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Clearly, all beers have a description (otherwise you've had too many.) On the most basic level a beer can be described as light or dark, bitter or not, strong or weak. But how do you categorize a beer that's amber coloured? Or sour? Or gives you a buzz after two? That's where beer style guidelines come in to play.
Nevertheless, it's not that simple. There are some schools of thought that say that beer style guidelines are somewhat arbitrary and that it forces a beer into a little box that's been otherwise obliterated by more exceptions than rules. Take a look at Black IPAs, for example. If you were to read the generally accepted description for an American IPA the colour typically ranges from a gold to a dark amber. Yet, there are black IPAs in abundance in the industry these days. If you put the qualifier of "black" in front of it does it truly maintain its status as an IPA? Not according to the style guidelines! But don't tell that to brewers or those who have designed the broody black labels for the bottles.
Nevertheless, some sort of categorization is very important to have--especially for the consumer. A style name and description gives the customer the expectation of what's inside the bottle. Have you ever been shopping for beer and picked up a bottle that has a really cool label with psychedelic 3D skeletons on it but you couldn't--for the life of you--tell what it was you were about to buy? If beer descriptions were to be deemed irrelevant everybody's beer choices would be subject to chance and you could end up with a mouthful of lambic and not expect it. Which, ummm, would be quite a shock.
It's worth noting that the key word here is "guideline." Not a law. Not a commandment. Nope, just a guideline. There is so much overlap when it comes to style descriptions that they do seem somewhat groundless; it's hardly possible to make them into a law. Besides, what fun would beer be if it got its knuckles cracked by rulers for stepping out of line?
--Maggie
Every year, Beer Hawk releases a lineup of limited edition craft beer mixed cases for the holiday season. This year's lineup of festive Christmas beer gifts is guaranteed to put a smile on everyone’s face.
Remember the childhood excitement of opening a new door on your advent calendar every day in the run up to Christmas? It gave each day a little sparkle of festive magic, even though those tiny chocolates behind the doors were always a bit rubbish. How would you like to recapture that childhood magic, but with bottles of delicious beer instead of powdery chocolate? Sounds amazing, right? In that case, you need to get your hands on our Craft Beer Advent Calendar.
Pairing beer and food together isn’t all rules and science. That would make for a terribly boring dinner party! Instead, it’s the art of taking a good beer, some good food and partnering them together to make something even better. It’s the adventure of discovering what works, what doesn’t and what you like. It’s you taking a bite, taking a sip and then declaring your undying love for that imperial stout and chocolate cake.
Barrel-ageing beers is not a new thing, but it is getting more and more popular, and has probably never been as inventive. Adrian Tierney-Jones explores the new wave of ageing beer in wood
While some so-called off-flavours can be appropriate in certain styles others are not and may kill a little bit of your soul. Here's a quick guide to the most common off-flavours.
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