Thumbs up as we welcome the BJCP's long-anticipated bee style guideline revisions.

The BJCP's completely updated beer style guidelines are on the street, and Draft Magazine offers a few take-aways:

Every few years, the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) issues its Bible: a collection of beer style guidelines that inform homebrew competitions. They’re also sometimes used to judge professional brewing competitions, and to generally set a framework for a style. Like the Bible, these guidelines are taken as honest truth by some, while others choose to interpret them as they see fit. Without wading too far into that debate, we can say that the issuing of revised guidelines always reflects the beer world at its current time. The last revision came in 2008; seven years later, the BJCP officers have released a guide with notable additions and changes.

It will take a while to absorb the contents of this truly major overhaul, although these three additions are eye-catching:

• 21B Specialty IPA, by color (black, red and white) and nationality (Belgian).
• 27 Historical Beer, ranging from Kentucky Common to Sahti.
• 28 American Wild Ale, in three verses.

In recent years, I've organized the Gravity Head program by style. My practiced routine probably has gone flying out the window with the introduction of these guidelines -- so it looks like I'll be hitting the books earlier than usual in preparation for Gravity Head 2016.

BEER JUDGE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM: 2015 STYLE GUIDELINES