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. |