No more making fun of the BJCP and their styles guidelines for me, as I'm now an official part of it. For those who don't know, the BJCP is the main sanctioning body for homebrew competitions and beer style guidelines. Now I just need to judge in 19 more competitions and I'll be a "National" ranked judge (at my current rate of 1 per year it will take awhile). I'll be interested to see all the swag mentioned in the email (especially the wallet card).----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Mike,
I am sending out your results and info tomorrow from the exam you took in Rockville, MD on 6/14/2008. You should receive this info in less than a week. If you do not please let me know. Your packet will include your Certificate, Wallet Card, Judging Record, Cover Letter and, if you are a new judge, a membership guide. If your score resulted in a promotion, your new pin is also included.
Your exam results:
Written Score: 85
Tasting Score: 81
Total Score: 84
BJCP Rank: Recognized
Congratulations on being part of the BJCP,
Susan Ruud
Assistant Exam Director
Congrats! Are there many local events for you to judge at?
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. I was all down on the BJCP as well, but now I'm thinking I should start the training too, if only so I get better at judging my own beers.
ReplyDeleteWhich leads me to a question. How did you get started in the program? Did you start out with regular beer tasting books and that sort of thing?
Not many local comps, BURP's Spirit of Free Beer, and a couple county fairs are the only BJCP ones around here as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteI started out reading reviews on Beer Advocate for commercial beers I was drinking, seeing if I could pick up the same things that the raters did (you could do this in person if you had experienced beer taster friends). After getting confident about my ability to perceive the flavors, and the general lingo I started writing reviews (nearly 200 in all). After awhile I got bored of reviews and stopped writing them.
My local homebrew club puts on a 6 week BJCP prep course ever year or so, the most recent time I signed up. The course consisted of sampling/reviewing/talking beer and beer styles. After 4+ years of homebrewing and beer nerdery I didn’t need to do much outside of committing to memory as much of the BJCP style guidelines as possible. There are some key things to know, like a “classic example” of each style, cities associated with styles, how to calculate malt/hop bills by hand, and the BJCP ranks/purpose/ethics.
Here is a good place to start: http://www.bjcp.org/examcenter.php
Congratulations and welcome to judging. I'm a National judge and it took me a bit over 3 years to gain the points needed, so you might make it sooner than you think. Btw, as soon as you get your card, laminate it! The print rubs of pretty easily.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Mike! Anyone who has a beer judged by you should be grateful. With your experience and passion the BJCP is lucky to have you. Now hopefully there will be more events in our area in the future!
ReplyDeleteI took the BJCP exam along with the likes of some chemical engineers and other brainiacs, and they and other experienced folk liked to commiserate over how the exam was the hardest they'd ever taken.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure I'd go that far. (If it were, wouldn't I have done a lot worse?) Besides, how many other tests do you get to drink beer in the middle of??