What do EBC and IBU stand for?

Every now and then, you've probably seen it on a beer label. Or you might be scrolling through our website and notice them: EBC and IBU. They're not there just for show, of course. These abbreviations provide information about the color and bitterness of the beer.

What is EBC?

EBC stands for European Brewery Convention. This is an organization that deals with all technical and scientific aspects of brewing in Europe. One of the things they focus on is the color of the wort and the beer. So, on your label, you'll see the letters EBC followed by a number. That number corresponds to the color of the beer. The higher the number, the darker the beer. Below you can see some examples with our beers.

What is IBU?

The other letters you might encounter on your beer label are IBU, which stands for International Bitterness Unit. Each beer style has quite a wide range within which its bitterness can fall. More importantly: IBU does not indicate how bitter the beer tastes (as this can also vary per person), but how many iso-alpha acids are present in the beer. And these iso-alpha acids are found in the hops used.

So, for each beer style, there are differences in bitterness within the style, but you can say something about how bitter a beer should be. Beers like Weizens and New England IPAs will usually not be bitter at all. Porters can have more bitterness, and IPAs and (American) barley wines can have an IBU above 100. Not that a person can distinguish an IBU above 100, by the way. But it does look good on your label. Below you will find the IBU for some of our beers.

Did you know that on our webshop, we indicate the IBU and EBC for every beer? Go explore and order a few different beers with totally diverse IBU and/or EBC values. Because while reading about it is good, tasting, seeing, and experiencing it is much more fun, of course!

So, check the beer style, EBC, and IBU on the beer label and see and taste if the style, color, and bitterness are what you would expect. Does the color match the style? Does the bitterness match the style? And if not: does the beer taste good? Because that's still the most important thing, of course!