Given the wonky nature of beer enthusiasts, it shouldn’t be surprising that we’ve laid a procrustean taxonomy over our pursuit and understanding of beer. To be able to name a thing is to understand it. Yet the very nature of drawing chalk outlines around a beer fixes it in place instead of recognizing the messy process through which our pint has evolved. Style definitions butt up against each other; terminologies and meanings shift. Our delicious subjects loop and whirl around and away from those little numbers we’ve attached to them, caring little for our attempts to capture them in bottles.
Looking at the leader of the craft pack—the IPA—clearly shows this process in play, especially accelerating over the past decade. Even the venerable Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP)—those adjudicators on high for homebrewed beer styles—has thrown in the towel on the idea of a single meaning for that money-printing acronym. If you look at the latest guide, including the “provisional” styles, there are 11 different variants outlined, including a grab-all category to cover things they haven’t thought of yet (i.e., no milkshake IPA category).
How did we get here, and how is the style looping back on itself?