Before you read this you should read the BJCP Study Guide if you haven’t already to understand what the BJCP is and what I’m trying to accomplish with this.   The link is to the exam center which has the BJCP study guide and other information.

 

I’m working on bullet pointing a course for BJCP study relevant those of us in the Baton Rouge metro area.  It has to be regional because many of the beers listed in the style guide aren’t available in our area so I’ll try to make notes on what stores carry the beer.(Calandros, Albertsons, Cuban Liquor)  I’ll also link to links for each actual commercial example I can find.   I will link to pages for the technical discussion.   If I enjoy it enough I may even upload BeerXML recipe examples of each style.(not necessarily matching the beer taster suggestion)

For each session:

• Collect commercial and homebrew examples of the style in question.
• Calculate cost on a 4 ounce per person basis or 6 pack basis depending on the beer.
• Prepare a handout that outlines characteristics of the style.
• Prepare a handout on a technical topic relevant to the exam.   This topic is discussed after the tasting.
• All but one of the beers are tasted blindly.
• Take a mini exam with 2 essay questions from the BJCP question pool.
• The last beer is tasted with knowledge of the beer and graded using the BJCP grade sheet.

I have a almost meaningless “estimated” dollar in the bold titles. I’m trying to figure out the cost for 6 people to take this course. I need to revise these costs.

Session 1 – Light Lager & Pilsners – $75 estimated

• Lite American Lager – Sam Adams Light – $8/6 – Recipe
• Standard American Lager – Budweiser – $7/6 – Recipe
• Premium American Lager – Full Sail Session Lager – $$$ – Recipe
• Munich Helles – Paulaner Munich Helles- $11/6 – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Dortmunder Export – Ayinger Jahrhundert– $6/16oz- Recipe – Mathernes, Cuban?
• German Pilsner – Bitburger – $9/6 – Recipe – Albertsons
• Bohemian Pilsner – Pilsner Urquell $8/6 – Recipe – Albertsons
• Classic American Pilsner – ??? – $$$ – Recipe

1. Technical Topic:   Malt, including the malting process, types, adjuncts, kilning and the styles with which different malts are associated.

Session 2 -European Amber Lager & Dark Lager & Bock – $100 estimated

• Vienna Lager – Negra Modelo – $8/6 – Recipe – Albertsons
• Oktoberfest / Marzen  – Paulaner Oktoberfest – $11/6 – Recipe – Albertsons, Calandros
• Dark American Lager – Dixie Blackened Voodoo – $8/6 – Recipe – Albertsons, Calandros
• Munich Dunkel – Hofbrau Dunkel – $10/6 – Recipe – Calandros
• Schwarzbier(Black Beer) – Kostritzer – $11/6 – Recipe – Calandros
• Maibock / Helles Bock – Hoffbrau – $10 – Recipe – Calandros
• Traditional Bock – ??? – $$$ – Recipe – ???
• Doppelbock – Paulaner Salvator – $11/6- Recipe – Albertsons, Calandros
• Eisbock – Kulmbacker – $16/6 – Recipe – Marcello’s

1. Technical Topic: Water, including minerals, pH, hardness, adjustment, and the effect on the development of world beer styles.

Session 3 – English Pale Ale & IPA, American Pale & Amber Ale & IPA – $100 estimated

• Ordinary Bitter – Bass Pale Ale(Maybe) – $9/6 – Recipe – Calandros
• Special Bitter – Fullers London Pride – $2/12oz – Recipe – Calandros
• Strong Bitter – Sam Smiths – $11/4 – Recipe – Calandros
• American Pale – Sierra Nevada Pale – $9/6 – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• American Amber Ale – Fort Collins Red Banshee – $10/6 – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• American IPA – Stone IPA – $11/6 – Recipe – Calandros
• English IPA – Samuel Smiths – $11/4 – Recipe – Calandros
• Imperial IPA – Stone Ruination  – $16/6 – Recipe – Calandros

1. Technical Topic: Mashing, including types used for different beer styles, mash schedules and enzymes. Good Article Reference 1

Session 4 – American and English Brown Ale, Scottish and Irish Ale

• American Brown Ale – Brekle’s Brown Ale – $10/6 – Recipe
• Mild – Pretty Things X Ale – $8/22oz – Recipe
• Southern English Brown – ??? – $$$ – Recipe
• Northern English Brown – Sam Smiths – $11/4 – Recipe – Calandros
• Scottish 60 – ??? – $$$ – Recipe
• Scottish 70 – ??? – $$$ – Recipe
• Scottish 80 – Bellhaven Scottish Ale – $13/6 – Recipe – Marcello’s, Cuban
• Irish Red Ale – Murphy’s Irish Red – $10/6 – Recipe – Calandros
• Strong Scotch Ale – Bellhaven Wee Heavy – $5/17oz – Recipe – Cuban

