Any certified Cicerones here?

I am a Certified Beer Server and am studying for the Certified Cicerone exam. I don’t work in the industry and probably never will. I just love beer and wanted to learn more.

As others have noted in this thread, I can’t imagine that having a CBS or CC level wouldn’t be a tie-breaker when applying for jobs. So since you want to be in the industry, it makes sense to make a small investment of time and money to get the CBS certification.

The CC certification, level 2 of the 4 Cicerone levels, requires a broad knowledge set about several topics: keeping and serving beer, beer styles, beer flavor and evaluation, beer ingredients and brewing processes, and pairing beer with food. This level requires a more significant investment of study time and money. Currently, due to COVID, the Cicerone program offers the written portion of the CC exam online. The tasting/demonstration portion must be done in person after the pandemic. The cost of the online written exam is $225 and the cost of the tasting/demonstration exam is $175. If you don’t pass, additional attempts in either case cost less than the initial test.

If you’re serious about working in the industry, then formal Cicerone training has to help. You’ll learn a lot and have the proof as you pass the first two levels - or three, if you’re bold enough to go there. I would say the CC level is worth pursuing if you want to work in the industry and/or enjoy learning about beer. The CC exam is challenging, so you certainly need to be motivated by career and/or love of beer to prepare for it.

 

I've passed the Certified Beer Server test, mainly because I just wanted to see if I could do it or not. I don't work in the industry, but even then I've thought about going for the Certified Cicerone level at some point just to further my beer education. I do think there's a place for Cicerones in the beer industry, I know I'd take someone more seriously when I was drinking at a bar/brewery if they took the time to study any of the Cicerone levels. It's always nice going somewhere and the people working there can actually tell you what kind of beer it is instead of just saying something is a "seasonal" brew.

 

My situation is similar to @bluejacket74 and @Brugesman in that i don't work in the industry having made my living in the governmental accounting for 32 years and consulting for a technology company part-time the last couple of years.

While schlepping away as a full time worker i harbored a dream of home brewing upon retirement to begin my brewing scientific education and maybe working in the craft beer industry with acquired knowledge and the cicerone certification if i could obtain it successfully. Plus i wanted to test my beer knowledge so i took and passed the Certified Beer Server test a year before i was set to retire.

Upon looking into the Cicerone level and the financial and time commitments that go with it i decided not to go down that path. And with the ever increasing quality of the commercial brewery scene i determined not to waste my time home brewing when the quality of today's beers are so much better than i could dream of brewing.

So i continue to glean the BA site to grow my knowledge and when opportunities come up i can share some of that knowledge with friends that have less experienced pallets.

Cheers,
Tom

 

Not at all.
That's why I don't post snobby beer reviews.
Can't tell dark stone fruit or currant flavors apart. Example.

 

Ha! I'm sort of in the same boat as you on the beer reviews.
I sort of quote Yogi Berra on that one, "I don' know art, I just know what I like."
I can tell if a beer has depth of flavors, but wouldn't be able to say what they are.

 

I found a mock test. I’m tired, home from work, done no research at all and pretty buzzed and scored a 43 out of 60 on a certified servers test.

I would like my chances on that.

 

Tasting is very individual and is a tough skill to develop. I often get my missus to tell me what she gets in a beer as she's better at naming the flavour she tastes than I am. I also find I will get a particular flavour in my head and then I seem to taste it in every beer I open. From doing multiple tastings of the same beers close together I discovered how much my palate could change for no apparent reason. From there I decided I couldn't rate beers as how could I know what my palate was doing on any given day?

I've tried to get our liquor board to hire me as a beer consultant but no luck yet. It pisses me off they don't have any real beer people on staff. Wine and liquor yes Beer no.

 

It's worth mentioning that to pass the tasting portion, you'll need to know your off-flavors e.g. diacetyl, acetaldehyde, MBT, etc.

Unless you're a homebrewer, you (hopefully) haven't encountered these much because they shouldn't be in commercial-quality beers.

Buying an off-flavor training kit is a worthwhile investment.

