BJCP Tasting Exam

After such a long wait, the time has finally come and passed. It has been about a month and a half now and I still have a lot to cover when it comes to learning the history of the styles, etc. but the BJCP Tasting Exam is finally OVER!!! I was stressing a lot about it the first few days to a week or so after the exam but now I am just over it and want my results. Before I wanted an 80 or better, now I just hope I got a 60 so I don't have to test with the updated guidelines... JK!!! I still hope I did great but this waiting period is killing me and seriously all I want is a pass at this point.

The main advice I have for anyone taking this is exam is to make sure you learn the styles. I know that may sound kind of obvious, but maybe I should phrase it this way. Make sure you know the differences between the styles. You are there to judge each beer presented to you based on what you sense. Not what the guideline says. Write down everything you notice and then afterward, consider what you tasted. The proctor told you this was a Sweet Stout. Was it really? or was it an under-carbonated Oatmeal Stout? There are differences but if you can't pull out what they are, you are stuck taking their word for gold.

Overall I think I feel pretty good about it but we will see when the results come back. One more thing when it comes to taking the test. Or even when it comes to life: NEVER SECOND GUESS YOURSELF!



I showed up on test day not knowing what to expect. I signed in, sat down, filled out preliminary paperwork and just waited... I don't know why I showed up so early. About an hour but I stayed in my car. I got in the testing room about 30 minutes before the start of the exam... Just waiting... I guess it is better than being late.

I was relieved when the first beer showed up. I feel it set the pace for the whole exam. The category was 1A: Lite American Lager. A pretty good one, too. At least I thought it was. Drinking it was honestly just like reading the guidelines. The only thing I knocked that one for was the fact that it was hazy. This is not a style I ever really drink but I would drink several of them no questions asked. People just get so stuck on the BMC is bad kick, that they cannot relate to a good beer in those styles. Just about every beer has its time and place. Lite American Lager included.

I thought I got pretty lucky with the choice of beers. The remaining styles went as follows; 5B: Traditional Bock, 10A: American Pale Ale, 13B: Sweet Stout, 19A: Old Ale, and 18C: Tripel. Each of those beers had their own strengths and weaknesses and there was only one I found nearly undrinkable. I felt everything was good until the very end of the exam where I finished up Beer Number 6 and had about 10 minutes remaining... That second guessing yourself thing comes into play here.





The Tripel that I thought was pretty awesome, started to taste funky... like really odd. Like odd enough for me to lower my score from a 34 to a 29! I should have left it because it seems I was right in line with everyone that I talked to after the exam before I went back. I guess one beer won't really hurt me when it comes to grading but I was hoping to have all 6 be good. Just to hopefully score fairly well. And who knows what else I may have slipped up on. I thought the Old Ale might have been infected and then I go back to taste it after the exam and it was not as "bad" as I thought it was.

I did not adjust that score because I had given it a 19. It was a bad example of an Old Ale, regardless. Other examinees I talked to scored it right in line with me or in the low 20's, so I am not too worried about that... unless it was not infected and I get knocked for that. But it is still only 2 beers out of 6... I feel I nailed the other exam beers and I was not too far off here, even with my changes or perceptions.

I will send out an update as I get my results back, but don't expect to see that for another two or three months... or so I hear. Twitter or Google Plus will probably have the first look at that, but that is like breaking news. Until then,

Cheers!

New Belgium: Heavenly Feijoa

It has been a while since I opened up this beer, April 7th to be exact, but I wanted to get my notes out there especially since I am about to open up the two new offerings; Pluot and Paardebloem. I drank this one not too long after Cascara Quad and now I see a bunch of people digging in for the first time.

One thing I realized about my New Belgium Love, is the fact that on their website they have a Beer Masher. While it is not a complete list of all of their products, it is quite close. I have had all but 7 of the beers listed on there. If you would like a shot at guessing which 7, go ahead. For now I will continue to track down each and every beer of theirs I can and hopefully make another brewery trip.



This beer I really enjoyed, but it was not like any other that I have had... though, almost every trippel, tripel, triple, however you want to spell it, they were all pretty different. I guess it is the selection of the ones I chose.

Copper beer below a white, fluffy head. Fruity on the nose. Pineapple and a bit sour. Some odd but good, juicy flavors. Mango and pretty full bodied. Not as good as a few others I had, but I still enjoyed this as a Faith beer. Cannot wait to crack the others open and see how this quarters beers are.

Cheers!

1001 Beers: Curieux

Beer Number 53: Allagash Curieux

After opening Allagash Tripel Reserve, and hearing that it may or may-not be the base beer for Curieux, I figured there is no better time to open this one than now. Right After I had the Tripel. I mean, what is the worse that can happen?

"I wouldn't call it a mistake," Rob Tod, the founder of Allagash Brewing, says of his groundbreaking barrel-aged tripel Curieux, "but it was a total accident." For reasons that only a brewer can appreciate, Tod insist on bottling his tripel reserve in special corked bottles imported from Belgium. When a bottle shipment was delayed in mid-2004, the brewery found itself with a supply of the strong golden ale that would either have to be moved or tossed. He scanned the brewery floor and his eyes fell upon some used wooden Jim Beam bourbon barrels that he'd planned to save for a batch of his dark and malty dubbel. "We didn't think a tripel would be a good fit at all," Tod says. "For some reason, you think of a dark beer as a better match with a barrel."

This beer has been in production ever since and I have never heard anything bad about it at all. Must have been the perfect little accident for Allagash. Sounds like a good idea to me.



Curieux poured a slightly hazy, golden color with a small, fluffy white head. Great rising carbonation throughout and you pick up plenty of fruit in the nose. There are some light whisky notes in there as well. On first sip, I thought the flavors came across as pretty strange... though, it really worked.

