Title: Hatch's Classification of Beer Version: 1.2 Last Revised: September 10, 2018 Substyle Count: 204 Protection: Copyright 2017, 2018. Laurence C. Hatch. All Rights Reserved. Contact: [email protected], please mention "hatchclass" in the subject line Please scroll down for the main online table.... Why do we need yet another beer classification system? I'm Larry Hatch and my life time beer list is exactly 3238 as I type this, growing by 4-8 per week. And I've written reviews of each of the 3238 in case anyone cares. There are many fine classification systems to basic things and some with lots of detail on IBU, ABV, and other metrics. Some of those wall charts are so amazing, pretty, and complex it would take a year of sobriety to begin to figure out just one section of those things. I wanted a system that includes more and does more, with some crazy twists, namely: 1. Includes and accommodates numerous modern substyles and subsubstyles such as the Fruited Rye IPA or what I call the FRIPA. Just had a Coffee Brown Ale or COBA that was neither a porter nor stout. 2. Seeks to organize synonyms across history and the industry today. That is very long term but I'm trying. 3. Is available in sortable, searchable format such as downloadable spreadsheets for easier classification by character (sort by any combination of characters you wish). You beer/computer geeks can of course convert that XLXS or ODS file to a hundred different database formats you desire. Please do. 4. Suffix system to support special treatments such as bottle conditiong, wood aging by species, and unfiltered variants of a substyle 5. Is free for use by any author in their own books, article, blogs, etc. within certain Use Guidelines 6. Supports nomenclature of blended samples or new labeled brew hybrids such as when I dare to mix an Oatmeal Stout (OST) with a Fruited Wheat Ale (FWHA) = OST x FWHA 7. Is regularly updated with new data and substyles but with handy abbreviations used to denote blended or hybrid styles 8. Abbreviation system which accomodates special treatment such as OST(B) meaning aged in bourbon barrels or RIPA(S) Rye IPA aged in sherry barrels. (P)=port and (R)=rum too. 9. Fully integrated with published beer reviews from many authors using the products. My own Hatch's Guides will begin this process and I welcome all my fellow authors to use the system with or without their own modifications. Nothing is ever perfect from humans and I hope the beer writing community will share their wisdom and ideas so this system improves and becomes more useful day by day. 10. Free spreadsheet downloads lets the user record their own notes, favorite examples of each style such as your best in the style ever, and perhaps your own brewing experience in that style Approved suffix codes: (B) = bourbon barrel or wood aged, ie. BW(B), a bourbon wood aged barleywine product (BO) = bottle-conditioned, especially if some labels are not treated so (CA) = cabernet barrel or wood aged (CH) = Chardonnay barrel or wood aged (M) = Mesquite wood aged (P) = port barrel or wood aged (R) = rum cask or wood aged (S) = sherry barrel or wood aged (W) = wood aged, type of donor barrel not specified ie. "cask" or local tree staves. Name tree species if possible.. (SH) = single hop variety, ie. DIPA(SH) (UN) = unfiltered, ie. Fruited American Wild Ale (FAWA) becomes FAWA(UN) (WI) = wine x beer hybrid, includes wine or grapes not just barrel flavors from wine barrels Data Field Names: Style #: each substyle has a number and an abbreviation. Use whichever you prefer. Style: substyle of the family style Family: primary or major style which includes ale, lager, stout, porter, sour, and wheat Abbrev: the unique abbreviation given in this system. We hope these become handy such as a Fruited IPA is a FIPA and Fruited Double IPA is a FDIPA Color: specified usually in a range using the terms yellow, gold, amber, red, brown, blackish Yeast: ale or lager is defined IBU: the general range in the trade, we have gone higher in some where there are intense, iced down or wood-aged variants into double figures ABV: the alcohol percentage by volume in a range Hops: specify Old World (ie. Noble or European), American, or various (either Old World or American) Misc: a short note on style, characteristics, and some brief defining qualifications for the new substyles (Add your own!): download a spreadsheet version and you can change anything you like, adding fields for your favorite example of his substyle, longer comments, and whatever your heart dreams. Hybrid substyle names are encouraged: This is because new substyles merge early ones and we can always blend two unrelated bottles to get curious effects. Try peach and heather or rye and chili sometime! As is true of plant and animals