Guide: Path to the BJCP certifications
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) is an American based program that certifies beer judges around the world. Their focus is to disseminate beer culture, while promoting, managing and judging local homebrewing competitions, to help improving the quality of the handcrafted/homemade products. The evaluation of beer in these contests, is made on a proper scoresheet, based on pre-established beer styles guidelines. Obtaining the certification is important then for judging from small to big competitions. As it is slightly difficult to obtain, it has also become a sort of professional qualification for those willing to work in the beer industry.
“It’s tough, but fair” — BJCP slogan.
Online test
The BJCP is made up of three steps or levels, but most of the brewers certificate only for the first two. It all starts with an online theoretical test. The content is based on the BJCP style guidelines, which covers topics related to beer production, sensory analysis, beer styles, beer service, as well as how the program functions itself. It consists in 180 questions, which can vary in format (true-false, multiple choice, multiple choice — multiple answer, etc.), to be completed within only 1 hour, with a cost of 10 dollars for a single attempt, or $20 for up to 3.
The time available is very short for a reason: to prevent people from consulting either on google or the BJCP guidelines. Even if you manage to do it so, be aware that for some questions you will not find answers anywhere. So, the recommendation is to do it only when you feel 100% secure with your knowledge, which comes naturally if you invest a considerate amount of time in studying. If you have great experience as a homebrewer, you can succeed as well. You can register on the BJCP website and take a free trial with 20 questions to see how it looks like. This way you can already check what to expect from the test.
After passing the first test, you will receive a Provisional Judge certificate via email, and you will have up to a year from this date to take the Tasting Exam, which will actually certify you as a judge (at different levels, according to your score). After receiving the Provisional Certificate, you can already participate in BJCP-sanctioned competitions. As the Provisional title is only valid for 1 year, you should do the Tasting during this period, otherwise you’ll have to take the online exam again.
Tasting Exam — Practical Tasting Exam
The Tasting Exam is the second step of the path to the BJCP certification program. The first thing to have in mind here is that you should check the event calendar on the BJCP website. There, you can see where the exams are being held and contact the organizer to make a reservation, because sometimes they are very disputed, especially the ones outside the US.
The Tasting consists of evaluating 6 beer samples, which can be commercial or homemade. Judgment is made on the standard BJCP beer scoresheet. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a blind test, as it happens in some Beer Sommelier contests. You will judge beer knowing, in theory, to which style each sample belongs. Confusing? We’ll explain.
They are brought sequentially to your table for judging, and the organizers announce the style in advance. The important thing here is to analyze if the presented beer represents the announced style: how it looks, smells, tastes, and possibly to point flaws. So it’s not just about finding out what style the beers belong to. And, attention! It may happen that the organizers announce one style, and actually bring you another. This way, you could judge, for example, a German Pils (unknowingly) as if it was a Munich Helles. You are suppose to find the “errors” of this Helles, saying that it does not exemplify the category announced, writing at the sheet why it doesn’t represents the style.
In a Tasting that took place in February 2018 these were the samples to be analyzed:
1st — Czech Premium Pils, homebrewed, with diacetyl and oxidation.
2nd — Hefeweizen, from Schneider.
3rd — Belgian Pale Ale, homebrewed, with severe contamination problems.
4th — American Ipa, brewed at a local brewery, bottled days before the tasting.
5th — Baltika’s Baltic Porter, listed as a reference for the style by the BJCP style guidelines.
6th — Belgian Dark Strong Ale, or Quadruppel, by La Trappe, which was announced as a Dubbel, meaning you had to judge the sample of a Quadruppel as if it were a Dubbel.
The total time available for the exam is 1 and a half hour, to judge 6 samples, which gives you an average of 15 minutes for the evaluation of each. In parallel to the exam, normally in another room, the Proctors also take the same test. They are experienced judges assigned to build the correct answers. They have access to the style guidelines and can talk to each other. Generally (it is not a rule), they have a longer time to evaluate the samples, because they need to put twice as much information into the scoresheet. This is how the exam correction works: your sheets are compared to those of the Proctors, and the closer they are to each other, in terms of information and grading, the higher you score.
“The BJCP gives a minimum grade of 13, as a courtesy, for the effort of making the beer.”
The 5 criteria that will form the grade are: 1 — ability to perceive flavors, both positive and negative; 2 — level of completeness of the form, description, detail of the sensory evaluation; 3 — style knowledge, which is basically pointing out what is in or out of style in that sample; 4 — cordiality and tips that you leave for the brewer, giving feedback on where he/she should improve, how and why; 5 — Lastly the score accuracy given for each beer, which goes from 0 to 50, which is worth around 20% of the grade. According to the organizers, the last one is the most difficult for beginners, because when a beer is good, we tend to give high grades. But what matters here is to judge beer styles, how they fit or not the guidelines.
“Good grading comes with time”
Ranking and certification levels
There are different levels of certification, according to the passing scores: 60 to 69% to reach the Recognized level; 70 to 79% for Certified; 80 to 89% for National; and over 90% for Master.
For those who wish to move forward with the program, reaching the National and Master levels, they will still have to take the Written Exam, which is considered the most difficult of all. In addition to passing this written exam, many experience points as a judge are required as well.
“The difference between Beer Sommelier and Beer Judge is that the Sommelier is trained to catch the best points of a beer, and the judge to criticize”.
After the exams
It can take up to 9 months for you to have the result of the Tasting Exam. Normally, when the BJCP receives the papers, it automatically assigns an ID for each registration email. Sometimes the ID is granted only when the test result comes out, but this is not usual. With this ID you can login and access a restricted area in the website. There you can check your the events and judgments you participated, and you can also request a badge. You will have access to the scanned PDF of your Tasting Exam, as soon as the result is available.
In addition to the Style Guidelines PDF and the Scoresheets, the BJCP website has a great number of resources and study materials, such as an excellent off-flavors table, a hops guide, and a manual for how to become an excellent judge.
Good study, don’t forget to have a beer while reading!
*This article was originally produced by the author for The Beer Times, and also posted on Ladobier.
