Australian BJCP Course and Exam
Ever thought of expanding your beer and brewing knowledge?
Ever thought of brushing up on your tasting skills?
Then maybe the BJCP is for you!
Details can be found at :
http://astro.phys.unsw.edu.au/~awalsh/ABJCP/
The BJCP is an American based organisation of accredited beer judges. You can learn more through the website:
http://www.bjcp.org
What the BJCP does is run a program of certifying beer judges through an exam process. Once accredited, judges then use those skills to judge at homebrew competitions. I sat this exam when I was in the US, so now I have the unique opportunity to act as administrator for an exam in Australia.
The best resource for details of the exam process is the BJCP website above, and I strongly enourage you to go there and see what it entails. But let me make it clear right from the start, it is a 3 hour written exam, with 4 beer tastings in between. It was one of the hardest exams I have ever done and is not the sort of thing you can just decide to take at the last minute. It requires some preparation. I don't want to put you off so early so let me say that taking the exam comes a great personal reward through the achievement.
I am intending to hold the exam some time in the middle of 2005 (aka June-July-August timeframe) and it will be held in Sydney.
The reason for holding the exam so far in the future is that there will also be a study course beforehand. Details of the study course are on the BJCP website at:
http://www.bjcp.org/study.html
Probably the best way to explain the study course is to tell you what I did:
Each week, the 4 of us taking the exam would meet at someones house one evening. One person in the group would lead a discussion on a brewing topic. For example, yeast. That person would find as much info as they could on yeast (ale vs. lager; environmental requirements; yeast strains; problems) and start the group talking about it with everyone pitching in their knowledge. Also, during the session we would focus on a particular style of beer. As many examples of that style (as is practical) would be obtained and tasted and discussed.
The course has 10 sessions. At the moment I am thinking it would be practical to have a session once every 2 weeks. There would be enough time between the beginning of 2005 and the exam date for this course run on such a schedule.
Obviously, because of the large distances involved, its not practical for everyone over Australia to come to Sydney every other week. But I could envision groups of people (eg. in each city) that meet. The study course can then be run from a centrally administered spot through email or on the web.
As for the exam, there are a limited number of seats available.
Finally, there will be a cost associated with the course and exam. Standard fees for taking the full exam are $US50. At the start of the course, I will ask for $AUD50 and work out the rest closer to the exam date. You will also need to cover other costs. Mainly the cost of tasting beers for each study session (might be $10 a head each session), and the cost of transport to the meeting place. If you are taking the exam, then you will need to cover the cost of transport to Sydney, and your own accomodation, if required.
So, if you are interested in the study course and/or the exam, then please contact me: awalsh at_symbol unsw.edu.au
I hope to get the first study session going by the end of January or early Feb!