1. Technical topic: Hops, including varieties, IBUs, hopping scheduled and the association with different beer styles.

Session 5 – Light & Amber Hybrid Beers

• California Common – Anchor Steam – $10/6 – Recipe – Albertsons, Calandros
• Northern German Altbier – Grolsch Amber – $$$ – Recipe – Albertsons, Calandros
• Dusseldorf Altbier – ??? – $$$ – Recipe – ???
• Creme Ale – Anderson Valley Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema – $$$ – Recipe – ???
• Blonde Ale – NOLA Blonde Ale – $9/6 – Recipe – Albertsons, Calandros
• Kolsch – Heiner Brau – $9/6 – Recipe – ???
• American Wheat or Rye Ale – Harpoon UFO Hefe – $9/6 – Recipe – Calandros

1. Technical Topic: Yeast and fermentation, including characteristics of different yeast strains, bacteria, byproducts
   and relationship to world beer styles. Fermentation Slide Show

Session 6 – Porters & Stouts

• Russian Imperial Stout – Old Rasputin $10/4 – Recipe – Calandros
• Oatmeal Stout – Samuel Smiths – $11/4 – Recipe – Calandros
• Foreign Extra Stout – Guiness Foreign Extra Stout – $9/6- Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• American Stout – Sierra Nevada – $9/6 – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Sweet Stout – St Peters Cream Stout – $$$ – Recipe – Calandros
• Dry Stout -Murphy’s – $8/4 – Recipe – Calandros
• Brown Porter – Samuel Smiths Taddy – $12/4 – Recipe – Calandros
• Robust Porter – Sierra Nevada Porter $9/6 – Recipe – Calandros
• Baltic Porter – Baltika – $4/22oz – Recipe – Marcellos

1. Technical Topic: Brewing procedures, including spargeing, boiling, fining and carbonation methods. Reasons should be discussed along with potential problems.

Session 7 – German Wheat and Rye, Belgian and French Ale

• Weizen – Hofbrau Hefe Weizen – $10/6 – Recipe – Calandros
• Dunkelweizen – Franziskaner or Schneider Weisse – $$$ – Recipe – Calandros
• Weizenbock – Schneider Aventinus – $$$ – Recipe – Calandros
• Roggenbier(German Rye) – ??? – $$$ – Recipe – Calandros
• Witbier – Hoegaarden – $10/6 – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Belgian Pale Ale – Corsendonk- $10/24oz – Recipe – Calandros
• Saison – Le Merle- $8/26oz – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Biere de Garde – Saint Sylvestre 3 Monts – $$$ – Recipe – ???
• Belgian Specialty Ale – Kwak Belgian Specialty Ale – $10/24oz – Recipe – Marcellos

1. Technical Topic: Troubleshooting I, which includes a discussion of how positive and negative attributes are perceived and produced, the beer styles with which they may be associated and corrective measures.

Session 8 – Sour Ale

• Berliner Weisse – Professor Fritz Briem 1809 – $$$ – Recipe – ???
• Flanders Red Ale – Strubbe’s Flemish Red Ale – $5/12oz – Recipe – Calandros, Marcellos
• Flanders Brown Ale / Oud Bruin – Liefmans – $$$ – Recipe – Calandros
• Straight(Unblended) Lambic – Cantillon Grand Cru Bruocsella – $$$ – Recipe – ???
• Gueze – Lindemans – $7/23oz- Recipe – ???
• Fruit Lambic – Lindemans – $7/12oz – Recipe – ???

1. Technical Topic: Troubleshooting II, The flavor descriptors on the beer scoresheet and the BJCP study guide.

 

Session 9 – Belgian Strong Ale & Strong Ale

• Belgian Blond Ale – Leffe Blonde – $10/6 – Recipe Calandros, Albertsons
• Belgian Dubbel – Chimay Red – $10/26oz- Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Belgian Tripel – Chimay Cinq Cents – $10/26oz – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Belgian Golden Strong Ale – Duvel – $15/4 – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Belgian Dark Strong Ale – Chimay Blue – $11/26oz – Recipe – Calandros, Albertsons
• Old Ale – Old Engine Oil Reserve – $6/12oz – Recipe – Calandros
• English Barleywine – North Coast Old Stock Ale – $$$ – Recipe – ???
• American Barleywine – Anchor Old Foghorn – $16/6 – Recipe – Calandros

1. Technical Topic: Recipe Formulation, including the seelction of appropriate hops, malt, water, yeast and brewing procedures for different beer styles.

Session 10 – Doctored beer seminar

• Budweiser – $7/6 – A clean lager for the sake of doctoring beers. See the BJCP Study Guide on page 42 for a list of agents to use for simulation of flavors.

Session 11 – Sub-styles we can’t find in Louisiana or the USA in general. Homebrewed, Mail Order or The Cove Session

1. American Pilsner(Light Lager)
2. Traditional Bock(bock) – Will something like Shiner work here?
3. English Mild(Brown)
4. Southern English Brown(Brown)
5. Scottish 60/70(Scottish Ale) Does Belhaven Cover this?
6. Dusseldorf Altbier(Hybrid)
7. Roggenbier(German Wheat and Rye, Belgian and French Ale)

1. Technical Topic: ???