Style Organization

The beer styles described in the guidelines have been categorized to assist with running homebrew competitions. Categories (the major groupings of styles) are artificial constructs that represent a collection of individual sub-categories (beer styles) that may or may not have any historical, geographic, or traditional relationship with each other. Do not infer that membership in a style category somehow relates beer styles with each other. The only reason why they are grouped together is to assist with managing the scale and complexity of competitions. The names given to the groupings are for competition purposes only, and may not be used in any broader contexts in the beer and brewing industries.

Competitions do not have to judge each style category separately; they may be combined, split, or otherwise reorganized for competition purposes. Competition organizers are free to combine style sub-categories into their own competition categories. As long as each submitted beer is judged against the identified sub-category (style), any logical grouping is permitted.