Saturday, February 07, 2009

A perfectly reasonable question

...has been raised, that being, "What does BJCP stand for?" The answer: Beer Judge Certification Program.

The BJCP is an organization dedicated to increasing knowledge about and appreciation of good beer and developing the skills of beer tasting and beer judging. I am a member and a Certified Level Judge.

The BJCP has, through the efforts of certain individuals, developed a set of guidelines for the tasting and judging of 80 of the most common beer styles, or rather of 79 styles and one catch-all category. It is my goal to brew every style on those guidelines and by doing so increase my knowledge and understanding of beer and brewing, try beers that are not available commercially in Canada, and generally have a good time and feel accomplished. I really enjoy the process of making beer because my work does not produce anything more tangible than fat piles of paper and hurt feelings, and this lets me feel connected to a product. Slow beer, as it were. Also, this process is a lot simpler than the Julie/Julia Project, which was a bit of the inspiration for it. I cheat a bit by using recipes drawn from various sources including Brew Your Own Magazine and the excellent book, "Brewing Classic Styles" if not verbatim than certainly as inspiration.

2 comments:

Electronic Goose said...

Aha! Thanks for the explanation, and the links. My dad used to make his own beer, and my husband and I are looking into trying our hands at it.

Jenn & Owen said...

Then you are in luck... It is a lot easier to get equipment and supplies for beermaking in the USA than in Canada. Canada doesn't have much of a culture of beermaking for whatever reason. I also suggest that if you want people who care WAY too much about how a new brewer's beer comes out to ge in touch with your local area homebrewing club. Those people are the best resource, although prone to being a touch wierd.