Today I took the BCJP tasting portion of the exam. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I feel we were lucky in the fact that we got all beers that were reasonable and you can take a good guess if they are in style even if you didn't know all the specs from the style guidelines.
Gordon Strong was one of the two proctors/graders. So yes, my score has to be in line with Gordon's score for me to pass.....ugh. The proctors spent time with us after to discuss what they thought of the beers and their scores. I think I did fair. I wrote a lot on each one, so even on the 1 that I didn't score in line with them with I hope that I'll get a fair amount of credit for talking about various aspects on what I did pick up.
My issue is diacetyl. I have a blind spot for it. While other folks in the room thought this Irish Red was a diacetyl bomb, I just picked up mainly caramel. I actually found it nice and scored the beer pretty high. The proctors did say it went back and forth for them as the beer sat between too much diacetyl and caramel. I'm hoping I get some credit for talking about the caramel.
Oh well. Its done now. Now I wait for months to get scores back.
Either way, this entire experience has been great. I've learn a lot about the brewing process and mainly about controlling flaws. Pass or fail, I'll be able to take that knowledge into the brew sessions and that is exactly why I did this process.
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