What constitutes "Flavored"

What should constitute “Flavored” in the beer styles, be it IPA - Flavored or Flavored - Other or Sour/Wild - Flavored? For example, does barrel-aging constitute Flavored? So should BA stouts be Stout - Flavored? Does the inclusion of some seeds or lemongrass constitute flavored? So on and so forth.

And what about the use of certain types of malts, unmalted grains and hops?

One day, one day soon, @joet will run a script that will or will not move beers from one category to another. The day has long been foretold. Perhaps its very nature will be hashed. What is “flavour” and what is not will be told, even where there is a case like porter which can be porter or flavoured or smoked but imperial porter which is somehow not stout but may be imperial or imperial flavoured but not imperial smoked.

It will be taking the temperature of reality, much like the I Ching. Believe. In time, sages may posit a few style descriptions.

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Checks those Unofficial Beer Styles Definition.
They give exactly what is supposed to be included in Flavored.

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This is a really useful guide. It would be useful as a page on the actual RB website, perhaps as a subsection off https://www.ratebeer.com/beerstyles/
And it would be nice to have the styles updated with those descriptions, some don’t even have a description still.

Yes, your style guide is in line with what I have been assuming. I.e., barrel aging is not flavored per se. Then I wonder about other things, like wood chips. I think your style guide is a good start (and I have looked at it before), but I am interested in demarcating clear lines. Hopefully one day it gets incorporated in whole or in part…

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Thx!
I created it months ago when we implemented the new beer styles exactly because I thought it could help speed up the process. Back then it was supposed to be a matter of weeks before there was official style description pages. Somebody was dedicated on it but I don’t know what happened since then… no news, no descriptions.

Wood chips / spirals is Wood-aging, Barrel-aging is also wood-aging. They shouldn’t be considered Flavored.
I started created Tags relation/families some time ago to help figure out about that…but I’m nowhere finished…

For example:
https://www.ratebeer.com/tag/wood-aged/
https://www.ratebeer.com/tag/barrel-aged/
https://www.ratebeer.com/tag/bourbon-ba/
https://www.ratebeer.com/tag/bourbon-flavoring/

https://www.ratebeer.com/tag/flavored/
https://www.ratebeer.com/tag/fruit/
https://www.ratebeer.com/tag/spice/

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where are white stouts supposed to go? thanks!

For the moment, it should go in Flavored - Other.

really? went with “stout” recently, but will switch going forward.

I am wondering about pink peppercorns, a bit of flowers or some zest. Technically all of these are additional flavorings. Should we then change the style to Saison/Farmhouse - Flavored. That has been what I have been doing… it is a bigger deal with other styles that do not have a flavored category, for example Kolsches or Brown Ales with flavoring…

Yes you should move it to the Style - Substyle Flavored when it’s available.
Some styles have been splitted with such substyles mainly because the main character of the beer style stays prominent and the style itself was a big style with a lot of products in it.

Do we also get a witbier flavoured? I’m not sure how to all those witbiers with orange peel, coriander and grains of paradise :crazy_face:

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Or should we allow we some variation of ingredients, process and flavours within styles?

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Added a coffee brown lately.
I did look (sorta) but didn’t notice a brown ale > flavored option so added as brown ale.
Is coffee recognized as a flavoring?

The Spice / Herb / Other Flavored Beer is a catch-all style for an ale or a lager made with any of the following: Spices, Herbs, Nuts, Coffee, Vanilla, Chocolate, Coconut, Rhubarb. It’s an harmonious marriage of the additive and beer, but still recognizable as a beer. The additive character should be evident but in balance with the beer. Can range from pale to very dark depending on the underlying style (often not mentioned), and can be influenced by the color of added additive. The common or culinary definitions of the additive is used, not botanical or scientific ones. In general, spices are the Dried Seeds, Seed Pods, Roots or Bark of plants used for flavoring food. Herbs are leafy plants or parts of plants such as Leaves, Flowers, Petals, Stalks used for flavoring foods. Note that some beer styles have their own Flavored substyle based on an higher number of existing examples. Classic examples: Gingerbread Beer, Coffee Beer, Spiced Christmas beer.

@malvrich Generally when the base style is known/defined with a subtle additive (for example a coffee brown ale) it could be listed as a brown ale unless the Beer taste the coffee so much that you couldn’t even tell it’s a brown ale, then it would go in Flavored - Other. If there was a substyle for the Brown Ales (Brown Ale - Flavored) then the choice would have been obvious and it would have ended up there.

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Thanks a lot for the breakdown.

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Flavoured = extra junk. Any questions?

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