Category: Education

BJCP Judging Exam & Prep Classes

As discussed at the April Club meeting, we have locked in Saturday, September 21st as the official date of the upcoming BJCP Judging Exam!!

For those that are interested in taking the exam, please be sure to reach out to Jeremy Gramkow (jergramkow@gmail.com) or Nicole Thompson (thompson.nic@gmail.com) to sign-up. We have limited seats for the exam so you’ll want to secure yours ASAP if you plan to take the test this year.

Additionally, Jeremy and Nicole will be offering BJCP Exam Prep Classes to help interested examinees in preparing for the mandatory Online Entrance Exam and the in-person BJCP Judging Exam in September. Classes will start Tuesday, April 23, 2024 and will be held every other week through early September. Over the course of ~11 sessions (approx: 1.5-2 hours each) we will:

  • Give an overview of the BJCP program
  • Provide online and judging exam test taking strategies
  • Build up sensory, judging, and scoresheet drafting skills
  • Discuss ingredients, brewing processes, characteristics, and history of the ~90+ beer styles across the 26 categories covered by the exams
  • Explore off-flavors and how to prevent them
  • Practice drinking and describing a lot of beer

These classes will be limited to those actively preparing for the exam and will cost ~$10/class to cover the cost of beer. Let Jeremy or Nicole know ASAP if you are interested in classes so you can be added to the invite.

National Mead Day Celebration & Tasting (Aug 6th)

Join our very own SRB mead gurus, Jon and Don, for an afternoon of mead education, sampling, and general revelry. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about how this honey-based beverage is made and to ask questions about ingredient sourcing, production techniques, styles, and more!

Where: Home Brew Stuff

When: Saturday, August 6th, 2p – 5p (or until we run out of mead)

What: Bring a mead to share or just bring yourself, a friend, and your curiosity

Hop Farm Tour

Gooding Farms has invited us to tour their hop farm.

When: Saturday April 16th at 10:00 a.m.

Gooding Farms is located at 23669 Batt Corner Rd, Parma, ID.

It is a little over an hours drive to the farm from Boise. For those wishing to carpool meet at the Homebrew Stuff parking lot at 8:30. We can caravan from there. Please enter your name in this Sign-up Sheet (on the Gooding Farm tab) if you are interested in car sharing as a driver or a passenger. More details about the event and carpooling will be available at the April 14th Club meeting.

Kick-Off of Club Contests and Brewer of the Year

Thanks to everyone who came out last night for our monthly meeting hosted at Mother Earth Nampa!

As we touched on briefly, we’re kicking off (nearly) monthly contests to help inspire members to brew more, try out new styles and techniques, and to foster some good ol’ fashioned brewer rivalry. All in the name of beer education, of course.

For those who missed last night’s meeting, or didn’t get a handout, be sure to check out our new Club Contests Overview document that explains the points accumulation rules by contest type and covers how we will be awarding various “brewer of the year” honors each December moving forward!

To get us started, our first monthly contest will take place during our monthly meeting on May 12. The theme for our inaugural contest is BJCP Category 1D: American Wheat Beer, a light, crushable, and Spring-appropriate style. We encourage you to participate either individually (or in teams!) to craft a perfect American Wheat pint that stays within the official guidelines, but expresses your unique take on this modern classic style. Need some inspiration to get started? Check out Beer and Brewing or Brew Your Own for some ideas. This contest will be decided by popular vote during the bottleshare hour, with points awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. You’ve got two months, so get brewing!!

We’ll also work to announce monthly themes/contests at least 2-3 months in advance moving forward so everyone has time to prepare. And we’ll populate the calendar and meeting agendas with contest information as we lock it in, so be sure to check that out regularly.

Any questions, concerns, or ideas for a contest, please reach out to me or to our newly anointed Contest Director, Dave Reish. Leave a message here or find us on FB or Discord.

BJCP Tasting Exam Practice Session (3/16)

Hello aspiring BJCP judges!

Now that Beer School has ended, we know some of you may be looking for some final ways to prepare for the Tasting Exam on 3/19. If you are interested in getting together for some live beer judging practice sessions, we are tentatively planning to set something up for the evening of Wednesday, March 16th. 

We will meet at a brewery and order beer flights of some classic styles that might be expected to show up on exam day. We’ll walk through some judging best practices, complete scoresheets individually, and discuss our impressions and scores. Practice makes perfect!

Exact time and location are TBD and will be confirmed once we have a sense of who wants to attend (and where everyone lives). Scoresheets and some extra writing implements will be provided but you’ll be responsible for your own beer. 

Please note that this is NOT A SOCIAL EVENT and probably won’t be fun for you if you aren’t actually interested in either preparing for the tasting exam, or at least building some formal judging skills. 

If you are interested, please email me directly (thompson.nic@gmail.com) and let me know whether 3/16 works (we can consider alternate dates), and where you’ll be coming from so I can select an equally inconvenient location for most.

Cheers!