Becoming a Certified Cicerone®

Whether you’re looking to establish a career in the craft beer industry or simply learn more about the world’s tastiest beverage, the Cicerone Certification Program® is an excellent way to acquire a professional body knowledge and essential tasting skills related to beer.

So what exactly is a Cicerone (pronounced “sis-uh-rohn”)? It’s an exam-based certification that proves you are well-versed in proper beer service, storage, styles, and history as well as how to pair beer with food. Basically, it’s the beer world’s equivalent of Sommelier!

While achieving this accreditation requires hundreds of hours of studying, learning, and honing your palate, I’ve created a brief outline with some tips and pointers to help you prepare for this challenging, rigorous exam. Considering this test has a lower pass rate than any U.S. state’s bar exam, you’ll want every advantage you can possibly get! 

Exam Overview 

The Certified Cicerone Exam lasts roughly 4 hours and is administered in the following order: 1) about 150 short answer questions and three essay questions; 2) a tasting portion consisting of 12 beers for which you’ll be asked to identify beer styles, off-flavors, or whether or not the beers are appropriate for service; 3) a three minute video demonstration on some sort of beer service skill such as taking apart and cleaning a tap faucet or pouring the perfect beer. To pass, an overall score of 80% is required with a minimum of a 70% on the tasting portion of the exam. As mentioned before, this ain’t exactly a walk in the park!

Reference Syllabus 

The first place to look when preparing for the Certified Cicerone exam is the comprehensive syllabus that outlines the knowledge needed in order to pass the exam. The syllabus is available on the Certified Cicerone Program® website for anyone to use and can be found here.

Read Tasting Beer

“Tasting Beer” by beer guru Randy Mosher is an absolute must read. Most of the material on the Certified Cicerone Exam is covered in this book, including how to brew, serve, and taste beer as well as pairing beer with food. Read it twice if you have to and take lots of notes! 

Read the BA Draught Beer Quality Manual

Unless you manage a bar or operate draft systems for a living, the chances are you won’t know very much about draft system maintenance. The Brewer’s Association Draft Beer Quality Manual covers this material in detail and you can purchase a copy from their website for about $25. 

Do Off-Flavor Tastings 

The tasting portion of the exam is extremely important. Regardless of how well you do on the rest of the exam, you cannot pass unless you get at least a 70% on the tasting portion. In addition to style differentiation, you will need identify off-flavors (diacetyl, DMS, acetaldehyde, etc.) that result from issues at the brewery and mishandling. In order to succeed, you will need to have good beer evaluation and off-flavor identification skills. To familiarize yourself with common beer off-flavors, I highly recommend signing up for one of the Off-Flavor Training Courses offered through the Cicerone Certification Program® and/or purchasing a Basic Off-Flavor Kit and Tutored Tasting Webinar offered here.

Make a Batch of Homebrew 

Homebrewing is among the best ways to familiarize yourself with beer ingredients and the brewing process. Reading about it is one thing but after several batches of homebrew, you’ll have a deep understanding of beer from the raw ingredients all the way to the glass. In addition, it will bring you even closer to the beverage you love and you’ll have roughly 50 beers for you and your friends to enjoy! For about $100-150, you can purchase a basic homebrew kit with a recipe from a local store or online shop. 

Create a Mock Beer Pairing Menu

More likely than not, one of the essay questions will consist of a beer and food pairing related question – you may even be asked to create a beer and food pairing menu. I found that the most effective way to prepare for this portion of the exam was to create several mock beer pairing menus by using the following three step process: 1) match intensity with intensity; 2) find complimentary flavors; 3) find contrasting flavors. Below, I have provided one of the menus I created for reference.  

5-Course Beer Pairing Dinner

Salmon Tartare

Wild-caught King Salmon, Persian Cucumber, Lemon, Togarashi 

Beer Pairing: American Hefeweizen 

An American Hefeweizen is the perfect accompaniment to this dish because it won’t overpower the tartare yet the high carbonation and dry body of this beer are ideal for cutting through the fattiness of the salmon. In addition, the citrusy American hops accentuate the lemon and cucumber while the sweet, bready, wheat flavor of the malt tempers the subtle spiciness of the togarashi. 

Fried Ham Croquette

Peads and Barnetts Ham, Breadcrumb, Garlic Aioli 

Beer Pairing: Belgian Gueuze 

This pairing is all about contrasting flavors! A Belgian Gueuze is a blend of one, two, and three-year-old spontaneously fermented lambics. This beer possesses a sharp acidity, lactic sourness, and high level of carbonation needed to cut through the richness of the croquette and aioli. 

Grilled Skirt Steak

Grass-fed Beef, Caramelized Cipollini Onion, Romesco Sauce 

Beer Pairing: American Brown Ale

An American Brown Ale will pair perfectly with this dish because the sweet, toasty, and nutty malt character accentuate the caramelization of the meat and onions as well as the almonds in the romesco sauce. The hop bitterness and carbonation serve to cleanse the palate between bites. 

Carrot Cake 

Golden Flame Raisins, Warming Spices, Cream Cheese Frosting

Beer Pairing: Belgian Dubbel

The unique Belgian yeast strain used to make this beer provides dark raisin and prune fruit esters as well as spicy clove and phenols that accentuate the raisins and warming spices in the cake. The dark candi sugar provide a light body and dry finish which helps to cut the sweetness and cleanse the palate. 

Rogue River Blue

Cow’s Milk, Grape Leaf, Pear Brandy 

Beer Pairing: English Barleywine 

This is a blue cheese made with cow’s milk and wrapped in grape leaves that have been soaked in pear brandy – it has tons of rich umami flavor as well as hints of hazelnut and fruit. The rich, complex malt character of the barleywine can stand up to this intensely flavorful cheese while the carbonation and slightly warming alcohol sensation cleanse the palate.

Well, there you have it! If you have any questions regarding my outline, please feel free to reach out. Best of luck to anyone taking the exam!