Which category does this beer get entered in

Quick one guys, my Russian imperial stout has oak, port wine, and cacao nibs. Does that mean I have to enter wood aged category, or can I enter ris. Also is wood aged category REALLY hard to do well?

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style13.php#1f

It does not appear there are any ingredient restrictions to style 13F. If the flavors of the additional ingredients do not alter the flavors described in the style guidelines then enter as a 13F, most competitions do not require a recipe submission and the judges won't get it anyways.

Never entered the wood aged category so I cannot comment but the above link will take you to the style guidelines and you can investigate it there.

Good Luck!

"Ingredients: Well-modified pale malt, with generous quantities of roasted malts and/or grain. May have a complex grain bill using virtually any variety of malt. Any type of hops may be used. Alkaline water balances the abundance of acidic roasted grain in the grist. American or English ale yeast."

You should either enter it as a specialty or a wood aged beer and list the base style.

rockfish42 said:

"Ingredients: Well-modified pale malt, with generous quantities of roasted malts and/or grain. May have a complex grain bill using virtually any variety of malt. Any type of hops may be used. Alkaline water balances the abundance of acidic roasted grain in the grist. American or English ale yeast."

You should either enter it as a specialty or a wood aged beer and list the base style.

Click to expand...

This. The wood flavor isn't mentioned anywhere, so you'll get dinged if you enter here.

I was thinking that, the wood is really laid back, but if they even suspect it I figure i'll get knocked back.

Still curious how difficult the wood aged category is. I don't really want to loose three bottles of the beer. (It's pretty good!) ie would a RIS with minor wood flavours be able to score well or would it leave the judges wanting more?

if the wood isn't noticeable, you'll get dinged in wood-aged. from 22C: "Beers made using either limited wood aging or products that only provide a subtle background character may be entered in the base beer style categories as long as the wood character isn’t prominently featured"


if the nibs are noticeable, may wanna do SHV (21A)

I might have to try it again and really see if I think the wood is or is not noticeable enough to enter a RIS. It's definitely not "prominently featured"

And no, the nibs do not stand out enough for SHV.