(Photo © Brewers Association)

The Brewers Association just updated its official Beer Style Guidelines. But that doesn’t mean they got everything right.

Designed to help the brewers and beer competition organizers keep up with craft beer’s fluid style landscape the BA updates this list annually…

Three new style categories were included in this year’s updated guidelines…

• Kentucky Common Beer
• New Zealand-Style Pale Ale and India Pale Ale
• Belgian-Style Session Ale

We have to admit that even though we over the craft beer scene 24/7 and write about it six days a week we were completely blindsided by addition of the Kentucky Common Beer category. Is it really that ‘common’ beyond Kentucky? So common that it needs its own category?

And although we acknowledge the thinking behind the new Belgian-Style Session Ale category, we were also surprised by the inclusion of the New Zealand-Style Pale Ale and India Pale Ale category.

Is there really a need for a style that seems largely dependent on the regional hops used in the beer? And if so, shouldn’t the Yakima Valley or the Pacific Northwest Pale Ales and IPA’s get their own style category?

And if the BA feels obliged to add new styles like the Kentucky Common Beer or the New Zealand Pale Ale to its 2021 beer style update, we have to ask why they overlooked these prevalent styles?

The Overly Ambitious Beer Category

With brewers seemingly in a race to produce craft beers with increasingly complex and/or unusual ingredients, we need a style category which announces that “enough is NEVER enough.”

We expect that the Overly Ambitious Beer category would be hugely popular and extremely competitive.

The “No Style” Style

Some brewers seem to take a particular pleasure in creating beer hybrids that seem to have been deliberately brewed to defy easy categorization…And the Brewers Association will eventually have to deal with these ‘unknowns.’

We think there’s a need for a beer style that recognizes the art of obscuring mistakes, and supports brewers trying to cover their ass when their Brown Ale veers dangerously close to a Prussian Barleywine.

The “Shit Beer” Category

We’ve been long time advocates for this sorely overlooked beer style and once again the Brewers Association has chosen to look the other way.

It’s time to address the 800-pound gorilla in the room and formalize this distasteful, yet undeniable style.

After all, who among us has never had a “shit beer?”

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Shitty Lyte Beer Image courtesy: Pearl Street Brewery