BJCP , is it worth it?

[mabbas]

Hello everyone,
Is it worth the headaches and the crazy nonsense to obtain a beer judge certificate ? or just a waste of time? Does BJCP get paid?

 

[jdauria]

Judges are not paid for most part, but some larger comps may pay, you usually get lunch for free and depending on comp, some swag maybe and leftover beer at the end. Not a judge myself, but guy in my club is a National ranked one. He explained that going through the process really helps you to better understand your own beers, fine tune them, pick up off flavors etc.

 

[MaxStout]

Becoming a judge won't translate into making money. You'll get a nice T-shirt and some beer to taste at each comp. It will, however, help you better understand the various styles of beer, and it's a good way to contribute to the homebrewing community.

I'm not a judge, but friends who are say it's fun and very rewarding.

 

[T Murph]

Yes is the answer to (is it worth it). No you do not get paid, period. You do however gain substantially more brewing and all around knowledge than anything short of a degree in brewing science. Becoming a BJCP judge requires hours and hours of studying guidelines, styles, processes, flaws, off flavors, and every aspect of brewing. Not only do you learn how to brew the different styles you also learn how to identify flaws and how to advise the brewer to correct any flaws within their submitted examples.

Of course there are perks that come along the way. Often times brewers at brew pubs and even micro breweries will ask your opinion of their offerings before they go on line for sale. There comes instances where you get preferential treatment at pubs etc. Best of all is the experiences meeting other like minded beer lovers and the competitions. I always enjoy the traveling experiences and getting to sample the different variations of brews around the country.

Be aware it is not all fun and games. Judging someone's labor of love takes integrity and devotion to the cause. It requires the ability to sample alcoholic beverages for 8 plus hours without becoming intoxicated. Then theres the expenses traveling and accommodations away from home. In most cases local homebrewers and club members will offer lodging to out of town judges to help with expenses traveling. All in all it is a very rewarding activity. You make news friends and gain a wealth of knowledge along the way.

 

[dmtaylor]

I'm not going to give you a response in great detail, as I've done so countless other times on many forums. The short answer:

YES, I have found the path of becoming a BJCP judge to be very much worthwhile indeed.

 

[KeizerBrewr]

I am not a judge, yet. The yet is for when I eventually retire from the Army(have a lot of knowledge for my job and can't afford to brain dump for room for beer yet. From my understanding from talking with a few, it is a lot of fun and excellent way to increase your overall knowledge of beer. I know that it is surprisingly taxing when judging for the large events and to stay privy of everything beer.

 

[kevin58]

If it is something you would like to do and you find joy in it then yes.

 

[jerrylotto]

You can start as a non BJCP judge. The reasons for getting your BJCP certification should become obvious after you've judged a few competitions.

 

[BrewMan13]

Take the online test, get your "provisional judge" certification, then judge a couple comps and see if it's for you. I went this route, but the provisional title is only good for a year, and mine expired before I could try to get to the next level (covid...). Not sure if I'm going to try again, but you definitely need to know your stuff to be a good judge.

 

[T Murph]

You can start as a non BJCP judge. The reasons for getting your BJCP certification should become obvious after you've judged a few competitions.

You can sign up to be a beer Steward also. Their task is basically that of a waiter, help arrange the styles, serving the entries to the judges tables and participating as requested by the judges. A person gains a lot of beer knowledge doing this as judges involve the Stewards and teach them throughout the competition. A great way to get involved and decide if judging is right for you.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

You can sign up to be a beer Steward also.

As I have a growing interest in competitions, I feel like I should do this to get more insight into the working of competitions. Also, as a way to help out the brewing community...without judges and volunteers there would be no competitions.

I have seen conflicting info on how much effort is required to get a BJCP certification. I have a lot of knowledge of beer styles from brewing, judging at my club competitions, and...well...drinking a lot of beer over the years. I would be fine with spending some time looking closer at the style guidelines and learning more about unfamiliar styles. I don't really want to devote a year to studying, try to track down examples of 100 different styles and memorize trivial stats that I can just look up on my phone.

 

[bwible]

I don't really want to devote a year to studying, try to track down examples of 100 different styles and memorize trivial stats that I can just look up on my phone.

I agree with this. Have always had the question “why do I need to memorize stuff I can easily look up” not just BJCP but work and life in general.

That said, I don’t know the current state of the exam, whether they give you access to a copy of the guidelines (they do at every competition) or if you’re allowed to use your phone, etc.

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't really want to devote a year to studying, try to track down examples of 100 different styles and memorize trivial stats that I can just look up on my phone.

Volunteer to steward a couple comps. No experience necessary. That's usually enough to know if the scene is for you.

If it's still interesting, buy the three pack of online entrance exams so that you can take one "throw away" to initially evaluate if you're up to speed or not. It's not very easy to pass this exam, but if you're already a good brewer that regularly obsesses about the details of the process, you'll be much closer. The style comparison questions can be looked up to some degree, if you're really quick, but it's easier to hit all the questions in the short hour if you know a few of them intuitively.

You don't have to memorize the style stats to pass the entrance exam, but the tasting exam is closed book. If they give you a beer and tell you it's a Belgian Quad but it's really a Doppelbock, you do need to be able to ding points across the board and explain why. It's challenging but rewarding. I scored enough for "recognized" status the first time and then got to "certified" level the next time I took it. I improved my score to 78 on the third try and I'm hoping to pass with an 80 next time to qualify to take the written exam for "National" level.

Sometimes you get lucky and the six random beer styles they serve you happen to be naturally in your wheelhouse. Sometimes the one or two off flavors they want to showcase are ones you're sensitive to.

 

[kingmatt]

I took a 12 week (I think) course that was held at my local homebrew store, taught by a Grand Master judge, to prep for the course, and loved it. Even if you aren't planning on taking the test, a class like that will help you in every aspect of tasting/evaluating and brewing beer.

I am Certified and scored high enough to test for National, though I am not sure when/if I will. I don't judge enough competitions at this point in my life to make that extra effort worth it, but I may down the road.

I would recommend becoming a judge to anyone that loves homebrewing and beer in general. The comps are fun, the people are awesome and you a really able to help fellow brewers by providing constructive, unbiased evaluations of their beer.

 

[shoreman]

No money in it, just knowledge and the opportunity to learn more about Beer. Certainly worth it if you value those things.

I’m a retired BJCP judge.

 

[yourlastchance89]

Speaking as a homebrewer and probrewer, yes it is definitely worth it. While you won't gain anything financially, you will gain far more in your knowledge and capacity to judge beer.

I was studying for the exam. Passed the online portion my first attempt and was scheduled for the tasting exam a few months later. This was in March 2020 so you can guess how that panned out.

I have since passed the IBD exam for the certificate in brewing and my knowledge of styles proved invaluable to some of the questions covering those.

We also constantly assess our own beers and will judge others we come across at the brewery. A BJCP qualification and experience officially judging beers is invaluable in this hobby and the industry as a whole.