 

In 2015 I attended a presentation at the National Homebrewers Conference on the topic of off-flavors. They served you five small beers; one was the base beer and the four others were doctored with stuff to create off-flavors:

· Diacetyl

· Metallic

· DMS

· One other that I can't remember

It was indeed an interesting exercise. Afterwards I looked into obtaining an off-flavor kit but when I saw the price I said to myself: Whoa! I think I’ll pass.

I am not a member of a homebrew club but I have read/heard where for some clubs they all chipped in to buy a kit. Maybe a local homebrew club will permit somebody studying for the Cicerone test to join them for off-flavor night at the club?

Cheers!

 

When I went for my exam the first time Mirella Amato, Canada's first Master Cicerone, held an off flavour workshop for everyone writing the exam. I learned a ton there that I would never have been able to learn otherwise. Years later connected to the beer of the month club I helped run I ran an off flavour workshop for interested people. It was partly to help me in my studying for the Advanced Cicerone. Very valuable area of study. I would recommend getting people together to do one and help offset the cost of the kits. You want a low key unobtrusive beer as the control. Mirella uses Labatts Blue light if I remember correctly. I used a light beer from the brewery where I hosted the event for mine. I would certainly host more off flavour courses if there was interest. Another thing you might find is people who can or can't taste specific flavours. Mirella learned that she could not taste diacetyl or some such flavour that I can't remember.

 

During the presentation I attended (post #49) the presenter made mention that something like 20% of people are 'blind' to tasting diacetyl. He made specific mention that this was the case for him but he learned that he could perceive another aspect (a slickness I think he said) when the diacetyl level is above the taste threshold.

Cheers!

P.S. Sometimes I wish I was 'blind' to diacetyl. I pick it up at low levels and I am not a fan of the flavor (buttery for me) that it presents for my palate.

 

Like I said, everyone is different and you won't know you can't taste something unless you're in a control environment to find out. As of yet I've been Abe to taste all of the off flavours I've tried to varying degrees. I find with the kits the ratios don't always seem to work as advertised. But maybe it's my palate?

 

The off flavor kits tend to give a heavy dose to the beers. My opinion is that for education purposes the kits are to expose people to what aromas and flavors the compound gives off. I'm not blond to diacetyl, but I'm not sensitive either. I have no problem picking it up in a dosed sample.

An Advanced Cicerone friend that has an excellent palate found a complete blindness to chlorophynol, even after spiking the sample 3 times!

Large breweries will test the individuals that sit on tasting panels for blind spots. The make sure that every compound being examined is covered by at least one person on the panel.

 

Twenty eight years in the beer biz...became in Cicerone #72 in March of 2010, but it made sense in terms of advancing my career. Also attended Siebel in 2007 for the same reason and was fortunate to have Ray Daniels and Randy Mosher as instructors.

I'm never the first the first person in the room to bring up the program, but love to help those looking to take the exam. People make fun of an experienced tasters vocabulary, but I purchased a new spice every Friday with the intent of tasting it raw, making a tea with it, and using it in cooking during the course of the weekend. As a result I developed a minimum of three new flavor descriptors every week. I followed this routine for two years and then moved on to hops.

To me, what really matters is all the stuff I learned along the way. It's amazing to me how many things I've learned while researching other items. Continuous learning, for me, is a life-long endeavor and every day the beer I produce is better than the one before it...and the journey will never end.

 

Which brewery do you brew for?

Cheers!

 

Certified or Advanced Cicerone?

I like your spice approach.

 

I began consulting on a brewpub system & build for Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella, CA last June. All the while I thought was designing and building it for another brewer and as it turns out, I hired on in October as Brewmaster.

Things are going quite well so far...

 

Good to hear.

Best of luck going forward!!

Cheers!

P.S. I suppose you can't complain to the owner about brewery design flaws!?!

 

Certified. You will find my Cicerone Meme on my profile page.

Thanks about the spice approach. Not only did playing with over 100 different spices expand my palate exponentially, it took my cooking game to an entirely new level.

I now take 10-20 hop samples at a time and make an individual tea with each one.

First, it allows me to isolate individual flavor components, and second, also allows me to play around with blending different hops together in an effort to determine just how well they compliment or contrast each other. Just because I like Idaho 7 and enjoy El Dorado doesn't necessarily mean that they will play well together.