CLASSIFICATION: STYLE, SUBSTYLE fields

The beers are divided in main styles and substyles, approximately along the lines of Michael Jackson "Beer Companion". The main distinction is the fermentation (Ale/Lager/Hybrids/Lambics) but this main subdivision is not so scientific, so I classified Stouts and Wheat beers separately, to be able to have further distinction in the subtypes and not to have too many beers in the "Ale Style". For the same reason I divided a bit artificially the Lager into four main types according to strength and colour. A "special" main style is also included a bit arbitrarily.

Substyles include classical (Stouts:Dry/Imperial/Sweet ecc.) and regional (Ale:English Brown,.., Belgian Pale,..) variations, or sometimes a key feature of the beer (Special:Rye, Whiskymalt,...).

If the substyle field is missing, this means that the beer does not fit - IMHO - in any category but is of a (sub)style of its own (this happens in the Ale group of beers) as is the case of many Belgian ales; or that I can't or want to classify it more specifically, this happens frequently in the Lager type. Or, simply, I am still unsure about the its classification.

The substyle classification of Pale Lagers is very poor for many reasons, the first is that it's the group I am less interested in and I am not an expert in Lagers; also, sometimes the distinction between styles are very subtle and I did not start many years ago to record each beer I had according to substyles etc. Maybe some reader could give me some help and suggestions...

A note about Abbey and Trappist styles: they are actually "origin denominations" and not "style classifications".
You can still trace the true Trappist beers looking for "Trappist" in the "Brewery" field.

STRENGTH:PLATO,ALCV fields

This also need some explanation. Alcohol is always by volume, no big problems here.
Original gravity (%sugar content before fermentation) is in degrees Plato, that is % by weigth. If I have this specification in other formats like:
- Density, a.k.a Original Gravity (OG)
- % by volume
- Belgian degrees,
I convert this into Plato and keep trace in the "Note" field of the original format of that value.
Sources of the data are the label in first place, then other sources like books and Internet etc. Many sources (including labels!, but also MJ books for examples) are quite approximate, sometime the rough formula Plato=OG(points)/4 is used, while I use a more accurate formula. If I find both Plato and OG in a label or book and they do not match with my formula, I have to cross check with other sources or just guess which value is true. Another problem is this: Italian beers are usually specified in degrees by volume which I convert in %weight, so you can find that some Italian Special beers at 13% sacc.vol are just 12.4 Plato. The problem is that I found out that many foreign beers imported (and re-labelled) in Italy have the (original) value in %weigth, but with the label saying "%volume" erroneously. I decided so that any foreign beer with a gravity number specified will be considered as "Plato" whatever the label is saying.
I hope I have been clear; you will find numbers and formulas in another section of this site (try the "Miscellaneous" page in the future)

RATINGS: V field

My ratings are in my old Italian school scale, that is 0 to 10
6=sufficient
10=perfection
You will note that most beers have no rating at all, and that the minimum score is 6.25
The reason of both is that I am very careful with my rating (may be I am too "good") and I usually wait to taste a beer at least twice to give it a score; particularly if it has to be very high or very low. Also, of course I am not inclined to taste many times beers that I did not like the first time or were not very interesting, just to give them a number anyway. So these get no scores at the end. At last I decided to omit entirely the ratings of ordinary or bad beers and to mark up just the medium-good, good and excellent ones.
If I taste a beer for the first time, and can not decide a rating but I think it is quite good, I put a "0" in the database, meaning a score that could be 8.0 or grater, usually between 8.5 and the maximum.
So, a beer with no rating nor a "+" is either unexceptional (or bad), or I have tried it not many times and did not "hit" me as an outstanding beer IN THAT PARTICULAR OCCASION.
Lambic are so different and difficult to compare to other beers, and it's not easy to me to rate them as I am not an expert. So if I don't give them a score it is only for this reason and not because they are not outstanding.

NATIONALITY: NA field
The parenthesis mean that the brewery is of that country, but the example I tasted is brewed in another country under license.

DATE field
This is the date I first tasted the beer. If I did not record the exact day, I usually put the first day of the month.
All the beer data usually refer to the version at the time of the tasting (if tasted once) or to the most recent data if I drink it regularly. Sorry if that is not very accurate!

N field
It is just a serial number to identify the beer. It is approximately crescent with the date, but sometime I remember too late to put an old beer in the database after I have recorded some new ones, so the former could get a higher N than the latter.

LABEL field
Denotes if I have a GIF or JPEG of the label of the beer. I have the label of about 75% of the beer tasted, but I digitized only 25% of them.
E0 means main label, C0 the collar, R0 the back label. E1, R1 ecc. mean other label versions of the same beer. Together to the serial N this helps me to name my label image files.

NAME, BREWERY fields
Need no explanation I hope

NOTE field
specifies the original format of the gravity value:
O=Original gravity
P=Plato
S=degrees by % volume
B=Belgian Degrees
X=Value given is uncertain or approximate

COMMENTS are sometimes provided in italian and english.

That'all, I hope it was not too much and you could read it through. If so, it's better for you to relax and have a good beer. Which one to choose? Well, you should really have a look at the Beer Database...