A catch-all for beers whose defining feature is an unusual ingredient, process, or combination that no standard style describes. The base can be anything; the category exists to give distinctive one-off and hybrid beers a home.
Origin
No catalog of styles can anticipate every beer a creative brewer will make. This category emerged to recognize that reality — a deliberate home for beers defined by an unusual ingredient or process rather than by a historical type. As brewing has grown more experimental, the need for such a flexible category has only grown with it.
Notes
A grab-bag label. If a beer is built around a twist that doesn’t fit a named style — an unusual adjunct, a blend of traditions, an experimental process — it tends to land here.
Defining examples
(varies — any beer defined by an unusual ingredient or process)