Everything was mellowed out quite a bit but came together. The sweetness, honey, light fruit, a bit of yeast and burnt flavors and notes of oak. I really can only describe this one by tasting it. Seriously magical. This is a beer that cannot be passed up.

948 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

1001 Beers: Tripel Reserve

Beer Number 52: Allagash Tripel Reserve

I have never had a beer from Allagash I did not like. I have only had a few from their collection but the ones I did have were fricken fantastic. I have had mixed experiences with Tripels in the past, so I hope this one lives up to the greatness I have come to expect.

This classic Belgian-style tripel--one of Allagash's original core brands made without funky ingredients--earns undying praise from beer fans. No unconventional brewing processes and no secret ingredients--unless you count the yeast. Tod won't divulge any details about the strain, possibly because it is clearly vital to the golden ale's complex layers of flavor. The brew kettle sees only two-row malt, candy sugar, and light unassuming hops--the same base any practiced brewer from Flanders would employ. Surely, they alone are not responsible for the sweet, honey and fruit flavors that roll across the palate.

For this beer, I decided to get really fancy and poured it into this wine glass. I know, right? Setting this one up to be even more fantastic then it probably already is. The Tripel looked really thick as I was pouring it into the glass. Almost like honey and the golden color helped to push that across as well. A very small, fluffy white head formed on top and it carried a very fruity and phenolic. That spice and a bit of yeast presence with hints of apple really took the initial experience of this beer to places I was not expecting.

I thought this beer came across pretty nice and creamy. Based on the nose I was expecting a lot of crazy flavors but everything was quite subdued, muted, and mellow. Low carbonation and honey, apple, pears come together before dissipating into the background. A beautiful beer that hides its 9% ABV. A great example of the style.

At first, the apples in the nose kind of turned me off to this one. I am not really a fan of apples in my beer but there was no denying how amazing this one was. There is nothing more to do or say than grab another one. A win for Allagash, and a win for 1001 Beers.

949 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

1001 Beers: Golden Monkey

Beer Number 31: Victory Golden Monkey

This is a beer I have had many times before and actually the first Victory ale that I liked. I don't know if something was off with this batch, but it tasted a little different to me this time... I also forgot to take a picture of it before I drank it. There is the bottle though!

Golden Monkey was originally created to be a one-off limited-edition bottling. The reaction to the Belgian-style tripel was so positive that Victory deceded to keep on brewing the ale, adding it to the brewery's year-round lineup. Imported two-row malt, European hops, and crushed coriander seed are the ingredients used to make the beer. The yeast that sparks the ale's fermentation was obtained by Victory from a small brewery in Wallonia, Belgium.

The beer had a golden color to it, which is very fitting given the name and a somewhat billowy, rocky head. It lasted quite some time. The nose was yeasty and had a little bit of spice. On the first sip I got some of the character that I remembered from this beer but overall, something was off. It seemed tangier and more tart than usual and not in a good way.

The, whatever I tasted, stuck with me throughout the whole beer. Usually the first sip of this one catches me off guard but this one bleck. The spices came through in the end and made the finish decent but that taste really lingered. The higher carbonation level did nothing to help either.

I usually enjoy this beer but it was hard to drink. I can't say why. I honestly had no idea this beer was 9.5% until sitting here to write this post. It hides it very well. This can be a dangerous drink... maybe that's why they say the "Monkey Is Dangerous: Respect The Monkey." hmmm...

970 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

Chimay White

I wonder if I did something wrong to this bottle. When I first went to unwrap the metal clamp holding the cork into the bottle it shot out of my hand and the cork went flying up to the ceiling. The bottle then began to slowly foam up...

I transported this bottle to Seattle with me but I did not do anything that I think would have hurt the bottle. I kept it within the proper temperature range and everything for the just about the whole trip minus the initial 7 hour drive, and then the last of the drive... I do not know what happened. None of the other bottles in which I opened from the cellar had this effect (I plan to open Chimay Blue tonight as well) so the only thing I can think of is infection, but I am sure I would have heard about that somewhere... and I purchased all three bottles at the same time and from the same location. I mean sure, they may not have transported together or were brewed at the same time, or stored in the same or best conditions, but this is just really weird for a beer...

Anyway...

As I did not have the proper Chalice for this beer, I drank it out of my Hair Of The Dog Tulip. I love this glass, it is probably one of my favorite glass types. I am so sad that my The Bruery glass is in storage. I will miss that thing ~tear~ I was very much looking forward to this beer because I love Triples... or at least all of the ones that I have had... well most...

Appearance: It is a hazy copper color and poured a huge white head. I am assuming this is a side effect to what ever is wrong with the bottle because as soon as it became, what I would call normal, the head was small, white, and beady. Very similar to what I experienced with The Red that I reviewed Here.

Nose: I get some yeast character. It is somewhat spicy but does not burn the nose and a little fruity... That of bananas? and cloves probably bring the spice I am referring to.

Taste: At first it tasted a little metallic. Which did not make much sense to me. It faded away after drinking a bit of this and then it became quite smooth, spicy, and somewhat citrusy. Alcohol lingers in the finish, but seems to be quite dry.

Mouthfeel: It has a high level of carbonation but it does not detract from the beer. I tend to like very little carbonation, but it all depends on the style. It feels right for this beer, but the beer seems a little thin underneath the carbonation. I guess that is where the flavors live and I did not notice it at all until I started trying to pick it out.

Overall I liked this beer. It is a good Tripel, but I would want to taste a fresh bottle or something because I do not believe that mine was in perfect condition. It behaved strangely but still tasted good so i guess I cannot complain too much. A very nice beer to have with only seven days left to go.