Beer Forum

I brewed up a Rye Pale Ale, based on the Terrapin CYBI recipe with a few tweaks here and there. The beer is tasting great and I am wondering which category to enter it in for NHC. 10 A - American Pale Ale or 23 - Specialty?? I like the dryness that rye malt adds, even though it finished a little high at 1.015 (OG was 1.052). I just wonder if a judge might think the rye is a flaw in an otherwise good APA. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I pretty sure the BJCP guidelines say that RYE IPAs need to go in Specialty, I would follow suit with a Rye APA.

It depends on whether or not the rye is a dominant flavor. If it's just a subtle spiciness adding complexity, then it can be entered as an APA. If the rye is a strong flavor, it needs to be entered as a specialty beer. If the rye flavor was very subtle and was entered as a rye pale ale, it might not do well as a specialty beer, as they would expect the rye to be pronounced and suggest you enter it as an APA.

Submit it in both.

Good Luck!

thatguy314 wrote:It depends on whether or not the rye is a dominant flavor. If it's just a subtle spiciness adding complexity, then it can be entered as an APA. If the rye is a strong flavor, it needs to be entered as a specialty beer. If the rye flavor was very subtle and was entered as a rye pale ale, it might not do well as a specialty beer, as they would expect the rye to be pronounced and suggest you enter it as an APA.

Yea, I think it is a subtle spiciness that adds complexity, but that still might not be appropriate for an APA. Perhaps the BJCP should expand APA to include RPA as a subcategory and make American Amber and American Brown Ale its own category. There are so many good beers in category 10 and the Ambers and Browns are getting bigger and hoppier all the time. I think I will enter it in both APA and Specialty and see how it does. Thanks...

I personally believe that the whole 23 specialty beer is too broad a category. I think every category should have a specialty subcategory (i.e., 14 would have EIPA, AIPA, IIPA, and Specialty IPA), so that specialty beers can be judged relative to their base category. This would be similar to what's done with belgian specialty. I think it's certainly easier to judge a rye pale ale next to some APAs than it is next to an imperial mild or sticke alt or Late-hopped hefeweizen.

23 should be reserved for true specialty beers that aren't simply traditional beers made with some non-traditional ingredients. Instead it should showcase beers that are truely unique and defy style (e.g., something like Brooklyn Hopfenweiss, which is an imperial heavily hopped, hefeweizen that is fermented warm to generate a strawberry-bubblegum ester profile that would be inappropriate for a weizen).

Just my thoughts.