I get what you are saying but…
If you ask a homebrewer to brew an English bitter or imperial stout, no problem. Plenty of guidance. Ask that same home brewer to brew a NEIPA… no guidance whatsoever. Because it is not a style
https://www.bjcp.org/styles04/
Not really. Could be ESB, english pale as well for the first, imperial porter for the latter.
Most styles are hard to specifically define and lots of brewers label their beers wrongly.
Same could be said for a Black IPA. Isnt a black IPA really just an over hopped stout?
I see your point. I do.
Some guidelines between style definitions have become very blurry. Hybrids are constantly being made
It always is an interesting discussion when talking about new styles
But to me it really is just a trend.
I agree with point 1. from Oakes
“We don’t jump on trends just because they exist. There are 5000 breweries in the US alone, and usually what happens is something becomes trendy, and everybody brews it. So a “style” can go from nothing to 10,000 examples globally very quickly. But it can go back to bugger all just as quickly if it falls out of favour (see Black IPA).”
For every new style we add, we need to condense three existing styles into one. 
Bugger: used as a term of abuse, especially for a man (1st def) or used to express annoyance or anger. (that’s the 3rd def). Cannot state the UK’s 2nd meaning to this word.
Bugger off: go away
India pale lager got accepted as new style recently. Easier to define of course, but it was just a small trend and seems to be already fading. Neipa is already bigger than ipl ever was.
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Very bad decision.
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Indeed a strange decision at the least. But if that’s allowed, neipa should be here as well I think.
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May be a regional thing but seem to be relatively common in the UK.
Still fairly common in US and I like the style so maybe i just seek it out more. I fail to see how its a bad decision when I get something from that style I know pretty much what I’m getting. Also I had a freshly brewed Black IPA the other day, I also think I moved to a place thats a little behind the forefront of craft beer so local brewers jump on bandwagons later
If you think there’s a meaningful distinction between imperial stout and imperial porter, then you’re part of the problem, not the solution.
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I think the “it might be brewed less in the future” argument is a little silly given some of the styles that still exist here on RateBeer…
How often do you see California Common? Couldn’t you just lump them all in with Premium Lager?
How about Scottish Ale? That’s a made up style that could probably just get thrown in with, I don’t know, Brown Ale maybe? Mild Ale?
I don’t know what an Irish Ale is but I can’t remember the last time I saw one and I bet it’s close enough to another style to merge the two.
So, yeah, maybe in 10 years NEIPA will be relegated to the dustbin of history, but that doesn’t make it any more or less of a style so long as we’re still considering the above examples still beer styles.
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and Black IPA
New England IPA is a fad. I can’t wait for the style to go away.
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Why do you think I’m saying that?
Yes
Yes and no. Yes it’s made up and should be thrown in with another style, but I don’t think it’s Brown ale and definitely not mild ale.
Yes, I’d throw it in with Amber Ale.
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The context seemed to be you saying “if someone makes an imperial stout, you might get an imperial porter”, which does imply you think there’s some kind of difference between the two terms.
If you think they’re interchangeable terms, then you effectively said “if someone makes an imperial stout, you might get an imperial stout”. Erm?
I said that it’s difficult to taste the difference between an imperial stout and an imperial porter. Thereby making the point that it isn’t always clear where a style starts and ends and that this should not be a prerequisite for a new style.
Hope this clarifies the matter, I still don’t understand what you’re getting at.
Cream Ale
/thread
Beers called California Common are sadly still brewed in Vancouver; I’m not sure if they even follow any guideline or it’s just a nice marketing name (for completeness of information: they are all useless beers).
We could easily put together beers that are currently labeled as Scottish Ale, Irish Ale, English Pale Ale, maybe with Amber Ale, since most Scottish don’t have smoke and an Amber can be very hopped or not.
I love it when a Brewery brews an Imperial Porter. God only knows that there’s a glutton of Imperial Stouts out there. Same with the non Imperials.
