Style Details

Name
Spi­ce, Herb, or Vege­ta­ble Beer
Cate­go­ry
Spi­ced Beer
BJCP Style Code
30 A
Appearance
Appearance should be appro­pria­te to the declared base beer and declared spe­cial ingre­di­ents. For ligh­ter-colo­red beers with spi­ces, herbs or vege­ta­bles that exhi­bit distinc­ti­ve colors, the colors may be noti­ceable in the beer and pos­si­bly the head. May have some haze or be clear. Head for­ma­ti­on may be adver­se­ly affec­ted by some ingre­di­ents, such as chocolate.
Aro­ma
The cha­rac­ter of the par­ti­cu­lar spi­ces, herbs and/or vege­ta­bles (SHV) should be noti­ceable in the aro­ma; howe­ver, note that some SHV (e.g., gin­ger, cin­na­mon) have stron­ger aro­mas and are more distinc­ti­ve than others (e.g., some vege­ta­bles) – allow for a ran­ge of SHV cha­rac­ter and inten­si­ty from subt­le to aggres­si­ve. The indi­vi­du­al cha­rac­ter of each SHV(s) may not always be iden­ti­fia­ble when used in com­bi­na­ti­on. Hop aro­ma may be absent or balan­ced with SHV, depen­ding on the style. The SHV(s) should add an extra com­ple­xi­ty to the beer, but not be so pro­mi­nent as to unba­lan­ce the resul­ting presentation.
Fla­vour
As with aro­ma, the distinc­ti­ve fla­vor cha­rac­ter asso­cia­ted with the par­ti­cu­lar SHV(s) should be noti­ceable, and may ran­ge in inten­si­ty from subt­le to aggres­si­ve. The indi­vi­du­al cha­rac­ter of each SHV(s) may not always be iden­ti­fia­ble when used in com­bi­na­ti­on. The balan­ce of SHV with the under­ly­ing beer is vital, and the SHV cha­rac­ter should not be so arti­fi­ci­al and/or over­powe­ring as to over­whelm the beer. Hop bit­ter­ness, fla­vor, malt fla­vors, alco­hol con­tent, and fer­men­ta­ti­on by-pro­ducts, such as esters, should be appro­pria­te to the base beer and be har­mo­nious and balan­ced with the distinc­ti­ve SHV fla­vors pre­sent. Some SHV(s) are inher­ent­ly bit­ter and may result in a beer more bit­ter than the declared base style.
Mouth­feel
Mouth­feel may vary depen­ding on the base beer sel­ec­ted and as appro­pria­te to that base beer. Body and car­bo­na­ti­on levels should be appro­pria­te to the base beer style being pre­sen­ted. Some SHV(s) may add addi­tio­nal body, alt­hough fer­men­ta­ble addi­ti­ons may thin out the beer. Some SHV(s) may add a bit of astrin­gen­cy, alt­hough a “raw” spi­ce cha­rac­ter is undesirable.
Over­all Impression
A har­mo­nious mar­ria­ge of SHV and beer, but still reco­gnizable as a beer. The SHV cha­rac­ter should be evi­dent but in balan­ce with the beer, not so for­ward as to sug­gest an arti­fi­ci­al product. 
Comm­ents
Over­all balan­ce is the key to pre­sen­ting a well-made spi­ce, herb or vege­ta­ble (SHV) beer. The SHV(s) should com­ple­ment the ori­gi­nal style and not over­whelm it. The key attri­bu­tes of the declared base style will be dif­fe­rent with the addi­ti­on of spi­ces, herbs and/or vege­ta­bles; do not expect the base beer to tas­te the same as the unadul­tera­ted ver­si­on. Judge the beer based on the plea­sant­ness and balan­ce of the resul­ting com­bi­na­ti­on. The indi­vi­du­al cha­rac­ter of each SHV may not always be indi­vi­du­al­ly iden­ti­fia­ble when used in combination.
Com­mer­cial Examples
Ales­mith Speed­way Stout, Bell’s Java Stout, Ely­si­an Ava­tar Jas­mi­ne IPA, Foun­ders Break­fast Stout, Rogue Chip­ot­le Ale, Traquair Jaco­bi­te Ale, Young’s Dou­ble Cho­co­la­te Stout,
Ori­gi­nal Gravity
0.000 - 0.000 SG
Final Gra­vi­ty
0.000 - 0.000 SG
Color
0 - 0 SRM
Alco­hol
0.0 - 0.0 %vol
Bit­ter­ness
0 - 0 IBU