Beer Blog

Everyone writing
about beer sells beer.

Brewery blogs, rankings and beer media all run on the industry's money. This links to the style guidelines, the trade data and the regulator, which do not.

If you want to understand beer rather than be sold it, three things do most of the work: a style framework that defines what a beer is supposed to taste like, production data that shows what the industry is actually doing, and the labelling rules that determine what a brewery is allowed to put on the can. All three are free, none are trying to sell you a six-pack.

The reading list

Link-out only. No brewery blogs, no sponsored rankings, no bottle shops.

What the styles actually mean

Style names are marketing until someone writes down the parameters. Someone did.

  1. BJCP Style Guidelines

    Beer Judge Certification Program · Primary document

    The reference the whole competition world uses. Every style with its expected aroma, appearance, flavour, gravity, bitterness and history. Free, and the fastest way to stop guessing what a beer is meant to be.

  2. BJCP

    Beer Judge Certification Program · Institution

    The certifying body behind those guidelines. Nonprofit, volunteer-run, and the reason beer judging has any consistency at all.

  3. Beer

    Wikipedia · Reference

    Ingredients, process and history, properly sourced. Better than most brewery About pages.

What the industry is really doing

Production numbers rather than vibes.

  1. National beer statistics

    Brewers Association · Data

    Actual production, brewery counts and market share, published annually. The number that tells you whether craft is growing or contracting, as opposed to what a brand says about itself.

  2. Brewers Association

    Trade body · Trade body

    The American craft trade association. It represents brewers, so it has an interest, but it publishes the underlying data rather than only the conclusions.

  3. TTB

    Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau · Regulator

    The US federal regulator. Labelling rules, formula approvals and what a brewery may legally claim. Dry and genuinely useful if you have ever wondered why cans say what they say.

Making it yourself

The fastest route to understanding beer is making a bad batch and working out why.

  1. How to brew

    American Homebrewers Association · Practical

    The AHA's own instructional material. A membership organisation rather than a shop, so the advice is not shaped by what it wants to sell you.

  2. CAMRA

    Campaign for Real Ale · Advocacy

    The British consumer campaign, running since 1971 and arguably the most successful consumer movement in any food category. An explicit position, openly stated.