crosses, the convention of using an "x" for hybridity makes sense such as "DIPA x BPO" if I infused a Double IPA with a Baltic Porter. Or if I brewed my own baltic porter with an insane amount of C-hops. That actually works some of the time. In terms of a labeled product, the cross abbreviations suffice but for one's own blends a proportion or ratio naming format is more helpful to others such as "DIPA(20) x BPO(80)" indicating 20% for one and 80% for the base brew. One can rate each the blends individually and better yet but naming the donor labels. Classification Sorted by Style Name: STYLE# STYLE FAMILY ABBREV COLOR IBU ABV HOPS MISC amber to 1 Altbier/German Brown Ale AGBA brown 25-55 4.5-6.0 Old World Top-fermented unlike a brown German lager yellow to includes a grain other than wheat, barley, or rye, ie. 2 Alternative Grain Ale Ale AGRA brown 15-40 4.5-6.5 various Sorghum yellow to includes a grain other than wheat, barley, or rye, ie. 116 Alternative Grain Lager Lager AGL brown 15-40 4.5-6.6 various Sorghum amber to 4.5- includes a grain other than wheat, barley, or rye, ie. 151 Alternative Grain Porter Porter AGPO blackish 10-40 10.0 various Sorghum Alternative Grain Sour yellow to 5.0- includes a grain other than wheat, barley, or rye, ie. 3 Ale Ale AGSA amber 5-30 11.0 various Sorghum brown to 4.5- includes a grain other than wheat, barley, or rye, ie. 171 Alternative Grain Stout Stout AGST blackish 10-40 10.0 various Sorghum 4 Amber Biere de Garde Ale ABDG amber to red 16-30 6.0-8.5 Old World Amber amber to 118 Kellerbier/Zwickelbier Lager AKEL brown 25-40 4.5-5.5 Old World unfiltered and usually unpasteurized gold to Not as malty as an American Brown but the two names are 5 American Amber Ale Ale AMA amber 30-45 3.5-5.5 various often synonymous' brown to 8.0- variant of old-style barleywine but using American style 6 American Barleywine Ale ABW blackish 20-60 13.0 American hops American Blonde/Golden yellow to 7 Ale Ale AGA amber 15-25 4.0-5.5 various easy drinking, limited hops and malt punch 8 American Brown Ale Ale ABA brown 20-45 4.5-6.5 various confused with American Amber in the trade gold to 7.0- Often a mix of New World and Old World hops but give 9 American Double IPA Ale ADIPA amber 60-100 15.0 various complexity, richness brown to 7.0- essentially like the Russian Imperial but influenced by 172 American Double Stout Stout ADST blackish 20-70 14.0 various American hops American Imperial Red 8.0- 10 Ale Ale AIRA amber 55-90 13.0 American higher ABV red ale, usually sweet, fruity, hazy gold to 11 American India Pale Ale Ale AIPA amber 50-70 6.0-7.5 various East and West Coast subvariants differ little yellow to 119 American Light Lager Lager ALPIL gold 8-20 3.8-5.5 various a thin, very pale yellow Pils but little flavor of malt or hops amber to 12 American Old Ale Ale AOA brown 30-65 6.0-9.0 American yellow to 13 American Pale Ale Ale APA amber 30-50 4.5-6.5 various Sierra Nevada's famous Pale Ale is the standard here yellow to More crisp, less flavorful than Czech Pils but not a true 120 American Pilsener Lager Lager APIL gold 8-20 4.0-6.0 various light 6.0- 14 American Strong Ale Ale OSA amber to red 50-100 13.0 American fruity, quite hop bitter too, not quite a barleywine yellow to 6.5- 162 American Wild Ale Sour AWA brown 10-30 12.0 various Mostly with Brett instead of Lacto like an Old World saison yellow to 15 Ancient Ale Ale ANA amber 10-40 2.5-5.5 Old World This is for ancient recipes prior to the 17th century yellow to 16 Australian Sparkling Ale Ale ASA gold 20-35 4.5-6.0 various crisp, well-carbonated, bottle conditioned, brown to 5.5- 152 Baltic Porter Porter BPO blackish 20-40 10.0 Old World notably sour compared to English and American porters brown to 8.0- 17 Barleywine Ale BW blackish 20-60 14.0 various very strong ale with lots of everything, often wood-aged yellow to 11.0- The most intense, alcohol filled Belgian or trappist ale 18 Belgian Strong (Quad) Ale BSQA amber 15-40 17.0 Old World known 19 Belgian Ale (Duppel) Ale BDA amber to red 15-25 6.0-8.0 Old World strong malt, fruity esters, usually spicy, dry amber to 7.5- 20 Belgian Dark Strong Ale BDSA brown 20-35 12.0 Old World complex dark fruits, spice, rich malts, high ABV 21 Belgian Pale Ale (Single) Ale BPA amber to red 20-45 5.6-6.0 Old World moderate hops but flavoring fruit, biscuit, and spice Belgian gold to fruit, sour, sometimes earthy, often spices and bottle 22 Saison/Farmhouse Ale Ale BSFA amber 20-40 4.0-7.0 Old World conditioned amber to 23 Belgian Scottish Ale Ale BSCA brown 15-30 4.0-6.5 Old World a Scottish style ale made with Belgian yeast for spice gold to 7.5- 24 Belgian Strong/Tripel Ale Ale BTA amber 15-40 13.0 Old World very alcohol-forward in some versions, smoother in others gold to 6.0- Combines