Style Entry Suggestions

Have you ever had the question, where do I enter my beer in competition? It’s easy if you are brewing a style listed in the BJCP Style Guidelines, but what if you have a style that is unlisted? Is everything else automatically an experimental beer? (Spoiler: Probably not.) There are better places than others for styles without a direct reference in the guidelines, and this reference provides our best recommendations on where these styles fit under our 2021 Style scheme. This list is based on questions received by the BJCP, and is not intended to be comprehensive.

Note that our listing a type of beer in the following table does not mean that we believe it should have its own entry in the Style Guidelines.

Beer Style Suggested Entry Category Entry Comments
Grisette 25B. Saison Specify Session strength, Wheat as the character grain.
Italian/Hoppy Pilsner 34B. Mixed Style Beer German Pilsner + dry hopping.
West Coast Pilsner 34B. Mixed Style Beer German Pilsner + dry hopping.
Hop Lager 34B. Mixed Style Beer American Lager + dry/late hopping.
Hoppy Weizenbock 34B. Mixed Style Beer Pale Weizenbock + dry/late hopping.
Sake None, do not enter Not a beer.
Seltzer None, do not enter Not a beer.
Session IPA 21B. Specialty IPA American IPA, Session strength.
West Coast IPA 21A. American IPA This is what it is.
India Pale Lager (IPL)  34B. Mixed Style Beer American IPA + Lager yeast.
Cold IPA 34B. Mixed Style Beer American IPA + American Lager.
Milkshake IPA 29C. Specialty Fruit Beer Hazy IPA + Fruit + Vanilla or spice + Lactose.
Sour IPA 21B. Specialty IPA Like other Specialty IPAs.
Triple/Quadruple IPA 22C. American Barleywine This is what they taste like.
Dessert/Pastry Stout 31B. Alternative Sugar Beer Base style + Lactose. (If no spices or fruit)
Dessert/Pastry Stout 30D. Specialty Spice Beer Base style + Spice + Lactose. (If spice only)
Dessert/Pastry Stout 29C. Specialty Fruit Beer Base style + Fruit + Spice + Lactose. (If fruit/spice)
Belgian Stout 34B. Mixed Style Beer Foreign Extra Stout + Belgian Yeast.
Blonde Stout 30A. SHV Beer Blonde Ale + Cocoa, Coffee, Vanilla or other spices.
Gruit 27. Historical Beer Must identify ingredients.
Mexican Lager 2A. International Pale Lager Specify Mexican Lager.
Japanese Rice Lager 2A. International Pale Lager Specify Japanese Rice Lager.
Florida Weisse 29A. Fruit Beer Specify Straight Sour Beer as base style.
Sticke Altbier 27. Historical Beer Named styles go here.
Koyt 27. Historical Beer Named styles go here.