The BJCP Tasting Exam (Beer Judging Exam)

BJCP stands for “Beer Judge Certification Program”. Mike and I have been taking classes for the past year, tasting classic beers in every beer style and judging them based on 5 categories – Aroma, Appearance, Flavor, Mouthfeel, and Overall Impression. We started the class as beer snobs, knowing we liked good beer, but not always knowing how to articulate WHY we like certain styles or brand names compared with others. Throughout the class we learned how to verbalize flavors and aromas (whether good or “off”) and how to score beers based on the basic categories.

Yesterday we took the “final exam” to become provisional judges (so we can judge homebrew competitions). The exam consists of 6 different beers administered by the exam coordinator in 15 minute intervals. I thought mechanical engineering exams were intense… but the 1.5 hours of swirling, sniffing, and sipping turned out to be just as intense!

We will not know how well we did for several months. Our papers need to be scanned, graded, double checked, and finally approved for grade distribution.

 

With the beer knowledge that we have acquired through this class, we are excited to put together tasting classes like this at our own place once we are up and running!

Real Estate Shopping and Beer Judging

We are still looking for real estate. We are finishing up our business plan with the financial information and the last piece to the puzzle is the lease price and square foot size. Ideas keep falling through for one reason or another. It is hard to sit still and not get anxious. With the holiday week upon us, the real estate shopping is slow. It has been a strange week. So, instead of real estate shopping, we will be studying and practicing our judging skills for our upcoming Beer Judge Certification Exam next week!

Who are "we"?

The "we" I keep referring to as I type this blog is me and my husband. We are homebrewers and craft beer lovers and we are working on this company to share our passion with others. I (Dayna Tran) have been brewing commercially for a while now and I am starting to branch out to work on my own thing. No, we don't have a location yet, but we are currently working to resolve that! Hopefully you can enjoy these blog posts as we set out on this journey together. There is a long road ahead, but we are so excited to continue along!

Beer Judge Certification Program

We are in the midst of taking our BJCP (beer judge certification program) exams to become certified beer judges. For the past few months we have been taking classes to prepare. These classes have been a wealth of knowledge about beer styles, flavors, and aromas. We both passed part 1 of the exam process (a 200 question exam within 1 hour). Within the next month we will take part 2, the tasting exam. The results from part 2 will take several months to get back, but we look forward to positive results!

Thanks to Wikipedia:

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May.^[1] Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

We cannot forget the fact that yes, local breweries are closed, but it is not just to make sure we grill outside and enjoy craft beer from a can instead.

We are free to be outside drinking craft beer from a can for a reason. I think we can all lift our glasses (or cans if you really prefer...) to that!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!

It has been a crazy week. As Friday approaches, we have new people to contact and more work for the weekend piles up. We are getting more and more busy with plans and loving every minute of it!

It is important to keep family towards the top of your priority list in life. We are planning a fun Memorial Day with the fam and we are looking forward to it! There will of course be homebrew and craft beer in the plans though!

We are still fixing up the business plan and financial model. It takes a lot of time to get it all just right! It is so hot tonight and we don't have AC, so things are working extra slow I think! We are still working on our dream though, so I guess that is all that matters.