BJCP 2021 / 30D
Specialty Spice Beer
A balanced blend of spice and added sugars that still tastes like beer.
- Drink fresh
- specialty beer
- spice
Serve: 42 to 52F, Suited to the base style
The BJCP gives no numbers. Follow the base style the brewer declares.
Taste it in order
Aroma
12 pts- Spice, herb or vegetable as in 30A
- Added honey, molasses or other sugar
- Blended with the beer
- Vague
- Sweet spice
- Better
- Spice with a sweet note
- Best
- Moderate orange peel and coriander with a honey note, base malt behind, nothing raw
Appearance
3 pts- Same as Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
- Color from ingredients and sugars
- Bright to lightly hazy
- Vague
- Golden
- Better
- Tinted and bright
- Best
- Base color with a slight tint, bright, normal head
Flavor
20 pts- Spice flavor as in 30A
- Added sugar tastes fermented in
- Finish fuller or drier depending on the sugar
- Vague
- Sweet
- Better
- Spice with honey
- Best
- Clear spice blended with honey or molasses, balanced against the base, finish set by the sugar used
Mouthfeel
5 pts- Follows Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
- Sugar can add or remove body
- Smooth
- Vague
- Smooth
- Better
- Smooth, shaped by sugar
- Best
- Body in line with the base, fuller with unfermentable sugar, lighter with simple sugar
Overall Impression
10 ptsLifts it
- Spice and sugar that fit together
Drops it
- Raw sugar taste
- Artificial flavor
Writing tip
Name the spice and the sugar. Example: 'Orange and coriander with a honey finish, balanced and clean.'
Pour these
- Honey Orange TripelNew BelgiumCitrus, honey and Belgian yeast
- It's Tiki TimeWestbrook BrewingTropical, spiced and sweet
Often confused with
- 30A Spice, Herb, or Vegetable BeerSpice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer has no added sugars
- 31B Alternative Sugar BeerAlternative Sugar Beer is defined by sugar alone
Fine here
- Estery: Light fruit esters fit
Ruinous here
- Astringent: Harsh spice
- Yeasty: Unfermented sugar
- Oxidized: Stale
Style names, numbers and vital statistics follow the BJCP 2021 beer guidelines. Descriptions and example choices are our own. Check a beer is still made before you hunt for it.