Trying to figure out the BJCP Style of this beer.

Hi All,

I hope I'm in the right sub form for this question.

I recently brewed a Mango Ghost Pepper beer that turned out pretty good. I entered it in this years competition originally in the 21A Spice/Vegetable category due to the addition of pepper but the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards the 20 Fruit category due to the mango? I know this is kind of subjective but I wanted to get some input on it.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I would say that if the Mango dominates then it needs to be in 20 (and technically chili peppers are fruits anyway.) 21A is kinda a stretch, I would probably only enter it in this category if the Ghost Pepper flavor dominated and there was just hint of Mango. Your other option all together would be 23 Specialty, which is a catch-all type of category.

When I have been unsure about which category to enter a beer in to, I enter it in multiple. For example I have entered a beer in both American IPA and American Pale Ale before, or American Brown Ale and Brown Porter. It is interesting seeing the feedback from judges who have a different mindset, and have experienced the other entries in that category. Good Luck!

Yeah, if both flavors are noticeable I'd lean towards category 23 as well.

21A specifies that it may also be used for Chile Beers. If your beer has much spice, or any chile heat, it would fit here.

Herky21 said:

21A specifies that it may also be used for Chile Beers. If your beer has much spice, or any chile heat, it would fit here.

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That is true. But since there is Mango in the beer, it would get marked down (at least a little bit) in 21A. It probably belongs 23.

23) Specialty Beer

Combinations of other style categories (e.g., India Brown Ale, fruit-and-spice beers, smoked spiced beers)

voltin said:

That is true. But since there is Mango in the beer, it would get marked down (at least a little bit) in 21A. It probably belongs 23.

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At first glance I thought that the "any combinations of these" in the 21A section would make this beer good for this section.

I agree with you after re-reading 23A. It says combinations of other categories, like "fruit-and-spice beers." So, that's pretty explicit.

I'd say 23 is your best bet. Last year I entered a Bananas Foster beer into a competition under cat 20 as it had a very prominent banana flavor, but on both scoresheets the judges remarked that it should have been entered as a 23 due to the detectable presence of spiced rum and vanilla. Despite being in the wrong category, I still managed 3rd place, so even if if you miscategorize it, all may not be lost.