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Beer Judge Certification Program
  • BJCP Style Guidelines
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    • Introduction to the 2021 Guidelines
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    • 2021 Beer Style Guidelines
      • 1. Standard American Beer
      • 2. International Lager
      • 3. Czech Lager
      • 4. Pale Malty European Lager
      • 5. Pale Bitter European Beer
      • 6. Amber Malty European Lager
      • 7. Amber Bitter European Beer
      • 8. Dark European Lager
      • 9. Strong European Beer
      • 10. German Wheat Beer
      • 11. British Bitter
      • 12. Pale Commonwealth Beer
      • 13. Brown British Beer
      • 14. Scottish Ale
      • 15. Irish Beer
      • 16. Dark British Beer
      • 17. Strong British Ale
      • 18. Pale American Ale
      • 19. Amber and Brown American Beer
      • 20. American Porter and Stout
      • 21. IPA
      • 22. Strong American Ale
      • 23. European Sour Ale
      • 24. Belgian Ale
      • 25. Strong Belgian Ale
      • 26. Monastic Ale
      • 27. Historical Beer
      • 28. American Wild Ale
      • 29. Fruit Beer
      • 30. Spiced Beer
      • 31. Alternative Fermentables Beer
      • 32. Smoked Beer
      • 33. Wood Beer
      • 34. Specialty Beer
    • Introduction to Mead Guidelines
    • 2015 Mead Style Guidelines
      • M1. Traditional Mead
      • M2. Fruit Mead
      • M3. Spiced Mead
      • M4. Specialty Mead
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    • 2025 Cider Style Guidelines
      • C1. Traditional Cider
      • C2. Strong Cider
      • C3. Specialty Cider
      • C4. Perry
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  • 2016 Exam Updates
  • 2016 Exam Updates

    July 1, 2015

    All  BJCP exam types have switched over to the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines as of November 1, 2015. Some updates about that are below. BJCP members administered over 1,400 exams in 2015.

    BJCP Online Beer Entrance Exam

    The Online Beer Entrance Exam is now only offered based on the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines.

    Exam Director Scott Bickham provided this update about revisions to the Online Beer Entrance Exam: The new questions were written to better closely match the style descriptions, and the grammar and punctuation errors were cleaned up to improve the readability and to make them easier to translated into other languages. A number of problem questions with either incorrect or ambiguous answers were either corrected or removed, so this should provide additional incentives to take the 2015 version of the BJCP Entrance exam. As noted in the previous update, questions on three historical styles (Roggenbier, London Brown Ale and Pre-Prohibition Lager) were removed, but new questions were added on styles in the European Sour Beer Category. The styles tested on the exam come from Categories 1-26; however there are currently no questions on the Specialty IPA since these styles have not yet proliferated to some parts of the US let alone our international judging community. We will add questions on these styles at some point, but will post a message on our website communicating the date when the new questions will be integrated into the exam.

    BJCP Beer Written Proficiency Exam

    The BJCP Exam Study Guide was updated to reflect the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines. Exam dates for the 2016 quarterly written proficiency exams are below. Any active exam grader may administer a quarterly written proficiency exam with no seat minimum. But, the exam must be registered at least six weeks before the exam date, and all fees must be submitted at least one month before the exam date or the site will be cancelled. A list of eligible quarterly exam administrators can be accessed here https://legacy.bjcp.org/apps/reports/graders.php. Graders can sign up to administer a quarterly exam by emailing [email protected]

    • March 12, 2016
    • May 7, 2016
    • July 16, 2016
    • October 23, 2016

    BJCP Mead Exam

    The BJCP Mead Exam changed format in November 2015 and now mirrors the structure of the Beer exams with an online entrance portion, the BJCP Mead Entrance Exam followed by a 6-mead tasting exam, the BJCP Mead Judging Exam. There is no mead equivalent of the Beer Written Proficiency Exam since the mead exam score does not determine a judge’s rank, so there is no need for advanced testing of mead judges. Updated mead exam materials will be online at bjcp.org soon.

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    BJCP Stats

    6,474
    Active BJCP Judges


    13,586
    Sanctioned Competitions


    2,335,933
    Beers Judged


    Data current as of May 18, 2025

    Competition Calendar

    May 20

    African Beer Cup

    Cape Town, , ZA


    May 21

    La Boutique del Cervecero Primer Concurso 2025

    Santa Fe, Santa Fe, AR


    May 23

    Hogtown Brew-Off 2025

    Gainesville , FL


    May 23

    Austrian Beer Challenge

    Ried im Innkreis, NULL, AT


    May 24

    XIII. HOMEBREWERS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION - HUNGARY

    Budapest, Pest megye, HU


    Find a competition near you >

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