BJCP class

[danno]

after the first of the year, I'm going to be attending a weekly BJCP class, in prep for the exam. I'm really looking forward to it, I hope to 1) get a better appreciation for style differences, 2) improve my state buds, 3) become a better brewer, 4) become a better contest judge... (not necessarily in that order...)

so, as far as I know, Steveh is the only BJCP certified judge that regularly posts here... (Chris Colby?) Steve, or anyone else that's started the process, can you tell me what your experiences have been with the classes and/or the exam? once I start the class, my plan is to post some tasting notes here, so going forward, please forgive my sure-to-be inconsistant reviews...

[chazwicke]

Good luck Danno, I've considered doing it myself over the years.

[BrewDog]

Danno-

Best of luck on this. Let us know how it goes.

Oh, and I think that BrewMonkey is a BJCP certified judge, too.

[steveh]

No - I'm not certified, just done all of the ground work, even judged as a novice when called on, but every time an exam has been scheduled in my area it's ended up being cancelled! :/

My first advice - be sure there's enough interest and enough students so they don't cancel your class!

The best advice I was given was to read Jackson's New World Guide to Beer and take in his tasting advice along with his style descriptions. Eckhardt's The Essentials of Beer Style was also on our syllabus and I've used it as reference many times.

There's also a Study Guide (http://www.bjcp.org/examcenter.html) at the BJCP web site, providing sample questions and score sheets along with other advice on the exam.

Good luck Danno, and definitely bring the expertise back to us, along with reports on the whole experience if you can.

S.

[davesarman]

Are you doing the classes put on by MHBA? If so, I attended a few of those a couple years ago. Very fun, very informative, I learned a lot. Great classes to attend even if you don't plan on becoming certified. You learn so much about beer, it's worth it. I had to drop out after about 4 classes because of some health issues with my mom that I had to attend to, but have always wanted to take it back up. Perhaps after my kids get a bit older.

[danno]

Originally posted by davesarman
Are you doing the classes put on by MHBA?
yep, that's the one... if anyone else in the area is interested, details are on the Minnesota Homebrewers Assoc. (http://www.mnbrewers.com/) website...