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Styles · Kentucky Common

Beer style · BJCP 2021 27A

Kentucky Common

Historical Beer

Published ranges These are the ranges the BJCP 2021 guidelines publish for this style.

Original gravity
1.044–1.055
Final gravity
1.010–1.018
Bitterness
15–30 IBU
Color
11–20 SRM (22–39 EBC)
Alcohol
4.0–5.5 % ABV

What it is

A cheap, quick-turnaround dark ale once brewed around Louisville from a corn-heavy grist with a little caramel and black malt. It drinks like a light, grainy brown ale with a hint of coffee-ish roast, faint sourness in some interpretations, and a clean, easy finish.

Flavor

What a Kentucky Common should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Room for floral, herbal or spice.

Malt

Grainy, with room for caramel, sweet/honey, toasty, chocolate or coffee/roast.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for fruity esters.

Hops that suit it

The traditional choice

What Kentucky Common has classically been brewed with.

Also right on character

Varieties whose loudest notes all sit on this style’s hop wheel, best fit first. How much to use is the recipe’s question; these are the ones that taste right.

And 5 more hops whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

And 35 more yeasts whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.