Brewing Master

Question:

The BJCP is alive and well. You need to find their newsletter on the web and subscribe to it. They currently have a listing of all the test sites.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Can anyone inform me what is the current status of the certified beer judge program now that AHA has pulled out.  I have been kicking around the idea of becoming one, but now there seems to be a transition to new sponsorship.  To top it all off, I read recently that AHA is considering a "rival" judgeship.  What’s going on? I believe your talking about the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program). Check out their webpage at http://www.bjcp.org. It is (now) an independent organization that is alive and well. The AHA is not creating a competing judge program. They are, however, planning on developing a beer appreciation/evaluation progam but not intended as a "certification". — Oliver Weatherbee               First State Brewers   http://triton.cms.udel.edu/~oliver/firststate/

Hi folks, Happy holidays and all that. Oliver is right. The "rival" program Walt Newman wrote about has been morphed — and is still morphing — into a beer appreciation/evaluation program called Brew U (That’s the "long-awaited" program members keep seeing mentioned on their renewal notices.) We are now in the process of building the program and should have the self-study portion of it released before the National Homebrew Conference in Portland in July. In the meantime, we are using the Brew U program as a way to sponsor speakers at other beer events. We sponsored John Maier’s talk at the last Dixie Cup and will be having other Brew U presentations at other events in the coming year. This is part of a new focus here at the AHA to be a more active — and cooperative — member of the brewing community. The BJCP, as a separate, independent organization, is *the* group to handle certification of beer judges. That’s why when people sanction a competition with us, we send half of the $40 fee to the BJCP so they can provide a judge list. And they have some damn good people in place to handle their mission. In the past seven months that I’ve been in this job, I’ve met several of the top people in the BJCP and they are more than qualified and extremely commited to make sure brewers get the best evaluation of their beers possible. Sure, there are times everything doesn’t go just right ( I read judgenet). But, hey, it’s a volunteer organization. We (here at the AHA) get paid and we *still* screw up at times. The bottom line is we *all* want the same thing: More people making better beer and having a better time doing it. No one group can do it all. My biggest goal for 1998 is that all of us in the brewing community can find a way to end any turf wars and get on with the business at hand: making great beer and sharing it with good friends. So, I guess for what it’s worth, that’s my big holiday message. See you in the new year when I hope to get our newserver woes fixed, so I can avoid my prolonged absences from this group. Happy brewing and feel free to let me, Brian Rezac and Amahl Turczyn know your ideas, comments, complaints and all that. Howdy-ho-hoho, Jim — Jim Parker Director American Homebrewers Association        (303) 447-0816 x 122 736 Pearl Street                        (303) 447-2825 — FAX U.S.A.                                  http://www.beertown.org — WEB

Response:

Can anyone inform me what is the current status of the certified beer judge program now that AHA has pulled out.  I have been kicking around the idea of becoming one, but now there seems to be a transition to new sponsorship.  To top it all off, I read recently that AHA is considering a "rival" judgeship.  What’s going on?         Walt

Response:

Can anyone inform me what is the current status of the certified beer judge program now that AHA has pulled out.  I have been kicking around the idea of becoming one, but now there seems to be a transition to new sponsorship.  To top it all off, I read recently that AHA is considering a "rival" judgeship.  What’s going on?

I believe your talking about the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program). Check out their webpage at http://www.bjcp.org. It is (now) an independent organization that is alive and well. The AHA is not creating a competing judge program. They are, however, planning on developing a beer appreciation/evaluation progam but not intended as a "certification". — Oliver Weatherbee               First State Brewers                       http://triton.cms.udel.edu/~oliver/firststate/

Response: