Think You Know Beer?
The Certified Cicerone® exam is in town on April 21, but unfortunately for you it is booked full this time around. It will be back on September 21, so you’ll have a few more months to study before taking one of the hardest tests related to beer.
Not everyone can use the term Cicerone when explaining how educated they are on beer, but I’ve been to bars where they say they’re Certified Beer Specialists. So I asked one bar manager, “What makes you a Certified Beer Specialist?” Her answer, “Because it says so on my shirt.” Not quite the answer I was expecting or hoping for, so I told her about the Certified Beer Server certification through Cicerone. She said she would look into it, but maybe she was just being polite.
Cicerone “certifies and educates beer professionals in order to elevate the beer experience for consumers.” They offer three levels of testing – Certified Beer Server (for those who work with beer at a bar, liquor store, etc.), Certified Cicerone (for those who work more in depth with beer such as distribution, bottle shops, and breweries), and Master Cicerone (for those with encyclopedic knowledge of beer and highly refined tasting ability).
The Certified Beer Server certification is an online exam of 60 multiple choice questions. You need a 75% or better to pass and each payment allows for two attempts. Over 100 people in the Kansas City area are Certified Beer Servers. The cost is relatively low at $69 and would look good on a resumé if you’re looking for a job at a beer bar, distributor, or even a brewery.
The Certified Cicerone certification is much more in depth than the Certified Beer Server and that’s why less than 25 people in our area hold this certification. Well, that and the fact that they just recently started testing in Kansas City. After tomorrow, I hope to see that number much higher. Locally, the testing takes place at Boulevard Brewing Company. It’s a written exam with short answer and essay questions plus tasting and a demonstration component. A grade of 80% overall and at least 70% on the tasting portion are required to pass. The initial test is $395, with retakes being $100 and $175 for tasting and written, respectively.
The toughest of all, Master Cicerone. So tough, only nine people in the world hold this certification. We are lucky enough to have one right here in Kansas City. Neil Witte, who works for Boulevard as a Training/Technical Support Manager, passed the test about 2 1/2 years ago on his third try. At $795 for the initial testing and 80% of the current Master exam price for retakes, it’s not cheap. It’s a two-day exam that includes multiple written, oral, and tasting components. An overall grade of 85% or better is required to pass.
If you’re interested in the tests, here are a few tips to help you pass.
- Drink lots of beer, but really taste each beer and try to pick out flavors and aromas.
- Try different kinds of beer. You may love your IPAs, but it’s a beer test, not an IPA test.
- Study, of course. Read books such as Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher and The Oxford Companion to Beer by Garrett Oliver. You can also use the Certified Cicerone Exam from 2008 made available on Cicerone’s website.
- Attend beer events. Especially homebrewing club meetings where they discuss, at length, types of beers.
- Brew your own beer. National Homebrew Day is May 2nd, so it’s a great time to start getting into it or continue on your path. There will be a few local events to celebrate the day including Missouri Mashers hosting a large brew day at Grain to Glass. Also, 75th Street Brewery is having another Homebrew Contest that starts May 11th.
- Get a job! No, seriously, get a job at a bar, bottle shop, liquor store, brewery – anywhere with beer. The more you’re around it, the more you’ll know.
- If you learn better in a classroom environment, Cicerone has two bootcamps you can attend.
To all those taking the exam tomorrow, Good Luck!
