ADDING NEW PRODUCT GUIDELINES
The Products must exist commercially and be in production or was until recently. (for example, don’t enter a product you “remember” having tasted 5 years ago, it will be hardly Verifiable by admins)
TYPE OF BEVERAGES ALLOWED: Beers (Alcoholic or not), Alcoholic Ciders, Perries and Meads (≥1.5% abv), Sake.
TYPE OF BEVERAGES NOT ALLOWED: Kombuchas, Hard Seltzers, Malt Beverages / Alcopops, Rice Wines, Fruit Wines, Home-brewed products, alcohol-free Root Beers or Ginger Beers (soda-type)
NO SERVING VARIANT ALLOWED for existing product: Nitro, Randall, Post-production Blends, Cask (see Real Ales below)
BARREL-CONDITIONING:
In most cases barrel treatments will result in a new entry. Occasionally, barrel treatments that are very similar may be confusing. The key here is a combination of 1) Brand Distinction and 2) Brewer Intention. If the treatment is a different bourbon barrel (thus, two bourbon entries), and one that results in a distinct product, it can be a new entry. However, it also requires the brewer’s intent to label and market it as a new product. This can be new labels or other distinctions such as wax differences or other markings. Without the clear intent to make a new product it will not be a new entry. Often brewers will utilize different barrels on a beer from year to year without marketing it as being different; we do not want these to be different entries. In the few cases such as Bourbon County Stout/ Rare, when there is a marketing and brand distinction plus uniqueness of product, it should be a new entry even if the barrel treatments are of the same type (two bourbon). Deciding what is a distinctly new product is difficult, so our default position here will be to follow the brewer’s intention, but with the ability to make our own decisions based on the information we have.
DRY-HOPPING VARIANTS
A dry hopped beer will be a new entry if:
it is bottled and given a new brand,
If the beer is not bottled but is given wide release, indicating brewer intent to market this beer distinctly from the base beer,
If production is a full-batch.
VINTAGE
Vintage entries of the same named product are allowed only if each Vintage differs commercially. A Vintage is when there is a year clearly listed on the bottle on the label, not a bottled date or an expiration date.
REAL ALE / CASK SEPARATE ENTRY
Generally, Cask version of a regular product should only be specified in the Disponibility infos.
Separate Cask entries can be allowed but are largely confined to use in the United Kingdom where Real Ales (CAMRA) are common but not solely. As with any entry, the two versions much be distinctly marketed and clearly differentiated.
In this situation, there are a few basic criteria to which we adhere:
- full batch production (i.e. not a few casks run off of a normal batch)
- the non-cask version needs to be pasteurized. This is a key distinction that causes confusion but it is one of the most important elements of ‘real ale’ or ‘live beer’.
- The two versions must receive distinct marketing…cask ale at pubs, pasteurized bottled beer at supermarkets.
ABV VARIATION
New entries based on ABV variation between recipes (usually 10-15% abv variation between products) are allowed depending of the regional admins.
COLLABORATIONS
A Collaboration is when two or more breweries COME TOGETHER to brew a beer at one or many locations. The primary BREWER, where the beer stats will be displayed, is where the beer was brewed. If the beer was brewed at multiple breweries, still only one entry is entered, at the first known brewed location or prioritize a bottled version (wider release) before a tap-only version. (separated entries for different primary brewers are allowed depending of regional admins)
A non-brewery cannot be listed as a collaborator (ex: Coffee shop, Hop Retailer, Friend, Home-brewer). In this case, a mention can be included in the beer description. It can however be part of the beer name if it was marketed and labeled as such. Those are considered as GUEST BREWED.
Shared Recipe Projects / Worldwide Collaborations (example: the ALL TOGETHER project by Other Half) are not considered collaboration.
FLAVORING
A flavored version of the base version will be a new entry if:
it is bottled and given a new brand,
If the beer is not bottled but is given wide release, indicating brewer intent to market this beer distinctly from the base beer,
If production is a full-batch.
Note: Barrel-Conditioning, Smoked Malt, Sour / Wild Fermentations and direct Acid Addition (spiking) are not considered as Flavoring, but can result in different entries going by brewer’s intent.
When the BOTTLED term is used, it means Bottles and Cans.
PRODUCT SYNTAX CONVENTION
(note: small variations currently exists depending of regions, please refer to your local admin)
Note: real aliases are preferred over soft aliases.
Although we all know that Untappd® in very popular these days among brewers and users, please follow the RateBeer guidelines, don’t just copy/paste the beer name as it is used on other rating sites.
Only Add the BEER STYLE in the beer name if it’s officially included in the product label (or as part of the name on the board description for tap-only products).
For Collaborations, Include EACH producers names in front of the beer name, with the Primary Brewer always being first listed.
SINCE WE INCLUDE THE BREWER NAME IN THE BEER NAME, CASES WILL OFTEN OCCUR WHERE THE BREWER NAME WON’T BE AUTOMATICALLY INPUT CORRECTLY PRIOR TO THE BEER NAME, PLEASE FOLLOW THE ALREADY EXISTING BREWER LISTING CONVENTION IN THOSE CASES.
For example, if the beer lineup for the BRASSERIE ARTISANALE ALBION is listed as ALBION + (Beer Name) only, remove any extra word that could be listed manually upon beer creation in order to follow the current listing convention. (in this case, you would have to manually remove the ARTISANALE word)
COMMERCIAL BREWERIES & CLIENT/COMMISSIONER BREWERS
Many Commercial Brewers use a Trademarked Brand on their products (or an alternate Brewer name brand) without little to no mention of the original/real brewer. Therefore, in those specific cases, the original Brewer Name doesn’t need to be included in the beer name. Same goes for some Client Brewers and Commissioner companies which use their trademarked brand names but will not mention the company name anywhere.
TAG SYSTEM
Once a new product is entered, you can add it related TAGS by clicking SHOW MORE in the product description and clicking EDIT TAGS. TAGS exist to give extra information and provide alternative classifications for the products other than Current Style Classification. Feel free to go through the Tag listing to improve your personal knowledge on the products with some extra infos like:
STYLES (current / more specific / rare styles / family grouped)
TASTE DOMINANCE
REGIONAL CLASSIFICATION
FLAVORING
WOOD AGING / CONDITIONING
WORLDWIDE COLLABORATIONS
HOP VARIETY
ALTERNATE GRAINS
YEAST VARIETY
RELATED LITTERATURE
FESTIVAL / EVENT
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS
ABV CLASSIFICATION
SWEETNESS CLASSIFICATION (Ciders & Meads)
CARBONATION CLASSIFICATION
COLOUR CLASSIFICATION
BREWING TECHNIQUES
Generally, some tags will be “Suggested” to you when the Tag’s exact same terms are found in the Beer name or Description. However, it is strongly suggested that you verify if those suggested Tags should really be added, just don’t add them automatically because they pop up.
When PARENT TAGS are mentioned in a Tag description, this means those tags should also be added to the product alongside that tag in order to provide a more in-depth classification.
