Fifty shades of Belgium: a BJCP-based Infographic

Studying for the BJCP Written Exam gave me a chance (i.e. forced me) to delve deeper into beer styles. In order to easily remember the differences – often closer to subtle nuances – between different styles, I tried to sketch down some infographics. All of them (like the one about everything stout) are strictly based on the BJCP guidelines.

In Belgium, beer styles are more of an advice rather than strict guidelines. Brewers tend to follow their guts and their inner instincts when brewing. And that is good, per se. But I needed to draw some boundaries between close but different styles, in order to properly write an answer to the two styles comparison questions of the Written Exam.

This is what led me to the infographic below, which I draw by reading carefully through the BJCP guideline as of 2015. From the image below, it stands out how the phenolic aroma is stronger in a Tripel compared to a Belgian Pale Ale, where it can be subdued or totally absent. The infographic highlights the different fruity nuances of the Belgian beer styles, from the banana which can creep out of a Dubbel or a Tripel, but generally not other styles, or the pear which could appears both in a Belgian Pale Ale or in a Belgian Strong Ale.

All of them show some similarities and the differences are sometimes ephemeral, but drawing them on a sort of graph helped me a lot to memorize the main characteristics in my mind.

Here the high resolution image can be downloaded:

Belgian Styles Infographic

1 file(s) 299.64 KB

Download