North American Origin Ale Styles
Ale · Dark brown to black
Smoked porters will exhibit mild to assertive smoke malt aroma and flavor in balance with other aroma attributes.
Reading guide · The complete guideline attributes below preserve the source’s qualifications.Varies with porter style
Varies with porter style. No numeric color range is assigned.
Dark brown to black · Illustrative colors on the shared, uneven SRM scale.
Return to color discoveryVaries with porter style
No numeric range is specified.
Varies with porter style
No numeric range is specified.
Brewers Association 2026 · Printed guideline page 16 · PDF page 25. Color graphics are illustrative.
Official style attributes, including what may be present and what should be absent.
Smoked porters will exhibit mild to assertive smoke malt aroma and flavor in balance with other aroma attributes. Black malt character can be present in some porters, while others may be absent of strong roast character. Roast barley character is absent to low depending on underlying porter style being smoked. Medium to high malt sweetness with caramel or chocolate flavor attributes is acceptable.
None to medium
Medium to medium-high
Medium to full
Opaque
Dark brown to black
Low to medium fruity esters are acceptable
When using these guidelines as the basis for evaluating entries at competitions, brewers may be asked to provide supplemental information about entries in this category to allow for accurate evaluation of diverse entries. Such information should include the traditional style of porter as well as the wood type used as a smoke source (e.g. ‘alder smoked brown porter’).
Original Gravity (°Plato) Varies with porter style • Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (°Plato) Varies with porter style • Alcohol by Weight (Volume) 4 Varies with porter style • Hop Bitterness (IBU) Varies with porter style • Color SRM (EBC)