How on earth can anyone afford to try even just the top one commercial example for each style? By my math, if they were only $6 each with shipping, that’s like $450 worth not counting above category 19…
I’m not so sure I can memorize all those style guidelines either. You guys must be beer-mentats. “It is by beer alone I set my mind in motion.”
I’d love to be a judge, but every time I start to dig in I just get overwhelmed.
Small steps, grasshopper.
Print out some score sheets and buy some beer. Don’t you have a good store within driving distance? You’re in Oregon! ???
A friend of mine once said, “If I had back all the money I’d ever spent on beer, I’d spend it all on beer.”
You could reduce cost by getting a friend or 2 to help you. To judge a beer you really only need 1-2oz.
Washington actually. 30 miles line of sight from hop capital of the world, but a beer desert…
I’ll figure it out.
Folks around here mostly drink beer that comes in 30 packs.
Shocking!!!
I went on BJCP and took the entry exam just to see how hard it was. Bought the 3 tries for $20 option. Waste of good money as it turns out.
PASSED!
Now I HAVE to find a good beer store and study up on that style guide. Hopefully I can find a procter without having to fly to Timbuktu
Remembering every note in the guidelines will only help a little I think. If you can describe a beer in front of you well and have half a clue about what the style should be, you’ll pass. Tasting skills and writing that on a scoresheet are most important.
Knowing the styles is really only a small portion of the grade. The most important part is being able to describe what you perceive (aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel) and completely filling out the score sheet.
Read everything on the bjcp site especially under the exam section. There is a doc that instructs how to put on the exam that tells the administer what type of beer to select. Also read the grader documents to get an idea how it will be graded
Last time we did our study group everyone paid $75 and it was still a little short of covering the costs.
Thanks James I’ll get on that!
I’ll echo what James and mtnrockhopper said. Doing well on the tasting exam is about being able to describe the beer in front of you. I’d also add that knowing how to fully complete the score sheet, evaluating common off-flavors, and recommending improvements, if necessary, is important. You don’t necessarily need to know every single style down solid or even have tried them all. Your proctor should be putting styles in front of you that are reasonably familiar.
Do yourself a favor and buy a six pack of two of the classic examples and practice filling out scoresheets. Try to expand your vocabulary.
Jim, Pretty sure there is a yearly BJCP exam in Yakima. I almost got into that one in 2012, but didn’t have time, and hadn’t finished my BJCP class. But certainly keep drinking good beer, and fill out a ton of Scoresheets. If you can find someone, see if they can take a glance at your sheets, and give you some feedback.
Not in Yakima but in Tri-Cities. The 1st one was scheduled for Yakima but nobody in Yakima was taking it so we moved it down here. I’ve been running them since then and keep them in Tri-Cities.
I’m looking forward to it.
Found a cool study tool to work on my beer style mentat skills. The Jamil Show. Started with Cat 3 last night. Read over the style guide for Vienna and Oktoberfest, then listened to those two shows. The way to top it off would be to grab a Negra Modelo and an a Paulaner and fill out a couple judging sheets.
I think this will be a decent way for me to get the styles in my head.
The best way to learn is to practice, practice, practice. Good thing for you though, practice means beer drinking. 
I’m not horribly worried about the writing evals, I do a lot of subjective articulation in my day job. I’m glad I found an interesting way to absorb the data.
The new version of the show “Brewing with Style” is probably even better for your purposes since they taste actual commercial examples of each style. But the the original episodes still have a lot of merit as well.