"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely,"and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
- from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
While many people successfully use the syllabus supplied by the Cicerone Certification Program to prepare for the certification exam, I feel that the official syllabus is not organized in a way that helps one learn the material.
I've reorganized the elements of professional beer knowledge into a cohesive sequence which tells the story of beer from grain to glass to gullet. I think that this sequence better lends itself to self study and staff training.
Instead of beginning with the keeping and serving of beer, I will begin at the beginning...
Here are some indispensable resources for preparing to take the Certified Cicerone exam:
Several people have written about their experiences taking the Certified Cicerone exam. I found that reading these accounts helped me become mentally prepared for test taking.
Here are links to some of my favorites:
Part of the Certified Cicerone exam involves a practical demonstration of a skill involved in keeping and serving beer. This section accounts for about 4% of your total score.
Be patient. It will take several weeks for you to receive the results of your Cicerone certification exam. Your test is graded multiple times in order to ensure fairness and accuracy.
There are five knowledge areas covered by the exam, and they carry different weights in exam scoring.
A Master Sommelier once gave me some of the best advice that I've ever gotten about tasting wine, and I think it applies equally well to tasting beer. He told me:
