BJCP style for American "wild" Ale e.g. Russian River Supplication?

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Bobby_M

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I've got a very nice oaked sour brown ale that is bottle conditioned with sour cherry concentrate. I'd like to send it to competition, but there are quite a few categories I'm considering.

Flanders Brown - Eh, maybe not sweet enough and if they pick up too much cherry, might get nicked.

Oak Aged - The oak is very subtle and I think they'd consider the sourness a detriment.

Fruit Beer - Probably not going to compete well against the raspberry wheats and porters. I doubt the judges at this table would appreciate sour..

Specialty? Probably the most flooded hit or miss category in the whole lot but probably most appropriate.

Any ideas? Where would you put RR Supplication?
 
From section 17C:
As in fruit lambics, Oud Bruin can be used as a base for fruit-flavored beers such as kriek (cherries) or frambozen (raspberries), though these should be entered in the classic-style fruit beer category. The Oud Bruin is less acetic and maltier than a Flanders Red, and the fruity flavors are more malt-oriented.

Like you said, might not compete well. You might be surprised though. A cherry Oud Bruin might be a nice deviation from all of the fruit wheat beers. Judging is SUPPOSED to be impartial anyways. If its hard to detect oak, especially if not pointed out, I'd refrain from putting it in wood aged. Maybe enter it in Flanders Brown and Fruit Beer. Finally, putting it into Specialty Beer will allow you to call it an "American Wild Brown" with cherry.
 
Hmm, just found this:

16E. Belgian Specialty Ale
This category may be used as an “incubator” for recognized styles for which there is not yet a formal BJCP category. Some styles falling into this classification include:

* Blond Trappist table beer
* Artisanal Blond
* Artisanal Amber
* Artisanal Brown
* Belgian-style Barleywines
* Trappist Quadrupels
* Belgian Spiced Christmas Beers
* Belgian Stout
* Belgian IPA
* Strong and/or Dark Saison
* Fruit-based Flanders Red/Brown

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style16.php#1e
 
There you go. For some reason, I avoided that. I thought I remembered someone saying you weren't supposed to enter oaked/fruit versions of Flanders red/brown in Belgian Specialty last night in my BJCP class. That must have been the case in the old guidelines.
 
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