Seen a few topics about category questions, but not one that fit mine really.
Brewed a blonde ale. Brewed it with pears and cardamom. The intent and the result was to have a solid blonde ale that had a little more frutiness and an interesing spice note at the end. There is no spice on the nose really. A fruitiness is there, but nothing not allowed by the blonde category. The spice is on the finish, but so light as to not be the predominate flavor. Again, it’s what I was going for. I’m confident that this fits the blonde ale category even with those additions as they are not the main flavor components.
All that being said, my question is this. The beer is not clear. Fined with gelatin, cold crashed, etc. Still hazy. I expected this from my research due to the pears. After reading over the BJCP guidlines again, however, it does say that the appearence is “clear to brilliant”. Will the haziness disqualify the beer? If so, what category should it be entered into?
The simple answer is if it had fruit and spice, it is a fruit and spice beer. If think it’ll do better as a blonde but are worried about losing points on visuals, don’t worry about it. Appearance is 3/50 points-you’ll maybe lose a point or two?
Won’t disqualify it, you’ll just lose a couple points as appearance is worth 3 max. But you most likely want category 29B, fruit and spice beer. Declare the base beer and additions.
Hesitated adding it to the fruit/spice category since those aren’t predominate flavors. Knew it would be a question, but hinged it on the, “Some versions may have honey, fruit, and/or spices added, although if any of these ingredients are stronger than a background flavor they should be entered in those specialty categories instead.” They aren’t more than background flavors, IMO. I don’t really care honestly, but I don’t want to say it’s a fruit/spice beer and then be judged as not having enough fruit/spice characteristics.
Maybe brewed a beer too middle of the road to be judged adequately? Figures.
If it’s the clarity you’re concerned about, and you’re correct that it’s pears causing the haze, you should be able to clear it with a pectic enzyme. I did a peach mead once and ran in to the same thing. Chilled it, used a fining agent, but there was still a haze that wouldn’t go away. I went to my LHBS and asked one of the guys about it. He gave me a liquid pectic enzyme. About half a dozen drops and all the haze dropped out over night. Normally it should be added before the fruit, but it worked fine for me adding it afterward on that particular occasion.
Pour yourself a glass of it then sip it while you read the guidelines of the possible categories. Decide if it fits the guidelines. Based on your description, I’d say it won’t do well as a blonde ale, but you’re the one tasting the beer.
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the feedback. I’ll probably be entering it as a fruit/spice beer based on feedback and that I’m less likely to go wrong there. Just a little concerned about how light the flavors are for that category. Then again, I’d concerned of something, regardless.
Having judged those categories a few times, I can say that a nice hint of spice and fruit will often be better than overwhelming with fruit and spice. One criticism I hear on a regular basis from other judges is that they want to be able to still pick out the base beer and a light hand on the fruit and spice in this case might just do that.
Best of luck and Cheers. A good beer is a welcomed beer.
