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American Wild Ale / 28C

Wild Specialty Beer

Unfiltered BJCP Styles Style Profile

Official BJCP guideline sections attached for full style exploration.

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Source
BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines

Overall Impression

An American Wild Ale with fruit, herbs, spices, or other Specialty-Type Ingredients.

Aroma

Variable by base style. The Specialty-Type Ingredients should be evident, as well as the defining characteristics of a wild fermentation per the base style. The best examples will blend the aromatics from the fermentation with the special ingredients, creating an aroma that may be difficult to attribute precisely.

Appearance

Variable by base style, generally showing a color, tint, or hue from any Specialty-Type Ingredient (especially if fruit is used) in both the beer and the head. Clarity can be variable; some haze is not a fault. Head retention is often poor.

Flavor

Variable by base style. The Specialty-Type Ingredients should be evident, as well as the defining characteristics of a wild fermentation per the base style. If fruit was fermented, the sweetness is generally gone so that only the fruit esters typically remain. Fruit and other Specialty-Type Ingredients can add sourness of their own; if so, the sourness could be prominent, but should not be overwhelming. The acidity and tannin from any fruit or other Specialty-Type Ingredients can both enhance the dryness of the beer, so care must be taken with the balance. The acidity should enhance the perception of any fruit flavor, not detract from it. Wood notes, if present, add flavor but should be balanced.

Mouthfeel

Variable by base style. Generally has a light body, lighter than what might be expected from the base style. Generally moderate to high carbonation; carbonation should balance the base style if one is declared. The presence of tannin from some Specialty-Type ingredients (often fruit or wood) can provide a slight astringency, enhance the body, or make the beer seem drier than it is.

Comments

This style is intended for fruited (and other added Specialty-Type Ingredient) versions of other styles within Category 28, not variations of European wild or sour Classic Styles. Fruited versions of Lambic should be entered in 23F Fruit Lambic. Fruited versions of other sour Classic Styles (e.g., Flanders Red, Oud Bruin, Gose, Berliner Weisse) should be entered in 29A Fruit Beer. Beers with sugars and unfermented fruit added post-fermentation should be entered in 29C Specialty Fruit Beer.

Characteristic Ingredients

Virtually any style of beer. Any combination of Sacch, Brett, Lacto, Pedio, or other similar fermenters. Can also be a blend of styles. While cherries, raspberries, and peaches are most common, other fruits can be used as well. Vegetables with fruit-like characteristics (e.g., chile, rhubarb, pumpkin) may also be used. Wood or barrel aging is very common, but not required. Wood with unusual or unique flavor characteristics, or wood previously in contact with other types of alcohol is allowable.

Style Comparison

Like a fruit, herb, spice, or wood beer, but sour or funky.

Commercial Examples

  • Cascade Bourbonic Plague
  • Jester King Atrial Rubicite
  • New Belgium Dominga Mimosa Sour
  • New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red
  • Russian River Supplication
  • The Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme

Style Attributes

craft-style fruit north-america sour specialty-beer wild-fermentation

Similar Styles: How to Tell Them Apart

Use these guideline-based sensory contrasts to organize comparative tasting practice.

These variable American wild beers retain a recognizable base beer while microbial fermentation can add fruit, dryness, funk, acidity, and a lighter body. Brett Beer is fruity or funky but not lactic-sour; Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer adds both sour and wild fermentation character; Wild Specialty Beer adds an evident fruit, herb, spice, wood, or other specialty ingredient to a wild base.

Compare with: 28A. Brett Beer; 28B. Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer

By aroma

  • Wild Specialty Beer must show an evident fruit, herb, spice, wood, or other specialty ingredient alongside defining wild-fermentation aromatics.
  • The ingredient and fermentation character should blend, while Brett Beer and Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer can be complete without an added specialty component.

By taste

  • Wild Specialty Beer combines the base beer and wild fermentation with a recognizable specialty ingredient that may add fruit flavor, acidity, tannin, dryness, or wood notes.
  • Fermented fruit normally loses its simple sweetness, leaving fruit esters integrated with sourness or funk.
  • The ingredient must remain evident without overwhelming the beer's wild character or balance.

Quick tell: An evident specialty ingredient integrated with sour or funky fermentation identifies Wild Specialty Beer.

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