Tasting Exam (off flavors)

The tasting portion of the Certified Cicerone exam has three sections:

1) Off flavor identification
2) Style differentiation
3) Fit for service determination

There are 12 questions, and you must get a minimum of 70% correct in order to pass. Of the tasting questions, the four off flavor questions and the four style differentiation questions account for half of your score. The Fit for Service section accounts for the other half.

The tasting portion of the exam generates about 16-17% of your final score.

This post covers the off-flavors section of the tasting exam.
 
For the off-flavors section of the exam, you will be given a sample of untainted beer as a control sample. The beer will be a light international style lager. You will also be given four unmarked samples of beer. One of these four test samples will be the same as the control beer. The other three samples will be spiked with one of six common beer faults.

The potential faults:

Lightstruck     - skunky, fresh coffee - Tasting Beer, p. 61
DMS                - corn, pumpkin - Tasting Beer, p. 53
Oxidized         - stale, cardboard - Tasting Beer, p. 54
Diacetyl          - buttery - Tasting Beer, p. 54
Acetaldehyde  - green apple - Tasting Beer, p. 59
Infection         - vinegar, bile - Tasting Beer, p. 57 

These off flavors will be listed on the exam sheet.

You may wish to purchase Cicerone.org's off flavor training kit, which comes with access to a webinar to guide you through the tasting. The kit costs $149 and allows you to prepare 12 ounces of faulted beer for each of the six faults discussed. Forming a study group is a good way to split the cost.  

But back to the exam...

Taste the control sample, then taste the first test sample. Don't freak out if you can't detect a fault in the first sample. There is a 25% chance that first sample is the same as the control beer.

If you don't find a fault in the first sample, then try the second sample. If the first sample was really the same as the control sample, then the second sample must be faulted.

If you can't identify any faults in the first two samples, stop and think about how this could happen.

The beer was probably put on ice as soon as the exam manager arrived at the test site, and its been sitting in an ice bucket for almost 3 hours while you've been working on the exam. That beer is COLD.

Cold beer does not release aromas, and aromas are your main clue to identifying beer faults. The best thing you can do is to wait for the beer to warm up. 

Either move on to the next section of the exam, or warm the beer by cupping the glass in your hands. 

You have 30 minutes for the tasting exam. That's an average of 2:30 per beer sample. It won't take that long for the beer to warm up.

Work smarter, not harder.