Ever wonder what ABV to shoot for when putting together a recipe for a specific beer style? Below is an analysis of the average ABV content of the top 500 beers by style according to BeerGraphs BAR Score (Beers Above Replacement) as of November, 2014. This should be a good starting point for choosing the alcohol content of your next homebrew, might as well learn from the best beers, they are on the list for a reason. I was shocked to see the average ABV for non-alcoholic beers was 0.00%, who knew? This type of analysis works best for the most popular styles because they represent a larger percentage of the total 500.
Complete List
| American Pale Ale | 5.61% |
| Imperial / Double IPA | 9.73% |
| Russian Imperial Stout | 11.97% |
| Belgian Quad | 11.58% |
| American Imperial / Double Stout | 12.34% |
| American IPA | 6.74% |
| American Barleywine | 13.32% |
| American Pale Wheat Ale | 6.67% |
| Imperial / Double Red Ale | 8.25% |
| American Stout | 11.30% |
| Scottish Ale | 10.20% |
| Lambic | 5.28% |
| American Strong Ale | 13.33% |
| Imperial Oatmeal Stout | 14.00% |
| American Porter | 6.52% |
| Fruit Beer | 5.53% |
| Pale Lager | 6.14% |
| Pumpkin/Yam Beer | 10.07% |
| Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy | 6.48% |
| Irish Dry Stout | 4.75% |
| Radler | 3.35% |
| Cider | 5.00% |
| Belgian Dubbel | 8.00% |
| Old Ale | 14.77% |
| Root Beer | 10.00% |
| Stout | 10.74% |
| American Wild Ale | 7.08% |
| Blonde Lager | 6.45% |
| Oatmeal Stout | 9.32% |
| Saison / Farmhouse Ale | 5.17% |
| Porter | 4.68% |
| Winter Ale | 9.83% |
| Melomel | 0.00% |
| Sour Ale | 5.28% |
| Belgian Tripel | 8.98% |
| Oktoberfest/Märzen | 5.00% |
| Extra Special/Strong Bitter | 12.00% |
| Herbed/Spiced Beer | 7.50% |
| Cream Ale | 5.10% |
| Other | 12.00% |
| Australian Pale Ale | 2.20% |
| Milk / Sweet Stout | 7.18% |
| German Pilsner | 4.90% |
| Malt Liquor | 5.00% |
| English Strong Ale | 12.00% |
| Harvest Ale | 6.75% |
| Gueuze | 5.75% |
| Non-Alcoholic | 0.00% |
| Imperial / Double Porter | 11.80% |
| Belgian Blonde / Golden | 4.25% |
| Pumpkin / Yam Beer | 8.60% |
| Flanders Red Ale | 7.00% |
| Black IPA / Cascadian Dark Ale | 8.30% |
| English Barleywine | 12.75% |
| American Amber / Red Ale | 5.80% |
| Helles Lager | 4.97% |
| Gose | 4.30% |
| Kölsch | 4.50% |
| Pilsner | 5.10% |
| Berliner Weisse | 3.57% |
| Weizenbock | 0.00% |
| Golden Ale | 11.70% |
| American Brown Ale | 5.30% |
| Mead | 14.00% |
| Wheat Wine | 14.00% |
| Hefeweizen | 5.40% |
| Witbier | 7.50% |
| Baltic Porter | 9.67% |
| Eisbock | 15.50% |
| Belgian Strong Dark Ale | 10.40% |
| Blonde Ale | 7.00% |
| American Blonde Ale | 5.15% |
| American Adjunct Lager | 4.20% |
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