BJCP Exam Study Guide
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BJCP BEER EXAM STUDY GUIDE Last Revised: December, 2017 Contributing Authors: Original document by Edward Wolfe, Scott Bickham, David Houseman, Ginger Wotring, Dave Sapsis, Peter Garofalo, Chuck Hanning. Revised 2006 by Gordon Strong and Steve Piatz. Revised 2012 by Scott Bickham and Steve Piatz. Revised 2014 by Steve Piatz Revised 2015 by Steve Piatz Revised 2017 by Scott Bickham Copyright © 1998-2017 by the authors and the BJCP CHANGE LOG January-March, 2012: revised to reflect new exam structure, no longer interim May 1, 2012: revised yeast section, corrected T/F question 99 August, 2012: removed redundant styles for question S0, revised the additional readings list, updated the judging procedure to encompass the checkboxes on the score sheet. October 2012: reworded true/false questions 2, 4, 6, 8, 13, 26, 33, 38, 39, 42, and 118. Reworded essay question T15. March 2014: removed the Exam Program description from the document, clarified the wording on question T13. October 2015: revised for the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines. February, 2016: revised the table for the S0 question to fix typos, removed untested styles. September-October, 2017 (Scott Bickham): moved the BJCP references in Section II.B. to Section I; incorporated a study guide for the online Entrance exam in Section II; amended the rubric for written questions S0, T1, T3, T13 and T15; rewrote the Water question and converted the rubrics for each of the Technical and Brewing Process questions to have three components; simplified the wording of the written exam questions’ added an introduction to Section IV; added two paragraphs on fining in the Wort Production section (now IV.D); revised the description of phenols in Section IV.E (now IV.F); made substantial revisions and expansions of the off-flavor descriptions in the Troubleshooting section (now IV.G and entitled Beer Characteristics); the Hops Section (now IV.E) was also revised to include better descriptions of the classic hop varieties, and a paragraph on New World hops was added; errors in the Water section (now IV.B) were corrected, and the paragraph discussing the connection between the mineral content of the water and development of historical beer styles was expanded into a list to facilitate studying. December 2017 (Bruce Buerger and Scott Bickham): updated the BJCP Exam Study Course and added the final version of the Written Proficiency Exam questions as approved by the exam directorate. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 A. Additional Reading .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 General BJCP References ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Style Knowledge ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 Communicating About Beer .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Beer Judging Exam ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 Written Proficiency Exam ................................................................................................................................................. 4 II. BEER JUDGING AND THE BJCP EXAM ........................................................................................................................ 7 A. Beer Evaluation and the Judging Process ........................................................................................................................ 7 Beer Evaluation ................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Environment ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Equipment ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Presentation ...................................................................................................................................................................... 8 The Judging Process ......................................................................................................................................................... 8 Procedure .......................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Notes on Smelling the Beer ............................................................................................................................................ 11 Notes on Tasting the Beer .............................................................................................................................................. 11 Notes on Making Comments about Beer ........................................................................................................................ 12 Other Considerations ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 References and Additional Reading ............................................................................................................................... 14 B. Three-Tier BJCP Exam Structure .................................................................................................................................. 15 Overview of the BJCP Entrance Exams ......................................................................................................................... 16 Exam Fees ...................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Registering for an Entrance Exam .................................................................................................................................. 17 Studying for the Entrance Exam ..................................................................................................................................... 18 Copyright Notice ............................................................................................................................................................ 18 C. BJCP Beer Judge Entrance Exam Study Guide ............................................................................................................. 18 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 18 References ...................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Question Types and Categories ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Questions on BJCP Ethics, Levels and the Judging Process .......................................................................................... 20 Questions on Beer Styles ................................................................................................................................................ 20 Questions on Beer Characteristics .................................................................................................................................. 21 Questions on Ingredients and the Brewing Process ........................................................................................................ 21 During the Exam ............................................................................................................................................................. 21 After the Exam ............................................................................................................................................................... 22 Next Steps after Passing the Exam ................................................................................................................................. 22 Next Steps after Failing the Exam .................................................................................................................................. 22 D. BJCP Beer Judge Written Proficiency Examination ..................................................................................................... 22 Questions on BJCP Ethics, Levels and the Judging Process .......................................................................................... 22 The Essay Portion of the Written Proficiency Examination ........................................................................................... 30 Beer Style Questions .....................................................................................................................................................