, consuming the…
Get To Know 6 Trending Types of Beer Hops
beer hops types

If you blink, you'll miss the debut of a new beer hop variety. The craft suds scene changes so fast it can be hard to keep up with, even when you follow the industry closely or are even part of it.

We've got you covered. New options may be coming to market in droves, but only the best make it big in beer land. As you shop for beer, scan the labels or talk up your bottle shop steward to see what hops are included. IPAs especially tend to wear the hop bill on its sleeve, a proud proclamation of what varieties made it into the brew. Think of hops like grape varieties in a good blended wine -- they play a key role in building the beer, and soon you'll begin to hone in on the ones you really like.

Read more
The 11 Best Beer Glasses for Every Style of Beer
A group of friends enjoying their glasses of craft beer.

If you’re a self-proclaimed beer lover or beer connoisseur, you should know that glasses are more than vessels for drinking brew. And not just any glass, mind you. It’s those uniquely shaped beer glasses that allow you to get the full bouquet of aromas and distinctive flavors of your favorite beer.

From pilsner glasses to snifters, there are beer glasses for every style of brew that provides the ultimate drinking experience. Don’t be ashamed if your knowledge of bar glassware isn’t on par with your local hipster bartender, for we created this guide on the best beer glasses for every style of beer.

Read more
The 7 New Champagne of Beers to Drink This New Year’s Eve
Beer Alternatives to Champagne

Beer is always welcome, whether it's a smoldering Sunday afternoon in August or a chilly December eve. Why should anything change during New Year's Eve? Granted, it's the occasion of occasions but there are some great beers out there that can compete with your favorite sparkling wine. And some are so celebratory and effervescent they're practically bubbly anyway.

By all means, get your holiday cocktail and wine on. Just don't overlook beer. It's so often the commoner in drinks land, deemed ill-equipped for more lavish gatherings or the most festive nights out (or in). Well, that all depends on the beer you're celebrating with, of course.

Read more