Cicerone Certification Program

I recently took it upon myself to begin the Cicerone Certification Program. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you can read more here. Basically, it's supposed to be the equivalent of the wine sommelier program... but for beer! It's somewhat service oriented as well. You have to know a ton about beer (they use the BJCP style guidelines) as well as information about draft systems, blood alcohol levels, etc. There are three levels, each has a test, and each level costs money, unfortunately. The three levels are:

Certified Beer Server
Certified Cicerone
Master Cicerone

I recently took, and passed, the first level - Certified Beer Server. According to the database on their website, I am now one of only 3 people in Tallahassee to have this designation. The test was pretty easy for a person like me. The worst part was shelling out $69 to pass the test. Oh well.

I know what you're thinking, and yes, I would like to become a Certified Cicerone as well. The problem is that it costs $345 dollars and you have to do an on-site test with judges... and there are none in Florida. In fact, the closest test is in North Carolina... ten hours away. There are some in the Midwest, though, so possibly in the near future I'll visit family and hit an exam elsewhere.

Wondering why I'm not setting my sites on Master? Well, for one, apparently it's extremely difficult. According to their website, only 3 people have ever passed. Also, it costs $595 and the test only happens once a year. For now, fuck that!