BJCP course?

[Siborg]

Well, yes, there IS that...occasionally..

But!! For the most part, there's great beers on offer & you just gotta take the good with the bad.

The beauty is that as a capable/trained/accredited judge, you get to evaluate them, acknowledge the good attributes, Identify the bad ones & improve your own brewing as a result. THAT's the benefit to you as a brewer!

Yeah, judging is great for all of those reasons. I've been out of the loop for quite some time (including actually brewing) and I'm only just starting up with that. It'd be good to try and get back to help out with judging, further develop my evaluation skills then aim for a higher score on the exam.

Anyways, do the course and help out with some comps if you can. I don't understand why people shy away from it.

 

[doon]

I would be judging as much as I could! No point in doing course then not judging

 

[Edgebrew]

Hi. Did anything become of this thread/course? I'm in melbourne and also interested.

Cheers.

 

[MartinOC]

I know of a 90-minute tasting exam that's to be held in Alphington (Melb.) on 5/7/14 & a written exam a coupe of months later (assuming you get the prerequisite 80% on the tasting exam), but if you haven't boned-up on your styles & got currency in your judging skills, it's probably a no-go for most.

I don't have precise details, but if folks want me to find-out more, I can certainly attempt to do so.

 

[manticle]

If I wasn't moving on that exact date I'd go for it. Got 75 and would be interested on improving to 80+ and sitting the written. Around the corner from me too.

 

[Edgebrew]

I know of a 90-minute tasting exam that's to be held in Alphington (Melb.) on 5/7/14 & a written exam a coupe of months later (assuming you get the prerequisite 80% on the tasting exam), but if you haven't boned-up on your styles & got currency in your judging skills, it's probably a no-go for most.

I don't have precise details, but if folks want me to find-out more, I can certainly attempt to do so.

Thanks but I would probably be interested in attending a study course before doing that. So you can judge without BJCP or other certificate? How do you get experience to do that?

Hmm. Looks like I need to join a homebrew club. Listening to the BN is no substitute.

 

[manticle]

You can judge without BJCP. Experience is gained by judging - usually a novice judge will be paired with someone more experienced on their first go or so.

 

[MartinOC]

Experience is gained by judging.

...and drinking a LOT of different beers.

Guys, you need to realise that there's NO Catch-22 here. It's not like you have to have certification in order to judge, but you have to judge to get your certification.

The biggest problems I find with novices is that they feel intimidated at the thought of pulling someone else's beer apart & don't feel confident in their own knowledge, skills & abilities to do so.

I used to judge for many years, but I've gone down the Stewarding path in the past 10 years or so. I judged at State & National Competitions with absolutely NO certification whatsoever, but I was still considered a good judge (tough, but consistently-so).

As Manticle pointed-out, perhaps the best way to learn to judge is to get involved in local/club comp's & sit-in with a panel of experienced judges & get your feet wet, listen to what they're saying & see if you can pick-up the same things.

Learning & experience by DOING....

 

[manticle]

And comps in vic always need more judges.

 

[MartinOC]

For those interested in pursuing this, here's a link to Gordon Strong's presentation at the NHC 2014 regarding the proposed changes to the BJCP style guidelines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQgPmW1LboU&feature=youtu.be

The good thing is that Australian Sparkling Ale is now recognised as a distinct style (as opposed to being described as a variant of California Common or a Cream-Ale) after a "hammering" (as Gordon puts it) by Aussie lobbyists :beerbang:

 

[Parks]

& a written exam a coupe of months later (assuming you get the prerequisite 80% on the tasting exam),

I hope they haven't booked them too close. We are 4 months now after the tasting exam and don't have the results yet.

 

[Edgebrew]

Thanks for the info. Ill look into helping at the vic competitions. Looks like fun.

 

[Parks]

I hope they haven't booked them too close. We are 4 months now after the tasting exam and don't have the results yet.

Just looked and the written is at most 8 weeks later - no chance you can take the written if doing the tasting in July.

 

[geneabovill]

Sooooooo... Never did hear back from the blokes at betterbeerscores.com - my guess is they don't wanna stay up late/get up early for us.

Any other ideas?

 

[danestead]

I dont have any ideas however I and 1 or 2 other mates are keen if the opportunity comes up

 

[geneabovill]

Cheers mate. I'm still working on finding us all something - just strapped for time at the minute with a new baby.

I'll keep people posted on this thread as things progress (or not) and anyone who has leads for me to follow, feel free to post here or flick me a PM.

 

[Crofty]

Not BJCP, but it noticed this section in the CBIA announcement of the inaugural awards later this year.

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=efc68a34ee82c833224e6e5b8&id=a9fcdcccc2

Start Quote~
“We’re lucky to have so many experienced judges in Australia, many of them with international experience,” said Bonighton.

“With the Craft Beer Awards we have decided to follow the World Beer Cup model and not appoint a Head Judge. This will ensure that all of Australia’s best brewers will be able to enter their beers with no concerns of a conflict of interest.”

“We are also committed to bringing on the next generation of judges and will be instituting an Associate Judges programme, the details of which we will be releasing shortly,” said Bonighton.
~ end quote

I'm probably reading too much into this but wondering how this associate judges program will work.... Wishful thinking perhaps?

 

[geneabovill]

Could be a goer. I've sent emails off to IBD and Sebel too.. Might be a stretch though, they're both brewing organisations, not judging.. But still.

 

[Moad]

Lost track of this thread, I'm still keen to do this whether it is through the local brew club or webinar etc.

Would prefer it to be in person if possible.

keen though...