Styles
Beer styles, explained without the jargon
Ale or lager is only the first fork in the road. Here is the map of everything after it.
Who it is for
Is this for you?
- Brewers who want a broader portfolio
- Competition brewers and future judges
- Beer educators and servers preparing for Cicerone
By the end
What you walk away with.
- Read a style sheet and brew to it
- Brew seven style families with intent, from lagers to sours
- Pick ingredients that fit the style
- Score and enter a competition beer
Syllabus
Week by week.
8 weeks. Two live sessions every weekend and one assignment a week.
Week 01. How styles work
- BJCP and Brewers Association guidelines
- Reading a style sheet: OG, FG, IBU, colour and ABV ranges
- How history, water and tax shaped styles
Assignment: Profile one style of your choice against its guideline.
Week 02. Lagers
- Helles, Pilsner, Märzen and Dunkel
- Cold fermentation, diacetyl rest and lagering
Assignment: Write a Pilsner recipe with a full fermentation schedule.
Week 03. Wheat beers
- Hefeweizen and witbier
- The ferulic acid rest, clove and banana
- Coriander and orange peel without overdoing them
Assignment: Design a wheat beer and justify every spice and yeast choice.
Week 04. British ales
- Bitters, milds and porters
- English yeast, crystal malts and cask conditioning
Assignment: Build a best bitter at under 4% ABV that still has body.
Week 05. IPAs
- English, West Coast and New England
- Hop schedules and dry hopping
- Oxygen, haze and hop creep
Assignment: Write two IPA recipes from the same base malt.
Week 06. Stouts and dark beers
- Dry, sweet and imperial stouts
- Roasted barley, coffee and chocolate
- Nitro dispense
Assignment: Create a stout and plan how you would serve it.
Week 07. Belgian ales
- Saison, dubbel and tripel
- Warm fermentation, phenols and candi sugar
Assignment: Write a saison fermentation plan and predict its flavour.
Week 08. Sours and competition brewing
- Kettle sours and mixed fermentation
- Judging sheets and how beers are scored
- Picking and entering a competition
Assignment: Submit a competition brew plan and get it critiqued.
How it runs
Format and terms.
- Schedule
- Live on Saturdays and Sundays, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM IST. Timings may shift by mutual agreement with the cohort.
- Batch size
- Maximum 20 students, so every question gets answered.
- Included
- Session recordings, presentation decks, weekly assignments and the learning kit.
- Certificate
- Certificate of Completion once every assignment is in and you have attended at least 80% of live sessions.
- Beyond the screen
- Recommended microbrewery visits, so you see the kit you are studying.
- Fees
- Paid in full at sign-up. No discounts apply, and a package of courses cannot be changed once confirmed.
Want the full flight? All eighteen courses together run to 53 weeks, and you choose your package when you enrol. Compare all eighteen courses, and read the refund policy before you pay.
Keep reading
Read before you start
Save your seat in Style Specialisation.
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