Beer categorization is indeed a little bit silly. But also a little bit useful. Personally, I like to know what I’m getting myself into before I pour and taste a beer. If you hand someone a black colored ale and tell them it’s an Imperial Black IPA or a Russian Imperial Stout, they will appropriately expect a certain kind of thing, that being a black, somewhat roasty, highly bitter and highly hopped beer. But if you hand someone a beer and say, “here, try this, I have no idea what I’ve made”, then they have no idea if it’s going to be hoppy, malty, sweet, dry, fruity… and each person has their own preferences for what they like and dislike. A hophead might love it, while a malthead might spit it out and tell you it’s horrible, even if it’s a well made beer with no technical flaws (no DMS, no poopy diaper flavors, etc.). But with style guidelines, even a malthead can have a taste of a hoppy beer and say, well, it’s not what I would personally prefer to drink, but it is certainly hopped appropriately for what you wanted to make. Or you could hand someone the best schwarzbier lager on the planet, brought down to Earth by the Lord’s angels, but if you don’t specify a style, and if it’s a hophead tasting it and they wanted it to be more like a RIS, they’re going to be disappointed. So anyway… To me, style guidelines are all about setting the stage for expectations. BJCP is just a standardized way for beer geeks to communicate. I suppose BJCP do not have the one and only ultimate list of beer styles. But if you use these style guidelines to communicate to fellow beer geeks, they’ll be able to understand what you’re talking about even without having had a taste of it yet. Will someone understand what you’re talking about if you give them an Imperial Black IPA, even though it’s not an official style (yet)? Yes, most likely, but they might also inform you that to them it tastes like a RIS. Personally I have a problem with calling something both black and pale at the same time and wouldn’t do such a thing for my own beers. But of course, thousands of other people don’t give a crap, so in the end, I suppose, why should I care, except that I think it makes us beer geeks sound stupid. Call it an American Black Ale, that’s pretty darn straight forward, even if it isn’t an official style (yet).
Peace, out.
