The Brewers Association has added seven new beer styles to the Beer Style Guidelines in advance of registration for the 2025 Great American Beer Festival® (GABF®) competition. The addition of these new styles to the guidelines represents both the diversification of independent brewers’ product portfolios to meet consumer preferences and the innovation that is an integral part of the craft brewing culture.

The new additions to the guidelines are:

• Four styles—Light, Pale, Amber, and Dark—that represent the range of Mexican-Style Lager. Formerly rolled into larger, more ambiguous lager categories for the GABF competition, the uniqueness and growing popularity of these styles warrants individual guideline recognition for brewers and judges as subcategories of the International Light Lager, the new International Amber Lager, and the International Dark Lager categories, respectively.

• Czech-Style Amber Lager and Czech-Style Dark Lager. The distinctive side-pour faucet used to dispense Czech-style beers has created renewed brewer and consumer interest in these traditional beers. Along with the addition of these two styles to the guidelines, we have included them as GABF subcategories of the new International Amber Lager category and the International Dark Lager category, respectively. Additionally, the category formerly known as Bohemian-Style Pilsener has been renamed as Czech-Style Pale Lager.

• Representing the constant innovation that is a hallmark of independent brewers, West Coast-Style Pilsener is a new style that balances the fresh, assertive expression of Pacific Northwest and Southern Hemisphere hops with the character and drinkability of a pilsner. This style is a result of brewers’ recent experimentation with high hop levels in lager styles.

“We are proud to honor these traditional brewing styles with a home in the BA Style Guidelines in recognition of their continued and growing popularity here in the United States, as well as in the global beer market. Now these beers will have a distinct home when it comes to competitions like GABF and World Beer Cup, giving them the best opportunity to shine and showcase the artisans making world-class examples of these beers.”

-Chris Williams

Competition Director, Brewers Association