Beer Judge Certification Program

The Beer Judge Certification Program or BJCP is a non-profit organization formed in 1985 "to promote beer literacy and the appreciation of real beer, and to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills." It has been described in the press as "a systematic, academic and hands-on ... study program designed to teach aspiring beer enthusiasts about the essence of any kind of beer". [cite news| url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050218045319/http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives/document4ee7.html | title=Enhance Your Beer Smarts: The rigorous training of a beer judge (as archived by www.webarchive.org on Feb 18, 2005) | author=Roberts, Jim | publisher=Anchorage Press | date=August 28-September 3 1997 | accessdate=2008-03-12] The BJCP certifies and ranks beer judges through an examination and monitoring process. Membership is limited to beer judges who have taken the BJCP exam. As of 2005, the BJCP has over 2000 active members, primarily in the United States of America.

Purpose

The BJCP has three functions within the US beer community. First, it provides a standards-based organization supplying qualified judges to both amateur and commercial brewing competitions designed to promote the appreciation of beer styles and their accurate production by brewers. The BJCP tracks members' participation as judges, organizers, or stewards in BJCP-sanctioned brewing competitions and awards continuing education units for participation.

The BJCP also publishes [http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.html style guidelines] categorizing beer, cider, and mead into twenty-eight style categories. These guidelines are used in both the examination of beer judges by the BJCP and, voluntarily, by brewing competition organizers; the BJCP also encourages prospective test-takers to study the available literature on styles and brewing. The most recent revision of the style guidelines was published in February 2008, a relatively minor revision to the 2004 style guidelines. [http://www.bjcp.org/bjcpfaq.html Frequently Asked Questions About The BJCP] ]

Finally, the BJCP organizes a program of beer examinations wherein test-takers complete a series of written questions regarding brewing, beer styles and judging and then perform four beer judging exercises.

Organization

Through accumulation of participation credits (called experience points) and high performance on the exam, members may rise through the BJCP ranks:
* Recognized
* Certified
* National
* Master
* Grand Master (with additional awards of Level I, Level II, etc.)The BJCP also awards the special ranks of "Apprentice" and "Honorary Master".

Influence

In its early years, BJCP judges and the BJCP style guidelines were used almost exclusively by homebrewers, but the demand for experienced and credentialed beer judges in competitions among commercial breweries has grown substantially in recent yearsFact|date=February 2007. Judges are not normally compensated for their service at a competition, although incidental expenses may be reimbursed. Its standards for beers have been cited by the Wall Street Journal [Wells, Ken, "Weekend Journal; Eating & Drinking: The Pursuit of Hoppiness; Seeking the Bitterest of Beer, We Try India Pale Ale; Why Bigger Brew Is In," Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Aug 13, 2004. pg. W.6 ] and by Zymurgy, the journal of home beer brewing. ["Irish red ale." Anonymous. Zymurgy. Boulder: Jan/Feb 2005.Vol.28, Iss. 1; pg. 13] [Strong, Gordon, "So you want to be a beer judge." Zymurgy. Boulder: Jul/Aug 2004.Vol.27, Iss. 4; pg. 44] [Glass, Gary, "Club finds better brew through judging." Zymurgy. Boulder: Nov/Dec 2002.Vol.25, Iss. 6; pg. 11] [Wolfe, Edward W. and Leith, Thomas R. "Calibrating judges as remote locations: The palate calibration project," Zymurgy. Boulder: Nov/Dec 2000.Vol.23, Iss. 6; pg. 39] [Smith, Quentin B. "Sanitation," Zymurgy. Boulder: Fall 1991.Vol.14, Iss. 3; pg. 28] [Anonymous. "How Can the Beer Judge Certification Program Benefit You?," Zymurgy. Boulder: 1991.Vol.14, Iss. 4; pg. 9] [Papazian, Charlie. "Here Come da Judge," Zymurgy. Boulder: Winter 1989.Vol.12, Iss. 5; pg. 5]

The BJCP is largely a North American organization, with a few members living in other parts of the world. Membership in other countries, including Australia [http://www.vicbrew.org/abjcp.html Australian BJCP] and South Africa, has been increasing, and the organization has attracted interest from England [Hayes, Ant, [http://craftbrewing.org.uk/training/extdoc/BC6-4_dec2006_ant_hayes.pdf Beer Judge Certification Program] , Brewer's Contact Dec. 2006, pp. 12-13] and Scotland.

History

The BJCP was founded in 1985, when the first exam was given at the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) annual conference in Estes Park, Colorado. During its formative years, the program was jointly sponsored by the AHA and the Home Wine and Beer Trade Association (HWBTA). Both organizations sanctioned local homebrew competitions, and each had a national competition. Consequently, both were interested in fostering the improvement of judging skills and building up a pool of experienced beer judges. The program was administered at the AHA offices, and there were two Co-Directors, one from each association. Jim Homer was the AHA Co-Director, and Pat Baker served the same role for the HWBTA. [ [http://www.bjcp.org/origins.html The BJCP's Birth Revisited] ]

In August, 1995, after a successful ten year history, support was withdrawn by the AHA, which had intentions of starting its own beer judging program. The HWBTA was unable to continue operating the program by itself, so the BJCP was expected to simply fade away. However, a considerable number of judges had been built up by this time, and many of them were quite active. A small number of these activists decided that the program could be operated solely by volunteers from among themselves, and decided to attempt the continuation of the BJCP as an independent entity.

The effort was coordinated in a haphazard fashion, mainly through e-mail, but a consensus gradually emerged and the program was able to continue its vigorous growth. A Board of Directors was established to guide the program, comprised of six (currently seven) Regional Representatives elected by members from each of seven geographical regions throughout North America. The U.S. was divided into geographic regions, and an election for the Board of Directors was held by mailing ballots to members. [ [http://www.bjcp.org/reorg.html Beer Judge Certification Program Reorganizes] (originally appeared in "Brewing Techniques", Vol. 3, No. 3, May/June 1995)]

Assisting the Board was program administrator Russ Wigglesworth, who remained in his post and assumed the duties of maintaining the database of members, sending program materials to competition organizers, providing certificates and pins to new and newly promoted judges, and performing other essential administrative tasks. Wigglesworth remains in his position, but began to transfer his duties to other members in 2004 and as of 2006 this transfer is nearly complete.

In the early years, there were regional elections for the Board, conducted entirely by postal ballot, and a newsletter was published for several years to inform the membership. An annual letter was also sent by the Program Administrator to each member, listing the experience points earned from judging in various competitions. These activities are now done electronically, with the BJCP website serving as the repository of information including a password-protected section where members can check their personal record, and website voting, competition registration, and point reporting.

References

ee also

*Beer style

External links

* [http://www.bjcp.org Organization home page]