Beer Style Guidelines Hierarchy

The following list has been compiled by the Beer Judge Certification Program and is used by the American Homebrewers Association for competitive purposes. This hierarchical list presents an overview of all the world's beer styles (along with Cider and Mead). All beers are categorized as Ale, Lager or Mixed Style; under each of these headings are listed all of the major beer styles (in capital letters) and their sub-styles.

ALE

ENGLISH PALE ALE

• Standard Ordinary Bitter

  
  



• Special / Best Bitter

  
  



• Extra Special / Strong Bitter

  
  

SCOTTISH AND IRISH ALE

• Scottish Light 60

  
  



• Scottish Heavy 70

  
  



• Scottish Export 80

  
  



• Irish Red Ale

  
  



• Scotch Strong Ale

  
  

AMERICAN ALE

• American Pale Ale

  
  



• American Amber Ale

  
  



• American Brown Ale

  
  

ENGLISH BROWN ALE

• Mild

  
  



• Southern English Brown Ale

  
  



• Northern English Brown Ale

  
  

PORTER

• Brown Porter

  
  



• English Porter

  
  



• Baltic Porter

  
  

STOUT

• Dry Stout

  
  



• Sweet Stout

  
  



• Oatmeal Stout

  
  



• Foreign Extra Stout

  
  



• American Stout

  
  



• Russian Imperial Stout

  
  

INDIA PALE ALE

• English IPA

  
  



• American IPA

  
  



• Imperial IPA

  
  

BELGIAN AND FRENCH ALE

• Witbier

  
  



• Belgian Pale Ale

  
  



• Saison

  
  



• Biere de Garde

  
  

SOUR ALE

• Berliner Weisse

  
  



• Flanders Red Ale

  
  



• Straight (unblended) Lambic

  
  



• Gueuze

  
  



• Fruit Lambic

  
  

BELGIAN STRONG ALE

• Belgian Blonde Ale

  
  



• Belgian Dubbel

  
  



• Belgian Tripel

  
  



• Belgian Golden Strong Ale

  
  



• Belgian Dark Strong Ale

  
  

STRONG ALE

• Old Ale

  
  



• English Barley Wine

  
  



• American Barley Wine

  
  

LAGER

LIGHT LAGER

• Lite American Lager

  
  



• Standard American Lager

  
  



• Premium American Lager

  
  



• Munich Helles

  
  



• Dortmunder Export

  
  

PILSENER

• German Pilsener (Pils)

  
  



• Bohemian Pilsener

  
  



• Classic American Pilsener

  
  

EUROPEAN AMBER LAGER

• Vienna Lager

  
  



• Oktoberfest / Märzen

  
  

DARK LAGER

• Dark American Lager

  
  



• Munich Dunkel

  
  



• Schwarzbier (black beer)

  
  

BOCK

• Maibock / Helles Bock

  
  



• Traditional Bock

  
  



• Doppelbock

  
  



• Eisbock

  
  

MIXED STYLE

LIGHT HYBRID BEER

• Cream Ale

  
  



• Blonde Ale

  
  



• Kölsch

  
  



• American Wheat or Rye

  
  

AMBER HYBRID BEER

• Northern German Altbier

  
  



• California Common Beer

  
  



• Dusseldorf Altbier

  
  

GERMAN WHEAT AND RYE BEER

• Weizen / Weiss bier

  
  



• Dunkelweizen

  
  



• Weizenbock

  
  



• Roggenbier (Rye beer)

  
  

FRUIT BEER

SPICE / HERB / SPECIALTY BEER

• Spice / Herb / Vegetable beer

  
  



• Christmas / Winter / Specialty Spiced Beer

  
  

SMOKE FLAVORED and WOOD AGED BEER

• Classic Rauchbier

  
  



• Other Smoked Beer

  
  



• Wood Aged Beer

  
  

SPECIALTY BEER

MEAD AND CIDER

TRADITIONAL MEAD

• Dry Mead

  
  



• Semi-sweet Mead

  
  



• Sweet Mead

  
  

MELOMEL (FRUIT MEAD)

• Cyser (apple Melomel)

  
  



• Pyment (grape Melomel)

  
  



• Other Fruit Melomel

  
  

OTHER MEAD

• Metheglin (spiced Mead)

  
  



• Braggot (barley Mead)

  
  



• Open Category Mead

  
  

STANDARD CIDER and PERRY

• Common Cider

  
  



• English Cider

  
  



• French Cider

  
  



• Common Perry

  
  



• Traditional Perry

  
  

SPECIALTY CIDER and PERRY

• New England Cider

  
  



• Fruit Cider

  
  



• Apple Wine

  
  



• Other Specialty Cider and Perry

  
  

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