Beer styles document

As a novice to beer, and growing up in a house that was only ever stocked with Bud Light, I'm an extreme novice in what type of beer is what.

I found this today, I'm sure many have seen it or parts of it.
It's the BJCP Style Guidelines for judging beer. (right click, save .pdf file)

I also found that this info is in the HBT Wiki page, I'm not sure if the Wiki has been updated with the 2008 revisions though.

If you haven't seen it, there is some great info there, that I found very helpful. Hope you will to.

I especially like the Commercial Examples listing for each style, very nice.



Cheers!

Thanks for sharing!

Wow, the first is a good find. Saved to my desktop. Thanks!

All of you beginners will probably grow to have a sort of love/hate relationship with the guidelines. Sometimes they can be really helpful, others they can seem to hold you back. The key is to figure out what you like, and brew it, regardless of what the guidelines say. They are a good jumping off point, and a necessity if you plan on competing with your homebrew, but don't be afraid to color outside the lines.

Yeah, the BJCP Style Guidelines is my Bible. I'm not worried about following them but they are a great reference to learn for yourself.

Very cool, thanks for adding this info!

I think BarleyWater is right about coloring "outside the lines", especially if you enjoy experimenting. But this info is really good to use as a benchmark to compare your first brew(s) against to see how you are doing.

Also, if you want to compete then it is good to have a reference to make sure your brews are within the guidlines (color, aroma, etc.) that the judges expect to encounter.

-Tripod

Thanks, this document really helped answer my question