defintions and distinctions between Imperial and Double

hey everyone,

So I came across this issue when I was asked by my LHBS owner what category my new recipe would fall under. I imagined it would be either an "Imperial Brown" or a "Double Brown"...but then I thought, what exactly defines "Imperial" or "Double"?

google searching suffice to say, left me wanting.

There are lots of beers out there that spout off the term "Imperial" and "Double" etc. but what is it that defines these categories? Is it just that they are "bigger" if so, how much bigger? How much more gravity is needed to become an imperial? etc. etc.

Thank you in advance.

Kyle

Double and Imperial are pretty much interchangeable. It sort of started with the IPA's and when you make an Imperial IPA it is spelled like this, IIPA. So it is a doubleI PA. It also comes from the Belgian's where they have the dubbel, trippel and quad which just mean that you have more alcohol.

Imperial and Double (beside dubbels for Belgians) are marketing words outside of Russian Imperial Stout. That is the only style that needs the word Imperial because they were originally designated for the Russian Imperial Family.
Everyone else just took the "imperial" from that to mean "high alcohol' or over the top. But it's just marketing and doesn't mean anything outside of the RIS Category.

Doesn't mean much inside the RIS categroy these days either.

D'ya think the RIS category should be renamed to reflect the times?

Russian Federation Imperial Stout. You know like they did in the lympics'.

Could be the roofies (RFIS) of this generation!

I am surprised the beer competition groups and whoever have not put defined parameters to these as they tend to be *ahem* a**l retentive about beer profiles. Not that that is a bad thing, it is actually quite important, just making an observation.