New Tasting Strategy
I passed the written exam, the “style” and “food pairing” oral exams, but need to retake the tasting portion. The styles we’re asked to differentiate between are way more subtle than I expected, so I’m implementing a new strategy to train my palate for the retake.
Reflection & Changes
Since so much of both the written and tasting exam is centered around BJCP style guidelines, I got carried away comparing what I tasted with the guidelines. I’ve had a lot of issues with the guidelines for its generalizations and contradictions, so am keeping a longer leash on them this time around. I understand that the guidelines were created for beer judging and competitions, but the Cicerone syllabus cites the BJCP guidelines as their guidelines regarding what we need to know for the exam. It’s strange to me that a competition model of differentiating types of beer is used for our exam- I think it works great for competitions, but I don’t think it’s good for beer culture or education. I could go on and on about this, but the soap box I’m standing on is getting rickety…
The new strategy: trying very similar styles of beer next to each other and trying to differentiate between them. A panel might look like: two different Belgian Tripels, two different Belgian Golden Strong Ales, and two different Belgian Blonds. Or two American Ambers, two International Ambers, and two Strong Bitters. Two Dunkels, two International Dark Lagers, and two Schwarzbiers. Having two of each style encourages less generalizing and identifying subtleties between styles. Best of all, if a style gets misidentified, I can immediately compare what I thought it was to the correct choice. Here’s the best way I’ve found to do these panels- and the best part is you don’t need a proctor.
Go to a dollar store and buy 6 identical glasses (or use 6 you already have).
Flip the glasses upside down and put a small piece of blue painter’s tape under each.
Label each piece of tape with a vague number code such as “651”, “288”, or “417”. I use a blue pen to make it even harder to see the numbers.
Make a key and match each number code to the beer you’re using in the tasting panel. For example: 651=Ayinger Märzen, 288=Alaskan Amber, 417=Aibita Amber.
Pour the samples into the appropriately labeled cups. I like to line my beer bottles up and put the matching cup of beer in front.
Mix around the cups until you don’t know which is which.
Sniff and sip each and try to put them back in the correct order.
Check your work by verifying the number codes. Re-taste the ones you missed with what you guessed it was.
Full points if you guess the style correctly and bonus points if you get the exact beer matched up.
Refill if necessary and repeat the panel a couple more times.
