2016-2017 BJCP Study Course

Greetings all,

It’s finally that time! Jeff Whelpley and I have been busy organizing the course direction for the next CHAOS Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) class. As we put the final touches on the class schedule and overall organization, it is time to begin filling the seats for the class. This year-long endeavor is offered to prepare you to take both the online Beer Judge Entrance examination as well as the Beer Judging (Tasting) Examination. To appease the length of this initial post, I will not offer a deep dive into the BJCP here, but if you have specific questions, please ask and the various BJCP judges among CHAOS will gladly answer.

This course will fine-tune your tasting skills through off-flavor identification, improve your descriptive ability concerning beer, instill a deep understanding of beer styles and their origins, all of which carry over positively into making you a better homebrewer. While taking the exams are highly suggested, they are not required. However, due to grading accommodations of the exams, only a limited number of seats are available per year - if you do not take the exam when offered, expect a 6 month - 1 year period before being able to find another opportunity in the Chicagoland area (hint, hint).

Classes will be held at the CHAOS Brewhouse (2417 West Hubbard) at least one Monday evening out of every month. May will have two sessions, and we also hope to offer a mock practice exam before the big day. It is estimated that classes will run 2.5-3 hours per session. We have space for 20 participants for the class and 12 spaces for the tasting exam (which is to take place Saturday, June 24th, 2017).

Because we cannot adequately teach beer evaluation without evaluating beer, there will be a cost to these classes. These costs go toward purchasing beer for style descriptions/evaluation, the off-flavor analysis kit, as well as various incidentals such as cups, printing of scoresheets, etc. There is also a cost for the exams: $10 for the online exam and $40 for the tasting exam.

Class acceptance and getting on the exam list will be on a first come first serve basis. You must pass the online test and provide us with the $40 BJCP charge before we’ll add you to the practical exam list.

The class cost, in addition to the test costs, will depend on the number of participants. You can use this as an estimate:

• 20 people- $67.50

• 15 people- $90.00

• 10 people- $135.00

These costs do not include the exam costs. There are no refunds, so please be sure that you plan to complete the course.

If you are interested, please post below so we can begin getting a headcount. Due to the popularity of these classes and the BJCP exam, we will also be offering this to other Chicago-area homebrewers.

Once we start getting a list going, I will gather everyone's email address so we can grant access to our Google class documents as well as the BJCP-specific forum here on the CHAOS website.

Expected dates

2016: 6/20, 7/25, 8/22, 9/19, 10/17, 11/21, 12/19

2017: 1/23, 2/20, 3/20, 4/17, 5/1, 5/22, TBD (mock exam)