Glossary
Adjunct
Any fermentable source other than malted barley — maize, rice, wheat, oats, sugar, and by extension flavouring additions such as fruit and spice.
The word carries an unearned implication of cheapening. Some adjunct use is about cost: maize and rice are inexpensive sources of fermentable extract that also lighten body and colour. Much of it is not. Oats in a stout, wheat in a witbier, candi sugar in a Belgian tripel and flaked maize in a traditional British mild are all there for the beer rather than the budget.
Sugar in particular is often the opposite of a cheapening agent: it raises alcohol without adding body, which is exactly what a Belgian strong ale needs to stay drinkable at nine percent.
Commonly misunderstood
"Adjunct" is frequently used as a criticism. It is a neutral technical category, and several classic styles depend on it.
Related
- Diastatic power — What must be present to convert unmalted adjuncts.
- Reinheitsgebot — The legislation that restricted adjunct use in Bavaria.
More vocabulary
Aroma hop · Base malt · Bittering hop · Black malt · Brettanomyces · Candi sugar · Chocolate malt · Crystal malt · Dextrin · Dual-purpose hop
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.
Evidence
What BeerHQ knows about this, and how. Every statement carries the state of the evidence behind it rather than being presented flatly as fact.
Adjunct is a neutral technical category for any fermentable other than malted barley, and several classic styles depend on one — oats in stout, wheat in witbier, candi sugar in Belgian strong ale, flaked maize in traditional British mild.
Backed by a source
Sources: The Oxford Companion to Beer — print; Brewing: Science and Practice — print