Category:Specialty beer styles

Specialty refers to a beer that is not brewed in a traditional beer style. What exactly constitutes a specialty beer style depends on who is defining the styles.

Common "specialty" beer categories

There are a number of categories of beer styles that are considered "specialty" by brewers at large, including many kinds of experimental or unique brews. There are also some additional categories that are not necessarily considered that strange or esoteric by ordinary brewers, but that fall into "specialty" categories at competitions because they do not fall into any other style guidelines.

Intentional deviations from style

Brewers sometimes set out intentionally to brew beers which fall outside the guidelines of a given style. This could mean developing an entirely new style category, although this is rare; Dry Beer is arguably one example. More often, it means creating a new variant or sub-style of an existing style. For example, new styles have been formed recently by:

• "Americanizing" existing beer styles by increasing hop character and bitterness, the use of American hop varieties, and sometimes gravity, as with American IPA; or
• Making "Imperial" versions of existing beer styles by significantly increasing their gravity and flavor characteristics, as with Imperial IPA; the name comes from the strong Imperial Stout style once brewed for the Russian court.

These new variants are considered "specialty" beers until they become popular or widespread enough that they can be said to fall into a particular category.

Unusual ingredients or techniques

One of the most common methods of "stretching" a style includes adding unusual ingredients, such as fruit or spices, to a beer, or by using unusual techniques such as wood aging to change the beer's character. Because the beers that result rarely become established as a style, because the possible combinations of fruit and spice are so large, and because the ingredients and procedures are outside of the homebrewer's ordinary experience, all such beers are sometimes considered as "specialty" beers. However, for competition purposes and often for everyday purposes as well, "unusual" ingredients do not make a beer a "specialty" beer when they are used in a traditional style, such as spices in a Witbier.

Clones of Unique Beers

Some popular commercial beers, such as Orval, are considered "specialty" beers when they are entered into competitions, because the originals do not fit neatly into any defined style category. This is especially common with the unique products of small Belgian breweries, but it also applies to other beers which may not qualify as a "classic" example of any particular style as defined by the guidelines.

Historical or Throwback Beers

Uncommon styles

Competition beer styles are not meant to be comprehensive surveys of every world beer style, but only of those commonly entered in competitions. Therefore, even well-defined but rare styles, such as Gose or Australian Sparkling Ale, often fall outside of the defined styles for a given competition. This is especially true for homebrew competitions and the BJCP guidelines, where even commercially significant styles such as Dry Beer or Ice Lager are rarely attempted by homebrewers. Specialty beer categories allow these beers to be entered into competition by the few brewers interested in brewing them.

Competition guidelines

Both the BJCP and the GABF style guidelines define multiple specialty categories. These categories are designed to allow brewers to enter beers into competitions even if they do not fit into one of the specifically designated styles.

BJCP Style Guidelines

The BJCP defines separate specialty styles for Specialty Belgian Beer, Specialty Smoked Beer, Specialty Fruit Beer, and Aged Beer, and one category encompassing Specialty Herb or Spice Beer and Specialty Vegetable Beer.

The BJCP also has a "catch-all" Specialty Beer category for beers which do not fit into any defined style or any of the other specialty categories.

Specialty Beer

GABF Style Listings

The GABF recognizes a large number of specialty categories, including Specialty Imperial Beer, Specialty Session Beer Specialty Smoke-Flavored Beer, Specialty Honey Beer, Vegetable Beer, Pumpkin Beer, Coffee Beer, Chocolate Beer, Gluten-Free Beer, and several varieties of Belgian Specialty Beer, Specialty Fruit Beer, and Aged Beer. The GABF also recognizes two general categories, Specialty Beer and Experimental Beer.

Specialty Beer

Experimental Beer

Specialty beer styles and substyles

Below is a list of style categories and substyles often considered "specialty" by any of the above standards.