Thanks HBT! (you helped me pass my BJCP exam)

[My apologies in advance if I come across like I am bragging -- but I am really excited about this!]

I just wanted to pass along a special thanks to the whole community here for the wealth of information that I have learned from you all. As it turns out, I actually passed my first BJCP exam, and I have you all to thank. There was no course offered in my area, so I was on my own to study and prepare. Life got in the way, as it often does, and I never did get to go through the study materials. Instead, I pretty much had to rely on the beer and brewing knowledge I learned here on HBT. That was enough! And I scored high enough that I won't need to re-take the exam and up my grade until I want to shoot for Master-level judge. (Clearly I am pumped!)

Anyways, this has made me really appreciate how wonderful a resource this community is to me. Thanks and cheers to you all!

Freakin' cool!

Congrats.

All great Canadian homebrew must now pass through Calgary for final approval.

Congrats FlyGuy! I've always wanted to take the BJCP but I've been a bit worried about the time commitment.

Cool beans!!! Congrats!

Congrats FlyGuy! Now I know where to send my beer for review.

How did you take the exam? Is it available online or do you need to go to some special location or something? I'd be interested in heading down that route as well.

Way to go, FG!

Thanks everyone!

gwood said:

Congrats FlyGuy! I've always wanted to take the BJCP but I've been a bit worried about the time commitment.

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I didn't spend hardly any time studying -- just engaging in conversations here (and learning from resources in the wiki or from other places people recommended, like HowToBrew.com) was enough for me to pass the written portion. The only real time I invested was reading up and learning the style guidelines and tasting as many commercial examples as I could get my hands on (tough work, I know! ).

bradsul said:

How did you take the exam? Is it available online or do you need to go to some special location or something? I'd be interested in heading down that route as well.

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A couple of clubs here on the prairies offered courses and scheduled the exam with the BJCP. I contacted them both, and learned that anyone can challenge the exam. So I just registered and showed up when their course wrote it. Unfortunately, there is a tasting portion to the exam so it can't be done online. But you can get 100% of the study materials online. I highly recommend going through the BJCP study materials -- they are excellent, but I just never found the time to do them. Turns out I knew enough from just being a participating member here!

Congratulations, FlyGuy! That is quite and accomplishment.

Way to go! Congrats!

FlyGuy said:

...A couple of clubs here on the prairies offered courses and scheduled the exam with the BJCP. I contacted them both, and learned that anyone can challenge the exam. So I just registered and showed up when their course wrote it. Unfortunately, there is a tasting portion to the exam so it can't be done online. But you can get 100% of the study materials online. I highly recommend going through the BJCP study materials -- they are excellent, but I just never found the time to do them. Turns out I knew enough from just being a participating member here!

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Thanks for the info. I'm not aware of any clubs anywhere around here in Southern Ontario so I think I'll just go through the study material for the personal knowledge only.

bradsul said:

Thanks for the info. I'm not aware of any clubs anywhere around here in Southern Ontario so I think I'll just go through the study material for the personal knowledge only.

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Brad, if you ever want to take the exam, check out this link periodically.

BJCP Exam Schedule

There must be exams scheduled on a fairly regular basis in Southern Ontario.

Believe it or not, my wife wants me to be a beer judge. Don't you have to actually judge competitions or lose your standing?

Anyway, congrats! You've taken the hobby to new levels.

Congratulations. I'm planning on taking the exam when its offered around here early next year.

bradsul said:

Congrats FlyGuy! Now I know where to send my beer for review.

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Now I know where not to send my beer for review.

That's cool. Good on ya.

FlyGuy said:

Life got in the way, as it often does, and I never did get to go through the study materials. Instead, I pretty much had to rely on the beer and brewing knowledge I learned here on HBT.

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Are you freakin' kidding me? I've been browsing the questions they ask. How in God's name could you have passed that with high marks without studying? You must be some kind of ninja-Jedi-Einstein beer prodigy.

I think I'd spend a bit of time looking at some of the material if I were to challenge the exam, being all mortal and well, stupid.....apparently....

FlyGuy said:

...I just wanted to pass along a special thanks...for the wealth of information that I have learned from you...

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You're welcome

Congrats.

That's awesome, congrats!

That is awesome! Glad to hear you passed!